Syrian air raids end truce that never was

Citizen journalist, 29 October 2012. The “ground zero” devastation inflicted by Syrian regime airstrikes and artillery shelling on Harasta, a north-eastern suburb of the capital Damascus.

Citizen journalist, 29 October 2012. Despite the regime’s savage bombardment of rebel-held areas in Damascus, residents take to the streets of the capital’s Rukn el-Din neighbourhood to sing their opposition to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.

 

by news agencies via The National

30 October 2012

article abridged

UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi expressed his regret yesterday at the failure of the four-day Eid truce in Syria as regime warplanes launched the most intense air raids since the uprising began 19 months ago.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the Syrian military was trying to compensate for recent losses on the ground with air strikes.

“Today has seen the most intense air raids across Syria since the start of the uprising,” he said.

“More than 100 buildings have been destroyed, some levelled to the ground,” said opposition activist Moaz Al Shami, who said he had witnessed three air raids in the northeastern suburb of Harasta alone. “Whole neighbourhoods are deserted … There is no food, water, electricity or telephones.”

The Damascus air raids followed what residents said were failed attempts by troops to storm eastern parts of the city.

“Tanks are deployed around Harat Al Shwam but they haven’t been able to go in. They tried a week ago,” said an activist who lives near the area.

The Observatory also reported clashes and shelling in other parts of the country including the northwestern province of Idlib that borders Turkey, where it said warplanes carried out 11 air raids on several villages.

Each side blamed the other for breaking the truce.

Mr Brahimi, who will soon visit Beijing, said the renewed violence in Syria would not discourage him.

“The support of Russia and other members of the Security Council is indispensable,” he said.

Russia and China have vetoed three Western-backed UN draft resolutions condemning the regime of Bashar Al Assad’s government for the violence.

Beijing, keen to show it does not take sides in Syria, has urged Damascus to talk to the opposition and meet demands for political change. It has advocated a transitional government.

Asked whether the United Nations might send peacekeepers to Syria, Mr Brahimi said: “There is no plan for the moment to send a peacekeeping mission, but just the contingency planning, because this may indeed become a possibility in the future.”

Big power rifts have paralysed UN action over Syria, but Mr Al Assad’s political and armed opponents are also deeply divided.

Syrian opposition figures, including Free Syrian Army commanders, started three days of talks in Istanbul yesterday in the latest attempt to unite the disparate groups.