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February 2012

Daily News Brief

22 February 2012

 

Idlib and Homs share spike in death toll
Local Coordination Committees say the number of dead across Syria yesterday rose to 106,  including 10 children, 3 women and 5 defected recruits. In Idlib city 55 were killed, and 45 in Homs.

SANA reports that government forces yesterday arrested a number of “terrorists” and killed others who were “terrifying citizens, attacking law-enforcement members and stealing state and private properties in the northern province of Idleb”.

Authorities clashed with an “armed terrorist group” in Douma city and killed four of its members including some of the most wanted men and the leader of the group, SANA says.

Reuters, quoting the opposition Syrian Network for Human Rights, says troops and militiamen loyal to President al-Assad killed at least 27 young men yesterday when they raided the villages of Iblin and Balshon in Idlib province. The young men, all civilians, were mostly shot in the head or chest in their homes or in the streets, activists said.

Al-Arabiya reported this morning that the Syrian Revolution General Commission says that French photographer Remi Ochlik, and American-born journalist Mari Colvin, who worked for the British Sunday Times, were killed in the Baba Amr district in Homs. Three other journalists were also reportedly injured. Shells hit their house, and a rocket hit them while they were escaping, activists say.

Saudi daily Al-Hayat reports that the Observatory for Human Rights has said in a statement that the Syrian security forces opened fire on “the Faculty of Science at the University of Aleppo to disperse...about 2,500 protesters [who] raised the independence flag.”

Homs humanitarian crisis worsens
Moulham al-Jundi, a member of the Syrian National Council who has been smuggled into Homs told Reuters that "the army prevents first aid or medical supplies from going in [to Homs] and electricity is cut off 15 hours a day." Jundi, who lives in exile in Saudi Arabia, added “a way has to be found to ensure that medicine and basic supplies reach Homs. There are no hospitals, no schools, no work, no government departments open and most shops are shut," he said.

However SANA says that people in Homs province told the agency that food and services are available in Homs. They also stressed that “bakeries have flour and gas oil is also available as well as all other materials”. SANA reiterated that the “provocative” international news channels are telling lies.

Meanwhile the leader of the opposition Free Syrian Army has welcomed a call by the Red Cross for a daily truce of two hours to deliver vital aid Al-Jazeera reports. "We welcome this call," Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad told the AFP news agency by telephone. Asaad however said that “the regime is criminal and it would not implement (such a truce)."

Russia turns down invitation to Friends of Syria meeting
In Moscow, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman said yesterday Russia will not attend the planned "Friends of Syria" meeting because organizers did not invite Syrian government representatives, Lebanon’s Daily Star reports. Spokesman Lukashevich said the meeting “looks like an attempt to forge some kind of international coalition like…a 'Contact Group' for Libya." China has yet to clarify its intentions.

Anti-government demonstration in Gaza
Al- Hayat reports that “hundreds” of Palestinians took part in a demonstration in Gaza in Palestine yesterday chanting slogans demanding the overthrow of the Syrian regime. London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi says the demonstration was approved by the Hamas government, according to organizer Hassan Abu Shanab.