World powers are racing against time to prevent all-out civil war in Syria, UN leader Ban Ki-moon warned, as a watchdog on Tuesday reported more killings of civilians by Syrian security forces.
Speaking ahead of a key United Nations Security Council meeting on Syria on Tuesday, Ban again condemned the “brutality” of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces but said attacks by opposition groups have also “escalated.” “We are in a race against time to prevent full-scale civil war — death on a potentially massive scale,” Ban said. The UN already estimates that well over 9,000 people have died in the 14-month uprising against Assad while rights groups have put the number at more than 11,000. “The government continues to assault its people,” the UN secretary-general told the Atlantic Council think-tank in Washington on Monday. The UN chief also criticised the Syrian government for holding parliamentary elections on Monday while violence still raged and for failing to involve all parties.
But Iran, a staunch ally of the Assad regime, said the elections were a step towards reform and criticised opposition groups for boycotting them. At least 25 people were killed in violence across Syria as the vote was taking place and on Tuesday three more people were killed by regime forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Troops swept through Al-Tamanaa village in Idlib province during the night, firing shells and bursts of gunfire in which a man and a 50-year-old woman were killed, the Britain-based watchdog said. Another civilian died by sniper fire in the central city of Homs, it added. Regime forces also carried out raids and arrests in the town of Douma in Damascus province, taking a group of young men to an undisclosed location, according to the Observatory.
Gunfire and shelling by regime troops was also reported in the town of Qalaat al-Madiq, in the central province of Hama. Activist Mohammad al-Doumani told AFP via Skype that about 500 regime troops were deployed on Tuesday in some areas of Douma. General strikes continued into their second day in the towns of Taiba and Musaifra in southern Daraa province where anti-regime protests were also held, according to activists.
Nearly 12,000 killed in Syria revolt
Nearly 12,000 people, the majority of them civilians, have been killed in Syria since the outbreak in March 2011 of a revolt against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, a watchdog said Tuesday. Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that of those killed, some 800 had died since a UN-backed ceasefire went into effect on April 12. “A total 8,515 civilians have died since the outbreak of the revolt along with 3,410 soldiers, including some 720 army defectors,” Abdel Rahman told AFP.