Blood flows in Syria despite UN presence

Troops shot dead six civilians yesterday in Homs despite the presence of UN observers in the rebel province to pave the way for a 300-strong mission approved by the Security Council, monitors said.

The government must desist from the use of heavy weapons

The deaths raised to 17 the number of people killed yesterday across Syria, including two civilians and four soldiers who died during an assault on a rebel bastion near Damascus by regime forces, they said.

The violence came even as UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan singled out the government of President Bashar al-Assad in an appeal for an end to hostilities by both loyalist forces and rebels seeking to oust him.

“I urge all forces whether governmental, opposition or others to put down their weapons and work with the United Nations monitors to consolidate the fragile cessation of violence,” Mr Annan said in a statement. “The government in particular must desist from the use of heavy weapons and, as it has committed, withdraw such weapons and armed units from population centres and implement fully its commitments under the six-point plan.”

The latest bloodshed came only hours after the UN Security Council voted to send 300 unarmed observers to Syria for three months, although Washington warned it may veto a new mandate for the mission.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime forces shot dead three civilians in the city of Homs and three others in Talbisseh, another town visited by UN observers in restive Homs province. Two advance team members set up base in Homs yesterday, mission member Neeraj Singh said earlier, a day after they made their first visit to the central protest city since arriving in Syria a week ago.

UN observers also toured yesterday the city of Rastan in Homs province, according to Free Syrian Army spokesman Colonel Saadeddine Kassem who escorted them through the rebel town.

Troops fired warning shots into the air to disperse a group of residents who surrounded the observers, he added.

Later the observers visited the city of Hama farther north, including a square which witnessed huge anti-regime protests last year, activist Abu Ghazi Hamwi reported from the scene.

The official Syrian news agency Sana said the observers met the governor of Hama during the visit.

A YouTube video showed the observers meeting activists who begged them to stay. Its authenticity could not be verified.

In other violence yesterday, tank shelling and heavy gunfire were reported in Douma, an outlying rebel suburb of the Syrian capital, activists reported.

“Regime forces backed by tanks stormed Douma under heavy gunfire,” said the revolutionary council of Damascus province.

Videos posted online showed towering columns of smoke over Douma, as gunfire crackled and calls of “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) were heard.

Council member Mohammed Saeed told AFP the assault was “in retaliation for huge anti-regime protests there and because it’s a centre of dissent.”

The Observatory said four soldiers were killed when a bomb targeted an armoured personnel carrier in Douma, where two civilians were also shot dead.