Syria: Civilians in Homs Trapped While UN Runs, Rebel Leader Says Help or Leave
"Let us go, in God's name!" is the desperate appeal by Christian families and Sunni Muslims still trapped in the old town of Homs in the wake of Saturday’s U.N. pull back announced yesterday by observers in Syria.
The Christian Mission Society, Angenzia fides has issued this statement in an urgent appeal, saying, “We are talking about 800 civilians, including women, elderly, youth, children, disabled people who today are in real danger. They have nothing, they live in panic, and they are in the midst of bombing and fighting.
"The families blocked in the city, are - for humanitarian reasons - asking the help of the UN, Red Cross, Red Crescent, so that their lives can be saved,” the Fidas report said.
This comes at the same time as the head of the U.N.’s “Observer Mission” has announced suspension of operations because of the increasing violence over the last 10 days by President Bashar Assad's forces and rebels seeking his overthrow.
UN and Arab League envoy mediator Kofi Annan says the Arab League and U.N. is concerned about civilians who are trapped in Homs and al-Haffa - a town in Latakia province also said to be under attack.
Breaking news from Latakia sources are saying at this hour that heavy gunfire can be heard coming from the train station which has been turned into a military base.
And a report from Homs – with live video footage (warning, graphic) posted on social media sites says “Regime sniper murders videographer Ahmad Hamada - R.I.P.: Ahmad's only weapon was his camera...”
From the “Syrian Days of Rage” Facebook Page, a report of continued regime shelling of the city, and posted live video of the continual shelling and shooting at Homs just minutes ago.
The U.S. State Department is now also saying (again) that “it fears the government may be planning another massacre.”
Annan's spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, confirmed that civilians have been trapped in both Homs and al-Haffa.
He said Annan was demanding an immediate entry to al-Haffa for UN military observers to be allowed into Homs.
“Maleesh (nevermind),” said an examiner FSA military contact in a mobile phone response today, “I guess Mr. Annan did not get the memo that the U.N. monitors have decided to pull back. I think we at least don’t have to worry about protecting them also.”
He also muttered, “Masalaam!” several times, which he then explained as the Arabic version of ‘wtf’ in this instance. “They must come to protect the innocent people here, or they are just in the way and should go,” he added.
Norwegian Major General Robert Mood said in the U.N. release yesterday on the pullback, "In this high risk situation, UNSMIS (United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria) is suspending its activities. The observers will not be conducting patrols and will stay in their locations until further notice."
The UN military observers were sent to Syria to monitor an April 12 ceasefire that was part of U.N. and Arab League envoy Annan’s Six-Point plan for peace in the troubled country.
The plan – which even Annan admits has failed, has been majorly ignored by the repressive regime of Ba’athist Dictator Bashir Assad’s forces and Alawite paramilitary (known as “Shabiha” or thugs) – in spite of international diplomatic pressure, threats and handwringing.
Meanwhile, civilian massacres continue against opposing Sunnis and according to reports – Christian neighborhoods as well – have actually ramped up, with intensive shelling and gunship helicopter attacks in major cities like Homs and Hama and in small villages around the clock throughout the country.
In an interview published yesterday by American PBS Newshour, self-proclaiming Alawite “Shabiha active member” Abu Jaafar, said he is “ready to kill women and children to defend his friends, family and president.”
"Sunni women are giving birth to babies who will fight us in years to come, so we have the right to fight anyone who can hurt us in the future," said the Alawite militiaman, a member of the ancient offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the powerbase of his regime belong.
However, in his announcement, Mood also lumped in what is now being called the “Free Syria Army” (FSA), which is made up mostly of Syrian soldiers who have defected from regime forces after many claim they were asked to fire, even with tanks at close-range on unarmed civilians and pro-democracy protesters. This is because the opposition forces begun to defend and conduct their own raids against Syrian military checkpoints and headquarters. Videos from Youtube.com show the FSA having minor successes – and also seizing Russian tanks and hardware, and also capturing Syrian troops and paramilitary, which they say have had training from Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and are being armed by Russia.
The leader of the group, who identified himself as Colonel Riad al-Asaad, a defector and former Colonel with the Syrian Air Force, has announced that the Free Syrian Army would work with the freedom demonstrators to bring down the system, and declared that “all security forces attacking civilians are justified targets.”
Said the other FSA military leader in the phone interview, who said he is near Homs, “I used to be loyal, but I did not join the army to make war on my own people – especially not women, children and the (elderly)."
He gave an impassioned acoount for his reasons, "They asked us to fire tank shells into crowds. They ran over people with the tanks. These people were helpless. We have been under a dictatorship. These people don’t have arms and have not been able to defend themselves. This is what they want to do in Homs again as – as they have done on the past. They have a (track-record), so do we really do nothing to protect these people now when we are the only ones who can?”
He added, “Obviously, the international community is not willing. We could get them out if they were handed directly over to the U.N. and we knew they'd be safe. Here we now have U.N. soldiers running like they did in Rwanda, Lebanon and Bosnia, and leaving the people to face mass rapes and butchery, like at Houla. Would American soldiers – or any in the West (then a phrase translated – ‘who are men’), not act in the same way as we to protect their own defenseless citizens from people who cut off the heads of babies with knives?
"You have to be in our walk (shoes) right now here in Syria. There is a cost to freedom, we keep getting told, but now we are vilified for taking that step to earn freedom for our own people with our blood, and we will down to the last honorable man in Syria – if this is a necessity.”
Last week, shots were fired at a car carrying UN observers after they were turned away from the town of Lattakia by angry Alawite supporters who threw stones and metal rods at their convoy, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Observers in Syria said.
She said the U.N. observers were attempting to answer the call to reach citizens in Haffeh who were being assaulted by Syrian shelling and feared another massacre like those in Houla, Dafa’a and Homs.
A report by the Syrian state-run media, SANA, accused the U.N. observers of running over three of the villagers, which other reports say had stretched themselves over the roadway to block the observer’ vehicles access.
But Mood said, "The lack of willingness by the parties to seek a peaceful transition, and the push towards advancing military positions is increasing the losses on both sides: innocent civilians, men women and children are being killed every day. It is also posing significant risks to our observers.”
He said the observers “will not conduct patrols and will stay in their locations until further notice,” and that "engagement with the parties will be restricted."
Mood said the suspension will be reviewed on a daily basis, and that "operations will resume when we see the situation fit for us to carry out our mandated activities."
Said Mood, "Let me be very clear, UNSMIS is committed to the people of Syria. We stand ready to work with all parties to assist in bringing an end to the violence and promote political dialogue. A return to normal operations remains our objective."
Meanwhile, in the latest press remarks by the White House on Saturday, the Obama Administration has renewed calls for Bashar al-Assad to step down, saying it was “discussing the way ahead with allies.”
"At this critical juncture, we are consulting with our international partners regarding next steps toward a Syrian-led political transition as called for in Security Council Resolutions 2042 and 2043," a White House official said.
“Russia is sending armed troops to Syria amid escalating violence there,” U. S. military officials told NBC News on Friday, and said Russia is assuring the international community this would be to merely “secure Russian assets at risk in Syria.”
This would include Russia’s critical strategic only deep water port on the Mediterranean at the Syrian city of Tarsus.
The U.S. officials also said Russia is denying it sent additional attack helicopters to the Syrian government, but only replacement parts for the Russian helicopters the Syrians are already flying.
As an update, FIDES is reporting that troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are ready to observe a truce to allow the trapped civilians to leave the Homs area.
But the Abu Mann rebel faction say they oppose the evacuation, fearing a deadly offensive on the city center once it is emptied of civilians.
Sources on the ground say they fear the Christians will be used as International pawns and propaganda by Syria’s state-run news agency to shown “goodwill” of Syrian troops.
“Then who knows what will happen to them, but the big fear – and we have dealt with this before – is that the Sunni civilians will be separated out and massacred. We can’t just let them go like sheep to slaughter, because we know what will happen,” said the FSA army official, adding, we know, even from U.N. official reports, they are using children as human shields, and we know they are targeting and even imprisoning and sexually abusing children especially for shock-value and to intimidate the people.”
Also see U.N. report from last week: Children and Armed Conflict, which details accounts of "grave violations against children" by the Assad regime since March of last year.
The FSA militia also says they fear that once the civilians are outside, the Syrian army can strengthen its offensive towards the city center.
“We must think of military strategies if we are to save the people in the long-run by winning against the regimen,” the FSA military contact said.
In fact, the latest news out of Damascus, Douma and Homs gleaned from Facebook and Twitter reports, and a video report from the BBC at this hour is that Syrian government forces have renewed their attack on the city of Homs, one of the focal points of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Videos published on the internet sites purportedly from Homs and Damascus shows intermittent shelling and black smoke. The BBC's Paul Danahar states in the BBC video, "I am watching a mortar land pretty much every minute."
An estimated 400 Christians remain in Homs compared with some 80,000 before the start of the conflict, sources say.
France's foreign ministry said Friday it was deeply concerned at reports of "an imminent, large-scale operation" by regime forces in Homs.
Rights groups say more than 14,400 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in violence since the anti-regime uprising broke out in March last year.
Syrian in exile and Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies out of Washington D.C., Ammar Abdulhamid, has been calling for more active international intervention in Syria, and added another addendum in his Syrian Revolution Digest Syria report last night.
Stated Abdulhamid, “I wouldn’t ask for intervention had it not been a reality of our lives already, had Russia, China, Iran, Iraq, Belarus and Venezuela not chosen to intervene from the onset in our affairs, siding with the Assads, arming them to the teeth, helping circumvent sanctions, (and) shielding them from accountability. Things need to be made equal. We need to be given a fighting chance. Assad is conducting a war of attrition against the rebels, while carving out his own personal fiefdom, hedging his bets. We only have one bet: staying the course, come what may.
Meanwhile, in an opinion piece for A&E theNational had the soul-searching title, “When tanks crush children, Syrians must ask: who are we?”
The piece documents activists who feel there is a military strategy behind the madness and civilian carnage - including the brutal massacres and targeting of children.
“By outsourcing the dirty work to local militias, the regime distanced itself from the monstrosity of the crimes while deceptively placing the perpetrators within the blurry category of ‘armed gangs,’ said one Hama activist.
Another activist from Homs said: "This is what they want to see: we are 20 massacres away from an opposition-free Syrian coast."
Abdulhamid also stated in an email interview late tonight that he didn't feel the Free Syrian Army had the time or resources to take civilian hostages, as some pro-Assad media have been alleging in regards to the Christian and Sunni civilians trapped in Homs.
"Basically, at this stage, the few local fighters in Homs City are locked in a fight for survival against pro-Assad militias, they do not have the time or the capacity to take hostages, and the regime does not care about the well-being of hostages anyway. Having hostages - even Alawites - will not stop pro-Assad militias, who, for months now, have been bombing both Sunnis and Christian neighborhoods, destroying mosques and churches, without any hesitation."
Said Abdulhamid, "The truth of what is happening in Syria is quite simple: Assad and his militias are trying to re-subjugate their opponents using all means at their disposal, including resorting to ethnic cleansing along the coast and in central Syria in preparation for a possible breakup of the country."
He also stated that Assad and his supporters realize "they have lost control of major swathes of the country, and that they're opponents are committed to staying the course until Assad is brought down."
For this reason, Abdulhamid said, "...They are carving out a territory that will remain, by virtue of its ethnic makeup, completely loyal to Assad, and so it can serve as a base that will keep the Assad as active players in the regional scene even after the state falls apart."
He added, "With the help of Russia and Iran, Assad is creating a win-win scenario for himself: reestablishing control over all the country, or becoming the undisputed leader of an critical chunk of it that might be declared as an independent state at a certain point in the future."