Syrian forces in further Homs bombings, as US rejects Russia’s excuses
Russia and China don’t seem too concerned about the relentless slaughter of Syrians including women and children. Russia is trying to offer a deal without Assad losing power.
EU threatens new sanctions on Syria as Russia tries to broker talks between regime, opposition
…Moscow is calling for a combination of reforms by the regime and negotiations, without calling for Assad to go. Its provisions are so far finding no traction with the opposition, which dismisses promises of reform as empty gestures, refuses any negotiations while violence continues and says Assad’s removal is the only option in the crisis.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said outside forces should let Syrians settle their conflict “independently.”
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So Putin thinks the world should just sit there and watch Assad commit genocide on his people. Wonderful.
Here is just one example:
Assad’s gunmen ‘murder three entire families in Homs’
The families were shot dead in their homes by members of a pro-regime militia, known as the Shabiha, which has been blamed for numerous atrocities since the conflict began 11 months ago.
The Ghantawi family, including a girl of 15 and two boys aged seven and five, lived near al-Firdaos square in the city. The al-Tirkawi family, with seven members, and the al-Zamal family, with eight members, both lived in the al-Nazirheen area of Homs. In total, the three incidents claimed 20 lives.
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The US and the EU aren’t buying Moscow’s BS as the murders continue in Syria…
Russian offer on Syria fails to satisfy EU, United States
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wants his vice president to hold talks with the opposition groups, Russia’s foreign minister said after meeting with al-Assad in Damascus. However, the Russian proposal failed to satisfy the United States and the European Union.
A day after holding talks with al-Assad in an emergency meeting in Damascus, Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow that the Syrian leader has ‘delegated the responsibility of holding such dialogue to Vice President [Farouk] al-Sharaa.’ Lavrov declined to say yesterday whether Moscow asked the embattled leader to go, stressing that Syrians themselves should decide his fate. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also warned yesterday against foreigners behaving ‘like a bull in a china shop’ towards Syria. However, the U.S. voiced skepticism on promises by al-Assad to Lavrov and EU officials said the bloc will impose harsher sanctions on Syria.
…His comments came as Syrian troops bombed residential neighborhoods in Homs, the northern province of Idlib, the southern region of Daraa and the mountain town of Zabadani, in what activists say is the regime’s final push to retake areas controlled by the rebels. Activists said at least 50 people died in yesterday’s shelling of Homs.
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I saw a report on CNN last night about Assad’s forces taking over the hospitals. Anyone injured who shows up at the hospitals are shot dead. This is insanity.
Here is a related story…
Infants, medical staff among dead in Syria
Four straight days of shelling and bombing by Syrian government forces into the besieged city of Homs have left residents cowering, afraid to escape and fearing for their lives as bodies lie in the streets, unable to be recovered.
That’s how activists in Homs described the situation Wednesday. One, identified only as Abu Rami, out of fear for his safety, said he hears explosions every few minutes from bombs launched by unseen forces outside the city limits.
Not even infants or medical crews have been spared, he said, calling it “a huge crime against humanity.”
“They are shelling from a far distance,” Abu Rami said. “They are using many kinds of weapons — heavy weapons, anti-aircraft, they are using nail bombs.”
He said more than 60 people have been killed in Homs, including women and children and five infants who died at a hospital because the electricity was cut off. Medical conditions are worsening too, he said.
“Yesterday they targeted the field hospital in Baba Amr (a Homs neighborhood) and they killed three doctors of this hospital,” Abu Rami said. “We have a shortage of medical tools and medical supplies.
“We have at this moment more than 100 wounded people. We can’t rescue them or make for them any necessary assistance.”
Families who tried to escape from Baba Amr were captured by government forces and killed, he said.
The medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Wednesday the Syrian regime is attacking the wounded and the staff who treat them.
“In Syria today, wounded patients and doctors are pursued, and risk torture and arrest at the hands of the security services,” said Marie-Pierre Allie, president of Doctors Without Borders. “Medicine is being used as a weapon of persecution.”
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According to Putin we all should just ‘let Syrians settle their conflict’. I’m sure Ron Paul agrees.