(dailynewoyrknews) – On the eve of the arrival of observers of the Arab League, 13 people were killed and dozens wounded on Sunday in volatile in Syria, according to the opposition movement.
Activists describe the deteriorating conditions in cities and in the midst of what they called a government crackdown intensifies. This comes at a time when the security forces and allied militias are supposed to be removed to put an end to violence with more than nine months of protest against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Abu Omar, an activist in the besieged city of Homs, told CNN on Sunday that attacks by government forces began Friday and continues all the time in some neighborhoods under siege. He said the gunmen opened fire on anything and everything.
“You can not cross the street because of the snipers,” said Omar. “They cut the electricity. Now I walk by a generator. There is no water or satellite phone. There is more food and we lack the most important, which is the bread. There is no more bread … For the children.”
The local coordination committees in Syria, an opposition activist network that goes by the acronym LCC, reported 13 deaths, including three children, all over the country. He said five deaths in Homs, where government forces have besieged neighborhoods are hotbeds of opposition to al-Assad.
Five people died in the western city of Deir ez-Zor and one died in Aleppo, Hama and Nawa, said a statement from the LCC.
“Random bombing” and a heavy fire from government forces in Homs wounding 30 people, 10 houses were burned, the LCC said.
Another opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 124 injuries in the Baba Amr district of Homs, as well as a number of deaths unverified there.
Violence Plagues of Homs Syria
The group says that 37 military checkpoints were set up in a village near Homs, and the security forces have arrested 26 people in another neighborhood and made them remove the shame.
Homs, Syria, is under fire
CNN can not independently verify the reports of deaths and injuries in Syria. The Syrian government has restricted access to international journalists.
Analyzes the violence in Syria
The Syrian opposition asked the National Monitoring Mission of the Arab League to go directly to Homs after his arrival in the country on Monday, citing a “tightened siege and the threat of military invasion” by soldiers in 4000 more “non-stop bombardment “in recent days.
“We face a real threat of genocide and crimes against humanity in Homs, where people call for help and warning of the imminent danger they face if the Arab League did not immediately send its observers here,” said statement of the National Council of Syria.
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An Arab League official, who spoke on condition he not be identified by name said “nearly 50″ of the observers of the Arab League arrived in Syria on Monday, with more to come “, if needed basis.” In general, the overall mission could rise to about 100 observers, said the official.
In addition, the mission chief, Lt. Gen. Mohamed al Dabi Sudan, traveled to Syria on Saturday, the official said.
The observation mission is part of an Arab League initiative calls for the withdrawal of the Syrian army and the militia called shabih cities, the release of prisoners and an end to all violence. Syria and the Arab League have signed the protocol of the observation mission last week.
Although the mission of the next Arab League, Syria has entered its bloodiest period of the uprising of a month in the long term, raising questions about whether the observers will be able to fulfill its mission.
Government troops bombed Homs restive neighborhoods during the weekend, with thousands of security agents directed at Baba Amr said Omar to Homs and the site of Alexander, told CNN in Cairo, where contact with people in Homs.
Another activist in Homs, Abu Salim said at least 4,000 security personnel Amr surrounded Baba and the number is increasing. The troops dug trenches around the parts of the district, a hotbed of opposition to the al-Bashir.
In his Christmas message to the world on Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI prayed for “an end to violence in Syria, where it already has paid so much blood.” Various Syria is mainly Sunni Muslim, but is 10% Christian population, the CIA World Factbook says.
Christmas violence after a day of bloodshed across the country, with the LCC, said 38 people died, including 25 in Homs.
Security forces bombed parts of Baba Amr, Bayada, al-Karm Khaldiyeh and Zaitoun and overflew the area, according to the CDC.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that security forces killed Ghazi Mohammad Khaled Zugheib, former secretary general of the division of Homs party “Baas, and his wife, Rajaa Mohammed Khaled Bakkar. The incident occurred during a raid on his home Baba Amr.
Managed by the Arab News Agency of Syria, however, charged with the murders of two of the “armed terrorists”.
In the district of Baba Amr, most of the 50,000 inhabitants fled out of fear or to escape the deteriorating humanitarian conditions, said Salim.
He describes a desperate situation, with people who are targeted by government forces, if you walk outside, and vital medical supplies, fuel, heating oil and less formula.
“We have no medical equipment or sophisticated tool,” said Salim. “… We only use first aid equipment and tools to deal with gunshot wounds. Most of the wounded to die late. … We do not have enough doctors or nurses to help the injured.
Homs attacks came a day after the double whammy attack the capital, Damascus. Al-Assad’s government blamed the terrorists inside and outside Syria, but the opposition has called the attacks the work of the regime.
On Sunday, security forces have destroyed more than 50 stores in the suburbs of Damascus, Duma, in an attempt to break a strike in progress, the LCC said. He also said the security forces to destroy the stores in the neighborhood of Zamalka.
The United States, who asked Assad to withdraw and has implemented sanctions against the regime, deplored the attacks on Friday, saying that “there is no justification for terrorism of any kind”, and expressing the hope that the strike does not affect the efforts of the Arab League.
More than 5,000 people have died since the al-Assad launched a brutal crackdown in mid-March anti-government protesters calling for his dismissal, the UN said earlier this month.
Many more deaths have been reported. Avaaz, an advocacy group based in New York politicians, and the LCC said more than 6,000 people died.
The Syrian government said 2,000 of its soldiers and security forces were killed in the insurgency, which he attributes to “armed gangs”.
The violent crackdown by security forces against Al-Assad, the opposition won a global condemnation of the European Union, Arab League and Turkey, as well as the United States.
On Sunday, Egypt’s main Islamist party, the Muslim Brotherhood, met with the Russian ambassador in Cairo to discuss the situation in Syria, a party official.
Esam El Arian, deputy head of the freedom of the Muslim Brotherhood and Justice Party, said Ambassador Sergei Kirpichenko, “the desire to see the country of Syrian civilians safe in their own country.”
Russia has been a supporter of al-Assad regime.
Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/25/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html?hpt=imi_c1
