lunes, 1 de octubre de 2012

Fresh attacks, but few answers in Syria - CNN

(CNN) -- Hours after world leaders painted a grim picture of the Syrian war, a new wave of attacks erupted Sunday. The bloody conflict rages -- as internal and international political initiatives make little apparent headway in the face of continued violence.

Here is the latest in the Syrian uprising.

Opposition: 30 found dead in Damascus basement

City dwellers fled from a Damascus neighborhood Sunday as mortar shells rained down in an intense attack by government forces, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.

Nationwide, the group claimed at least 154 were killed Sunday -- about half of them in and around the Middle Eastern country's capital.

Members of Lebanese security forces stand guard after escorting the newly released Aydin Tufan Tekin, a Turkish national abducted by a Lebanese Shiite clan in Beirut, to the Lebanese General Security in Beirut, on Tuesday, September 11. The hostage was a Turkish businessman abducted in mid-August, along with around 20 Syrians, to put pressure on rebels in Syria who had seized one of their kinsmen in Damascus.Members of Lebanese security forces stand guard after escorting the newly released Aydin Tufan Tekin, a Turkish national abducted by a Lebanese Shiite clan in Beirut, to the Lebanese General Security in Beirut, on Tuesday, September 11. The hostage was a Turkish businessman abducted in mid-August, along with around 20 Syrians, to put pressure on rebels in Syria who had seized one of their kinsmen in Damascus.

The LCC reported the discovery of 30 bodies in a Damascus basement and another eight at a military hospital in Damascus. In another incident at a hospital in a Damascus suburb, government forces stormed a building and seized a number of wounded, the LCC said.

The group also said regime forces executed a family in Deir Ezzor, including two men, a woman and four children. They were among at least 41 reported killed in the eastern Syrian province.

State news: 'Terrorist group' kills 17 outside Homs

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that "an armed terrorist group" killed more than 17 people and kidnapped "a number of" others in what it characterized as a "massacre" in the village of al-Haidariaya in Homs province.

Men, armed with machine guns and mortar shells, launched the attack early Sunday and, after it, looted parts of the village, according to SANA.

The same report pointed to clashes with members of a "terrorist group" in two neighborhoods in the city of Homs, with government forces killing an unspecified number of "terrorists."

The government has consistently referred to anti-government forces as terrorists.

State media reported that government forces also targeted "terrorists and their vehicles" in Aleppo, including launching attacks near a retirement home and a local athletics institute in the northern Syrian city. SANA said that those killed include "a Turkish terrorist who led an armed terrorist group."

An unnamed military source said, according to SANA, that armed forces uncovered opposition weapons in old irrigation canals near a mill in Harasta, in the Damascus countryside. "Terrorists" converted an underwear factory in the same city into a base, the source said.

And in the city of Qamishli, on Syria's border with Turkey, a car bomb explosion left four civilians dead and "many others" injured, SANA reported.

U.S. warns Iran: Stop arming Syria

Diplomatic efforts: Sympathy, but no answers

Diplomats attending the U.N. General Assembly worked the sidelines last week in New York to seek solutions to the Syrian crisis.

"What has the international community done to stop this carnage?" Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu asked. "Literally nothing. We have yet to see a single effective action to save innocent lives."

Turkey is providing shelter for 90,000 Syrian refugees.

Germany also slammed the U.N. Security Council for failure to act. The failure has led Western and Arab nations, including the United States and Turkey, to form a "Friends of Syria" initiative.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced $30 million for humanitarian aid and $15 million for communications gear and training for unarmed Syrian opposition groups.

Background: The toll of Syria's civil war -- so far

The Syrian conflict broke out in March 2011 after unarmed protesters, inspired by the success of popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, took to the streets demanding political reform.

The movement devolved into an armed conflict after a brutal and continuing crackdown by government forces.

Since the unrest began, more than 30,000 people have died, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Syrian rebels claim knowledge of WMD sites

Diplomat to U.N.: Security Council has failed in Syria

CNN's Hamdi Alkhshali contributed to this report.

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