Arab League Observers in Damascus. New bloodshed in Homs
In the city reports of a bombing with 30 people dead. A video shows dead bodies. Some observers want to go to Homs, but do not have freedom to move.
Damascus (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A group of 50 Arab League observers arrived yesterday evening in Syria to try to find a way to end the violence that has bloodied the country for nine months. But also yesterday news and images spread of new massacres in Homs, a hotbed of maximum resistance to the Assad regime.
The 50 observers, including 10 Egyptians, have to verify the situation on the ground, oversee the removal of security forces from the cities, the release of imprisoned civilians, stop the violence.
The Syrian National Council - which includes opposition to Assad, based abroad - say that some observers are already in Homs, but "can not go anywhere the authorities do not want them to go."
According to the UN, the nine months of violence have caused at least 5 000 deaths. The government accuses "armed gangs" of killing soldiers who want to restore order in the country. But the opposition says that the majority of civilian deaths at the hands of the army to quell the riots. The statements from both sides are difficult to verify because there are no independent sources: the majority of foreign journalists were expelled at the beginning of the demonstrations.
Yesterday the opposition released a video showing tanks bombing Homs (see photo), in which 30 people died. Another video focuses on the bodies of four young men and a woman killed in a bloodbath (SEE HERE).
The activists accuse the government of having transferred the prisoners to military bases - where observers can not go - and hiding the corpses from the streets of Homs and the morgue. The Reuters news agency quotes a resident of Homs, which states that there is "violence on both sides."
According to the opposition, Syria has accepted the Arab League observers - under strict conditions of control - to prevent the UN Security Council from a discussion on the situation in Syria.
The 50 observers, including 10 Egyptians, have to verify the situation on the ground, oversee the removal of security forces from the cities, the release of imprisoned civilians, stop the violence.
The Syrian National Council - which includes opposition to Assad, based abroad - say that some observers are already in Homs, but "can not go anywhere the authorities do not want them to go."
According to the UN, the nine months of violence have caused at least 5 000 deaths. The government accuses "armed gangs" of killing soldiers who want to restore order in the country. But the opposition says that the majority of civilian deaths at the hands of the army to quell the riots. The statements from both sides are difficult to verify because there are no independent sources: the majority of foreign journalists were expelled at the beginning of the demonstrations.
Yesterday the opposition released a video showing tanks bombing Homs (see photo), in which 30 people died. Another video focuses on the bodies of four young men and a woman killed in a bloodbath (SEE HERE).
The activists accuse the government of having transferred the prisoners to military bases - where observers can not go - and hiding the corpses from the streets of Homs and the morgue. The Reuters news agency quotes a resident of Homs, which states that there is "violence on both sides."
According to the opposition, Syria has accepted the Arab League observers - under strict conditions of control - to prevent the UN Security Council from a discussion on the situation in Syria.
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