7/29/2019 Arming Syria Rebels Would Be Illegal - The Nation
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A regime air strike targeted the Baba Amr area of Homs city on
Wednesday, four days afterrebels infiltrated the district which has
seen some of the fiercest battles in Syria's two-year-oldrevolt, a
watchdog said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said
two children werekilled by mortar fire in Damascus.
Other clashes raged near the sensitive border with Lebanon, it
said, while the regime's
intelligence forces used heavy machine-gun fire to target rebel
enclaves around the ancient cityof Palmyra. Rebel forces have
re-entered Baba Amr a year after the district fell back into
armycontrol.
Clashes have also raged in parts of the southwestern district of
Homs, while rebels in the heartof Syria's third city are reportedly
holding out against an escalated army offensive aimed atcrushing
the insurgency there. Rebels and troops have both sustained heavy
losses over thepast week in the city of central Syria, according to
the Observatory.
In the capital, at least five people, among them two children,
were killed and 30 wounded whenmortar rounds crashed into Fahameh
district near the conflict-torn area of Kfar Sousa, said
theObservatory.
In the northern city of Aleppo, warplanes carried out several
strikes near Minnigh air base, thescene of fierce fighting since
rebels launched an all-out campaign to seize airports in
theprovince on February 12.
Wednesday's violence came a day after at least 110 people were
killed across the country, theObservatory said.
The United Nations says that Syria's conflict has left at least
70,000 people dead since mid-March 2011.
The UN has halted peacekeeping patrols in the Golan Heights amid
fears that fallout from the
Syrian war could cause more countries to withdraw from its
force, diplomats said Wednesday.The abduction last week of 21
Philippine members of the United Nations DisengagementObserver
Force (UNDOF), which has monitored a ceasefire zone between Syria
and Israelsince 1974, has heightened security fears.
Canada, Japan and Croatia have withdrawn their contingents in
recent months leaving only thePhilippines, Austria and India in
UNDOF.
Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla on Wednesday
visited a camp for Syrian refugeesin northern Jordan as part of a
trip to the Middle East, an official said. The royal couple
touredthe United Nations-run King Abdullah Park refugee camp near
the border with Syria that hostsabout 1,000 Syrians who have fled
the war in their country, said the Jordanian government
official.
Humanitarian agencies also pleaded with governments to make good
on pledges of aid forSyrian refugees, saying they were swamped by
demand with a fifth of the country now living inmisery.
With four million Syrians, out of a total population of 20
million, now in need of assistance "theneeds are overwhelming and
there are numerous challenges," said Joel Charny, vice presidentof
InterAction.
