BUCKNACKT'S SORDID TAWDRY BLOG
We should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive & well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate, bier or wein in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WHOO-HOO, WHAT A RIDE!!!!!!"
BULLSHIT! Remember the lies from the bush administration, that we would be welcomed in Iraq with open arms, the operation would be short and sweet and the new Iraqi government would pay us for liberating the nation? To quote from the article below "At that same hearing, Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers that Arab nations have said, "they'll carry [the] cost" of an operation." Why don't these Arab nations just accept responsibility for one of their own and take action? They must have the money, God, or Allah, knows they aren't spending it on the humanitarian needs of the Syrian refugees. If we have extra money in the Defense budget let's apply it to meeting the needs of our vets. This from HuffPost
WASHINGTON -- A limited United States intervention in Syria would not require a supplemental appropriations bill from Congress, an Obama administration official told The Huffington Post on Wednesday.
The official's assessment that a narrowly tailored operation could be paid for with "existing Department of Defense resources" was seconded by two high-ranking aides on Capitol Hill.
However, another Hill staffer argued that without a greater understanding of the operation, it would be impossible to settle on an exact price tag or means of payment.
"Who the f--- knows what it will cost? It depends entirely on what happens," said the staffer.
Those unknowns are becoming a bit clearer as Congress considers the Authorization for Use of Military Force resolution. The Senate, in particular, narrowed the initial administration request to ensure that U.S. involvement in Syria is not open-ended and has a limited scope. The measure would limit any operation to 60 days with a one-time option to extend it 30 additional days unless Congress voted otherwise. It would also bar ground troops from being used in "combat operations."
Those specifications have made officials more comfortable stating that the Syria mission will not cost the U.S. taxpayer any more money than what already has been appropriated. One of the high-ranking Hill aides -- a Senate Democratic appropriator -- told The Huffington Post that "the overseas contingency operations fund is likely the place where this stuff will come from."
That fund, which exists to support combat operations abroad and is exempted from the DOD's baseline budget proposal, stood at $86.5 billion in fiscal year 2013. The DOD submitted a request of $79.4 billion for FY 2014 while asking lawmakers to allow the Pentagon to "reprogram" $9.6 billion in FY13 funds. The reduction in the budget request this year is owed in large part to a reduction in U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Larry Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a one-time assistant secretary of defense, said he also doesn't believe additional taxpayer funds would be needed to fund a Syria intervention.
“Obviously, it depends on what you do. But the incremental costs of the war in Libya was about $1 billion and that went on for quite a while,” said Korb. “You might have to get permission from Congress to move money around [within the existing budgets] but really the cost is not going to be that great.”
The cost of any Syria intervention worries lawmakers. With budget battles on the horizon and many lawmakers, primarily in the Republican Party, preaching the need for more spending cuts, the reason for spending precious resources on a bombing operation overseas has taken on increased significance.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was pressed on precisely this point during a House Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday, and asked if a supplemental appropriations bill would be necessary. He declined to give a straight answer, noting that it would depend on the nature of the operation. Later, he estimated the costwould be tens of millions of dollars. At that same hearing, Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers that Arab nations have said, "they'll carry [the] cost" of an operation.
THE president just announced he will seek the approval of Congress for military action in Syria, so the struggle now becomes even more focused on persuading Congress to reject the call for military action in Syria and to impeach the Pres Obama if he decides to ignore a decision by Congress against military action. We must not become militarily involved in Syria's civil war. This from NPR and the Washington Post.....
President Obama said Saturday he had decided to take military action against Syria in response to its use of chemical weapons, but that he will seek a congressional mandate for the action that could come "tomorrow, next week or one month from now."
Speaking from the Rose Garden, the president said he believed that he had the authority to act without Congress, but said he thinks "our country will be better off" if he had it.
"After careful deliberation, I have decided that the United States should take military action," Obama said. "I am prepared to give that order."
The president said he had spoken "with all four congressional leaders" on Saturday and that he had been assured that a debate could take place soon to authorize military action.
He said the U.S. had a moral obligation to act to show that "we do what we say" and that "right makes might and not the other way around."
He challenged lawmakers to consider "what message will we send to a dictator" if Syria's use of chemical weapons were allowed to go unpunished.
"I know well that we are weary of war," Obama said. "We ended a war in Iraq, we are ending another in Afghanistan."
"That's why we are not contemplating putting our troops in the middle of someone else's war," he said.
President Obama said Saturday that the United States has decided to use military force against Syria, saying last week’s alleged chemical weapons attack there was “an attack on human dignity,” but that he has decided to seek congressional authorization for such a strike.
The announcement appeared to put off an imminent cruise missile attack on Syria and opens the door to what will almost certainly be a contentious and protracted debate.
Obama’s remarks came as senior administration officials were making a fresh round of calls to congressional leaders on Saturday in an effort to bolster support for a potential military strike on Syria, officials said.
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were among the administration officials expected to speak to key members of Congress on Saturday afternoon, amid signs that the White House is close to ordering an attack on Syria to admonish it for its alleged use of chemical weapons last week.
“We’re continuing to weigh our options,” a senior U.S. official said. “We’re confident in our analysis that the United States and our allies can handle any contingencies that come as a result of military action should it be chosen by the president.”
Hagel, who returned to Washington on Friday night after a week-long trip to Asia, had substantive discussions while on his way home with Obama, as well as with his French and Israeli counterparts, said the official, who would discuss the administration’s efforts only on the condition of anonymity.
As key allies and members of Congress have raised concerns about and objections to U.S. military involvement in Syria’s messy civil war, the White House appears to be carefully weighing the risks of launching an attack that would likely be carried out with cruise missiles. The priority Saturday appeared to be bolstering support for the operation on Capitol Hill, where key members have expressed strong reservations and called on the White House to fully consult with Congress before authorizing a strike.
“We have a financial crisis in our military,” Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Thursday after being briefed by an administration official. “Several members agreed with me that whatever is decided upon, it’s going to take military resources that are at decreased readiness levels due to a lack of funding.”
White House officials have said they are only contemplating a limited, brief strike and have pushed back on the contention that such a move could drag the United States into a new prolonged conflict in the Middle East.
Graphic
A map of the alleged chemical attack sites in Damascus
REVOLUTIONS are not neat and tidy affairs, consider ours, it lasted from 1775 to 1783. There were disputes among the political leadership as well as economic and religious leaders, and the individual political entities (that would become the 13 states). Participants in the Second Continental Congress came and went, states threatened not to join the new nation, and foreign powers sought to influence, through force, money and weapons, the type of nation our Founding Fathers would finally establish. Syria's revolution is two years old. It has been brutal and bloody and has cost the lives of too many Syrians and brought incalculable harm and destruction to Syria's culture, society, and economy. The resignation of Moaz al-Khatib may be a setback, or maybe not. But this is Syria's revolution, and the ultimately the people of Syria will determine the destiny of their new nation. We should provide adequate assistance for the huge number of refugees to alleviate their suffering and adequate non-lethal military assistance to the Free Syrian Army to allow them to concentrate on being an affective military force and not a rag-tag band of rebels who have to spend their time foraging and looting from the very people they seek to liberate from the repression and brutality of assad. And the question of weapons for the Free Syrian Army? Arm the Free Syrian Army under the control of the military leadership loyal to the Syrian Opposition Coalition with the weapons they need to defeat assad and bring the suffering of the Syrian people to an end. This will be messy, but we need to do what we can to bring the suffering of the Syrian people to an end as soon as possible. From the Washington Post.....
BEIRUT — Syria’s opposition coalition was on the verge of collapse Sunday after its president resigned and rebel fighters rejected its choice to head an interim government, leaving a U.S.-backed effort to forge a united front against President Bashar al-Assad in tatters.
The resignation of Moaz al-Khatib, a moderate Sunni preacher who heads the Syrian Opposition Coalition, climaxed a bitter internal fight over a range of issues, from the appointment of an interim government to a proposal by Khatib to launch negotiations with the Syrian regime.
His departure plunged the opposition into disarray at a time when the United States and its Western allies are stepping up their support for moderates opposed to Assad’s regime. Khatib’s coalition was expected to play a key role in identifying the recipients and channeling the assistance.
The coalition later issued a statement saying that its members had rejected Khatib’s resignation and had asked him to continue in a “management” capacity, leaving his status unclear. Though Khatib’s suggestion earlier this year that the opposition should negotiate with Assad’s regime met with fierce resistance from other coalition members, he is widely liked by many Syrians inside the country who desperately want to see an end to the violence.
There nonetheless seems to be little doubt that an initiative launched last fall in the Qatari capital, Doha, to create an inclusive and representative opposition body is falling apart, said Amr al-Azm, a history professor at Shawnee State University in Ohio who is Syrian and supports the opposition.
“The coalition is on verge of disintegrating,” he said. “It’s a big mess.”
The trigger for Khatib’s departure was the selection last week of Ghassan Hitto, a relatively unknown Syrian-born U.S. citizen, to head a proposed interim government. Khatib and his supporters had opposed the creation of an interim government at this time, as had the United States, whose diplomats argued against the move on the grounds that it created an unnecessarily divisive distraction from the goal of bringing down Assad’s regime, according to Syrian opposition members.
Hitto’s candidacy was backed, however, by the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the push to install him as Syria’s first opposition prime minister was widely seen as an effort by the Brotherhood to claw back some of the influence lost when the original Syrian opposition body, the Syrian National Council, was absorbed into the wider Syrian coalition.
A dozen members last week suspended their membership in the coalition to protest Hitto’s appointment, and on Saturday, the defected general who heads the Supreme Military Council of the mainstream Free Syrian Army also rejected the choice, saying the rebels would accept only a “consensus” candidate for the job.
“We unequivocally declare that the Free Syrian Army, in all of its formations . . . conditions its support and cooperation on the achievement of a political agreement on the name of a prime minister,” Gen. Salim Idriss said in a videotaped statement.
Khatib’s resignation came hours after Qatar, which has close ties to the Brotherhood and also supported Hitto’s appointment, formally invited Hitto to represent Syria at an Arab League summit in Doha next week. Khatib referred only obliquely to the furor over Hitto’s appointment, saying he had resigned “so that I can work freely,” something that is not possible “within the official institutions.”
He also hinted at his frustration with the international community, which has failed to offer wholehearted support to the Syrian revolution even as individual countries compete to secure influence over the different factions opposing Assad’s regime.
“Who is ready to obey, [those countries] will support him,” he said. “And those who refuse to obey endure starvation and siege.”
The upheaval is indeed as much an indictment of splits within the international community over whom to support within the opposition as it is of the divisions among Syrians themselves, said Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar. With the United States, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and others each favoring different factions, it is hardly surprising, he said, that the opposition is failing to unite.
“We cannot continue trying to forge these kind of coalitions with these kinds of tactics,” he said. “In this case, it has brought about a very serious crisis in the Syrian opposition.”
Meanwhile, Shaikh added, the Islamist groups that have emerged as the most effective fighters in the battle for control of Syria also are stepping up to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of governance in areas captured by the rebels, a role the West had been hoping the new coalition would fulfill.
“The irony is that it’s the Islamists and the extremists who are assuming more and more control,” Shaikh said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/syrian-opposition-in-disarray-as-its-leader-resigns/2013/03/24/16523304-94ba-11e2-95ca-dd43e7ffee9c_story.html?hpid=z1
Syrian flashpoints of the 13-month uprising
against President Bashar Assad were quiet Thursday, activists said,
suggesting a U.N.-brokered truce was starting to take hold and the
regime was keeping a pledge to halt its assault on opposition
strongholds.
However, in a sign of a
continued clampdown, activists said troops and tanks were seen
patrolling restive areas Thursday in violation of the truce plan by
U.N.-Arab league envoy Kofi Annan, who demanded that Syrian forces
return to their barracks.
And expectations
for a durable cease-fire remained low since the government has broken
promises in the past and says it reserves the right to respond to
attacks — potentially an easy pretext for evading compliance.
Under
Annan's internationally backed initiative, a Thursday morning
cease-fire is to be followed by the deployment of international
observers and talks between the regime and the opposition on a political
transition.
However, the Syrian opposition
and its supporters in the West remain skeptical about the regime's
intentions, since a cease-fire could encourage large numbers of
protesters to flood the streets, as they did at the start of the revolt
against the four-decade rule of the Assad clan. The government met those
demonstrations with a harsh crackdown, and bloodshed since then has
claimed more than 9,000 lives.
Still, opposition activists said the 6 a.m. Thursday truce deadline passed without reports of major violence.
Rami
Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights, said all of Syria's flashpoints in the central provinces of Hama
and Homs, the northern regions of Idlib and Aleppo, the capital
Damascus and its suburbs, as well as Daraa to the south and Deir el-Zour
to the east were quiet.
"Nothing is happening in these hotspots so far," said Abdul-Rahman.
However, Syrian troops, tanks and armored personnel carriers continued to patrol several opposition strongholds, activists said.
"Checkpoints
and tanks were not withdrawn," said Maath al-Shami, a Damascus-based
activist. "They are still as they were but there has so far been no
shooting since six in the morning."
Assad apparently is unwilling to ease control over opposition areas for fear of widespread anti-government protests.
A
major test could come on Friday, the day of weekly anti-government
marches. Since the outbreak of the protests in March 2011, thousands
have taken to the streets after Friday Muslim noon prayers to demand
Assad's ouster.
The government denies that it
is facing a popular uprising, claiming instead that terrorists are
carrying out a foreign conspiracy to destroy Syria. In pledging
Wednesday to observe the cease-fire, the government set a major
condition, saying troops reserve the right to defend themselves if
attacked.
The rebel Free Syrian Army has said
it will abide by the cease-fire. But the opposition is not well
organized, and there are growing fears of groups looking to exploit the
chaos.
The lull reported Thursday was the first break in fighting in more than two months.
Syrian
troops have been on a major offensive since late January when they
attacked rebel-held areas around the capital Damascus. During the first
week of February, Assad's forces began a major campaign to retake the
Baba Amr neighborhood in the city of Homs that fell in the hands of the
regime in early March.
Since then, Assad's
forces have been retaking major rebel-held areas including the city of
Idlib as well as many towns around the country. Troops also now control
much of the areas that border Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq making it
more difficult for refugees to leave the country. Despite the regime
gains, rebels still held some areas, including spots in the province of
Homs, Hama, Daraa.
In the city of Homs,
activist Tarek Badrakhan said no explosions or shelling were heard since
10 p.m. Wednesday, but that army vehicles were still in the streets on
Thursday. Homs has been battered by daily shelling for the past three
weeks, and Badrakhan said many homes in his neighborhood of Khaldiyeh
were damaged or destroyed.
A cease-fire could pose a major risk for the Assad regime.
Many
activists predict that huge numbers of protesters would flood the
streets if Assad pulls his forces back to barracks. The military
crackdown over the past year succeeded in preventing protesters from
recreating the fervor of Egypt's Tahrir Square, where hundreds of
thousands of people camped out in a powerful show of dissent that drove
longtime leader Hosni Mubarak from power.
On Wednesday, the White House cautioned that the Assad regime has reneged on promises to stop the violence in the past.
"What
is important to remember is that we judge the Assad's regime by its
actions and not by their promises, because their promises have proven so
frequently in the past to be empty," White House spokesman Jay Carney
told reporters in Washington.
Annan is scheduled to brief the U.N. Security Council on Thursday by videoconference from Geneva.
Western
powers have pinned their hopes on Annan's plan, in part because they
are running out of options. The U.N. has ruled out any military
intervention of the type that helped bring down Libya's Moammar Gadhafi,
and several rounds of sanctions and other attempts to isolate Assad
have done little to stop the bloodshed.
Saudi
Arabia and Qatar have called for arming the rebels, but even if they
follow through there is no guarantee that such efforts could cripple
Assad's well-armed regime. http://www.npr.org/2012/04/12/150473941/lull-in-syria-fighting-after-un-truce-deadline
The early word
from Syria is that "flashpoints of the 13-month uprising against
President Bashar Assad were quiet Thursday ... suggesting a
U.N.-brokered truce was starting to take hold and the regime was keeping
a pledge to halt its assault on opposition strongholds," The Associated Press reports.
Still, NPR's Grant Clark reports from
Beirut that some activists inside Syria say government forces did fire
at least a few shells toward a suburb of Damascus and that there were
other ceasefire violations by government forces in Idlib and Hama
provinces. No casualties have been reported, Grant also tells our
Newscast Desk. Al-Jazeera starts its report with this:
"An
internationally brokered ceasefire in Syria has come into effect with
few reports of violence, but the government has not begun withdrawing
troops and armored vehicles from civilian areas, leaving a key part of
the peace plan unfulfilled."
The Guardian, which is live blogging as the day continues, calls the mood in Syria "tense" as the ceasefire hopefully goes into effect. Voice of America's headline says an "uneasy quiet" has descended on Syria. Update at 10:50 a.m. ET. Annan "Encouraged."
This
statement has been sent to reporters on behalf of former U.S. Secretary
General Kofi Annan, who brokered the ceasefire deal:
"I
am encouraged by reports that the situation in Syria is relatively
quiet and that the cessation of hostilities appears to be holding.
"Syria
is apparently experiencing a rare moment of calm on the ground. This is
bringing much-needed relief and hope to the Syrian people who have
suffered so much for so long in this brutal conflict. This must now be
sustained. All parties have obligations to implement fully the 6-point
plan. This includes both the military provisions of the plan and the
commitment to move to a political process. I urge all Syrian to seize
this opportunity.
"The international community is determined to work with the Syrian people to support this process.
"The
Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, will be asking the Security Council for
approval of the deployment of a U.N. Observer Mission as soon as
possible. This will allow us to move quickly to launch a serious
political dialogue that will address the concerns and aspirations of the
Syrian people.
"This is the time for
all Syrians to come together in the hope that they can begin to heal
their wounds and initiate a political transition to a democratic, plural
political system, in which citizens have equal rights and equal
opportunities, regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or
beliefs."
UPDATES on the continuing syrian government violence against it's citizens and the defections of government officials and army generals. Click the links to access more information on the blog post below, from HuffPost.....
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
AMMAN, March 9 (Reuters) - Syrian tanks fired on opposition districts in Homs on Friday, killing four people, activists said, ahead of a mission by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to end a year-long conflict edging into civil war.
Opponents of President Bashar al-Assad said they were planning to show their strength in the streets after weekly Muslim prayers, but the tankfire kept many indoors in Homs.
They said nationwide protests would mark the anniversary of Kurdish unrest in northeastern Syria in 2004 that was crushed by security forces with about 30 people killed.
SCROLL DOWN FOR LIVE UPDATES
Annan has called for dialogue to reach a political solution, but opposition figures chided him for a proposal they said would only give Assad's forces more time to crush his foes.
Rifts among big powers have blocked any U.N. action to resolve the crisis, with China and Russia firmly opposing any measure that might lead to Libya-style military intervention.
China welcomed the former U.N. chief's mission. "We hope that Mr Annan uses his wisdom and experience to push for all sides in Syria to end their violence and start the process of peace talks," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said.
China, which despatched an envoy to Syria this week, said on Friday it would send an assistant foreign minister to the Middle East and to France to discuss the crisis. Beijing has told other powers not to use humanitarian aid to "intefere" in Syria.
Russia, an old ally of Damascus and its main arms supplier, has defended Assad against critics of his bloody crackdown, twice joining China in vetoing U.N. resolutions on Syria.
"We shall not support any resolution that gives any basis for the use of force against Syria," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov tweeted late on Thursday.
A Russian diplomat said Assad was battling al Qaeda-backed "terrorists" including at least 15,000 foreign fighters who would seize cities if government troops withdrew.
RUSSIAN ROLE
Moscow could play a vital role in any diplomatic effort to ease Assad from power and spare Syria further bloodletting.
"If (Annan) can persuade Russia to back a transitional plan, the regime would be confronted with the choice of either agreeing to negotiate in good faith or facing near-total isolation through loss of a key ally," the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a paper this week.
In Damascus, security forces killed a civilian overnight when residents of the Kfar Souseh district shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) from their homes, activists said.
The funeral of Mohammad Sarayji, 30, was due to take place at noon, an occasion likely to lead to further protests.
The state news agency SANA said "huge crowds" had turned out in Damascus and the northeastern city of Hassaka to show support for Assad's reforms and opposition to "foreign interference".
Syrian security forces have already killed well over 7,500 people since the anti-Assad uprising began a year ago, according to a U.N. estimate. The government said in December that "armed terrorists" had killed more than 2,000 soldiers and police.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 18 more killed on Thursday, while the grassroots Local Coordination Committees put the death toll at 62, including 44 people it said had been slain in cold blood in Homs.
U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos was visiting Syrian refugees in border camps in Turkey after her trip to Syria, where she found scenes of destruction in Homs but few civilians in the battered former rebel bastion of Baba Amr.
Annan has an impressive record as a mediator, but he will need all his skills to halt Syria's slide into civil war.
"The killing has to stop and we need to find a way of putting in the appropriate reforms and moving forward," he said in Cairo where he met Arab Leage chief Nabil Elaraby. Annan said any further militarisation of the conflict would make it worse.
Syrian dissidents reacted with dismay and said government repression had destroyed prospects of a negotiated deal.
"We reject any dialogue while tanks shell our towns, snipers shoot our women and children and many areas are cut off from the world by the regime without electricity, communications or water," said Hadi Abdullah, an activist contacted in Homs.
The Syrian opposition denies any al Qaeda role in a popular uprising against nearly five decades of Baathist rule that erupted last March, inspired by Arab revolts elsewhere.
Assad's violent response to peaceful demonstrations prompted some Syrians, mostly lightly armed Sunni Muslim army deserters, to fight back in an unequal struggle against Assad's 300,000-strong military, secret police and feared Alawite militiamen.
Two rebel groups said four brigadier-generals had defected over the past three days to a camp for Syrian army deserters in Turkey. Earlier Syria's deputy oil minister became the first senior civilian official to announce his defection. (Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut, Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara, Sabrina Mao and Ben Blanchard in Beijing, Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow, Tom Miles in Geneva, Erika Solomon in Beirut; Writing by Alistair Lyon; editing by Janet McBride)
Syrian women and children take shelter from fierce fighting between the Free Syrian Army and government troops in Idlib, north Syria, Saturday, March 10, 2012. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Syria has begun to withdraw its ambassadors from European countries, Reuters reports. The Syrian government fears EU nations will expel the diplomats as Europe has been discussing a France-led proposal to downgrade diplomatic ties with the Assad regime.
An EU foreign policy spokesman told Reuters that "there is an ongoing discussion about the status of EU embassies in Syria and Syrian embassies in Brussels and in EU states, but there is no proposal at the moment to expel Syrian diplomats."
Read the full article.
It is unlikely that the UN Security Council will agree on a new resolution on Syria, the United States said on Friday. Reuters reports that State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that negotiations had made no progress.
Reuters reports:
"We are, frankly, not over optimistic that an agreed text will be reached in the future," Nuland told reporters. The U.S.-backed resolution follows two earlier proposed condemnations of Damascus that Russia and China vetoed. The council has remained deadlocked over Syria's military operations against pro-democracy protesters the United Nations says has killed over 7,500 civilians.
Nuland said the United States and its Arab partners would continue to press Moscow to change course and drop its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to attend an Arab League meeting in Cairo over the weekend, and he will meet U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday on the sidelines of a Security Council debate on the "Arab Spring" uprisings.
"This is now topic one, two and three in our conversation with Moscow," Nuland said.
"We would like to see Russia do what it can to put pressure, because as we've said, our concern is for the Syrian people. And it is time for Russia to stand with them."
The U.S.-drafted resolution at the United Nations came as Washington seeks to muster international support for an Arab League plan for a political transition in Syria that has drawn opposition primarily from Moscow but also from China.
HAGGLING OVER "BALANCE"
The U.S. draft, obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, demands "unhindered humanitarian access" and "condemns the continued widespread, systematic, and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities and demands that the Syrian government immediately put an end to such violations."
It also would have the council demand Syria release all persons detained arbitrarily and withdraw the military from cities, where security forces have sought to crush anti-government protests.
Russia and China proposed amendments to the U.S. draft that would have weakened it significantly, according to a Western diplomat.
Their amendments would have dropped calls for "further measures" if Damascus does not comply with the resolution and balanced calls on Syria to withdraw its troops from cities with a demand that rebel fighters simultaneously stop the violence, the diplomat said.
U.N. ambassadors from the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Morocco began discussing the draft on Tuesday.
Several Western diplomats had already expressed disappointment with the existing U.S. draft, saying it fell far short of an appropriately tough condemnation of the Assad government's nearly year-long clamp-down.
Russia and China said the main reason they vetoed a council resolution backing the Arab plan last month was because it was an attempt to push Libya-style "regime change" in Syria.
The United Nations estimates at least 25,000 Syrians have fled violence in their country since the start of the conflict in March 2011, Reuters reports. Spokesman for the UN refugee agency Adrian Edwards released the numbers on Friday.
Reuters summarizes:
TURKEY Some 12,000 Syrians are registered at several camps set up in Turkey's southern province of Hatay, including about 800 who crossed during the past week, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Two Syrian generals, a colonel and a sergeant were among 234 people who arrived in Hatay's Reyhanli district on Friday, a Foreign Ministry official told Reuters. Similar numbers were now crossing over on a daily basis, he said.
The previous U.N. estimate of the camp population in Turkey was 10,800, which Edwards said had been fairly steady over the past year.
LEBANON
In Lebanon, there are 4,000-5,000 Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, up from about 3,000 a few weeks ago.
On March 5, residents in the hillside town of Arsal in the Bekaa Valley told Reuters that up to 150 families had arrived from Syria the previous day, one of the biggest influxes so far. Those families trekked on foot through snow-capped hills to safety, but many others were caught, one refugee told Reuters.
In northern Lebanon, the UNHCR and the Lebanon High Relief Commission have jointly registered 7,000 refugees, including a few thousand in the city of Tripoli.
There are thought to be about 1,000 Syrian refugees in other parts of Lebanon.
JORDAN
About 4,500 Syrians have been registered over the last year, about 500 of them recent arrivals.
Activists say Syrian security forces have killed at least 21 people across Syria on Friday, including nine people who died after tank shelled the city of Homs.
"Thirty tanks entered my neighbourhood at seven this morning and they are using their cannons to fire on houses," Karam Abu Rabea, a resident of the Karm al-Zeitoun district in Homs told Reuters. "There is gunfire and they are using rocket-propelled grenades," he said.
THE latest from Homs, Syria and the governments brutal, bloody assault on the people trapped there by the violence. For all the condemnation around the world of the assad regime it disgust me there is unwillingness to take more aggressive action to completely isolate Syria until the government of assad leaves or is removed from power. Turkey and the Arab League should blockade Syria's ports of materials (weapons, fuel, ammunition) and prevent shipments to Syria through Lebanon by inspecting ship manifest and cargo. The oil tankers on the way to Syria from Venezuela should be prevented from entering a Syrian or Lebanese port. assad's tanks and armored vehicles can't move without fuel. Syrian Arab Airlines and all airlines flying to Syria should be denied fly-over rights by Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, and all other airlines should be pressured to stop all flights to Syria. Yes, all Syrians will suffer if a total blockade is enacted against Syria, but it will also serve to unify the opposition to assad. We just can not allow assad's government to continue their war crimes and crimes against humanity, the killing must end. This from HuffPost, click the link for more updates to the HuffPost Syria blog....
n this Thursday Feb. 23, 2012 photo, Syrian rebels gather in front of the remains of a burnt military vehicle belonging to Syrian government forces destroyed by Syrian rebels during a clashes at Khaldiyeh neighborhood in Homs province, Syria. (AP Photo)
BEIRUT — Syrian rebels retreated Thursday from a neighborhood in Homs that they had held for months, saying they were running out of weapons and humanitarian conditions were catastrophic after almost four weeks of government bombardment.
Within hours of the rebels' withdrawal, President Bashar Assad's government granted permission for the International Committee of the Red Cross to enter the besieged neighborhood of Baba Amr in Homs on Friday. Human rights workers have been appealing for access to Baba Amr for weeks.
"The ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent received today from the Syrian authorities the green light to enter Baba Amr tomorrow to bring in much-needed assistance including food and medical aid, and to carry out evacuation operations," spokesman Hicham Hassan told The Associated Press.
Also Thursday, Syria's main opposition group formed a military council to organize the armed resistance and funnel weapons to rebels, a sign of how deeply militarized the conflict has become over the past year as Syria veers closer to a civil war.
A Syrian official said Wednesday the government was planning a major offensive to "cleanse" rebel-held Baba Amr once and for all as activists reported troops massing outside the neighborhood in western Homs, a city that is a stronghold of the opposition and a symbol of the nearly year-old uprising to oust Assad.
The Baba Amr rebels brigade said they were pulling out to spare some 4,000 civilians who insisted on staying in their homes. They said the decision was based on "worsening humanitarian conditions, lack of food and medicine and water, electricity and communication cuts as well as shortages in weapons."
Homs is Syria's third-largest city with about 1 million people. Before the revolt began, activists estimated 100,000 people lived in Baba Amr. But many have fled over the past year and it is not clear how many people remain there.
The siege of Baba Amr has been among the deadliest of the uprising. Rebels had held the area for several months, but in early February, regime forces surrounded the neighborhood and began firing tank shells that slammed into homes and killed hundreds of people. Many of the wounded could not reach doctors, forcing residents to set up makeshift clinics for crowds of bloodied victims.
The relentless attacks disrupted electricity, Internet and telephone services.
Burhan Ghalioun, head of the opposition Syrian National Council, told a news conference in Paris that rebels have relocated from some areas but said the resistance in Baba Amr "is still strong." It was not immediately clear what escape route the rebels used.
Before the retreat was announced, Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the British-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said there was "fierce fighting" at the entrances to Baba Amr and troops have been unable to enter so far.
Syrian activists said government forces had cut off communications to Baba Amr, jamming satellite phone signals as they mass for an apparent ground assault. The neighborhood has been under siege for about four weeks and hundreds have died in shelling.
Authorities had previously blocked land and mobile phone lines, but activists were able to communicate with the outside world with satellite phones.
The activist Revolutionary Council of Homs said it could no longer reach anyone inside Baba Amr. All satellite signals were jammed, it said.
Ghalioun laid out the plans for a military council to organize and unify all armed resistance to Assad's regime.
The Paris-based leadership of the Syrian National Council said its plan was coordinated with the most potent armed opposition force – the Free Syrian Army – made up mainly of army defectors.
"The revolution started peacefully and kept up its peaceful nature for months, but the reality today is different and the SNC must shoulder its responsibilities in the face of this new reality," Ghalioun told reporters in Paris, saying any weapons flowing into the country should go through the council.
Still he tried to play down the risks of all-out civil war between the regime and the opposition.
"We want to control the use of weapons so that there won't be a civil war," he said. "Our aim is to help avoid civil war."
Civil war has been the worst-case scenario in Syria. Sectarian warfare is a real, terrifying possibility in a country with a fragile mix of ethnic groups including Sunnis, Shiites, Alawites, Christians, Kurds, Druse, Circassians, Armenians and more. Both sides have accused each other of leading the nation down the path of civil war. Ghalioun's comments made clear that he does not want the opposition to be blamed.
The SNC has called for arming rebels in the past, but this was the first time it sought to organize the fighters under one umbrella. But it was not clear how successful the SNC will be in unifying the various anti-Assad forces. The opposition's main problem over the past year has been its inability to coalesce behind a single leader or ideology beyond toppling the regime.
Meanwhile, international pressure on the regime has been growing more intense by the day. The U.N.'s top human rights body voted to condemn Syria for its "widespread and systematic violations" against civilians, and the U.K. and Switzerland closed their embassies in Damascus over worsening security. The U.S. closed its embassy in February.
But the U.S. has not advocated arming the rebels, in part out of fear it would create an even more bloody and prolonged conflict because of Syria's complex web of allegiances in the region that extend to Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The Syrian conflict began as mostly peaceful protests, which drew an iron-fisted military crackdown. But the revolt has turned increasingly militarized. There are near daily clashes between armed military defectors and government forces and the rebels have managed to capture and hold small pieces of territory, notably in and around Homs and along the northern border with Turkey.
Western powers trying to help the anti-government forces oust Assad have repeatedly stressed the importance of the fragmented opposition pulling together. The SNC announcement seemed to respond to those calls.
"The Military Bureau will track the armed opposition groups, organize and unify their ranks under one central command, defining their defense missions while placing them under the political supervision of the SNC, and coordinating their activities in accordance with the overall strategy of the revolution," the SNC said in a statement.
Members of the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday voted 37 in favor and three against a resolution proposed by Turkey that calls on Syria to immediately stop all attacks on civilians and grant unhindered access to aid groups.
Three members of the 47-nation body abstained and four didn't vote.
Russia, China and Cuba objected to the resolution.
The Geneva-based council's vote carries no legal weight but diplomats consider it a strong moral signal that may encourage a similar resolution in the powerful U.N. Security Council.
The U.N. estimated that more than 7,500 people have been killed since the anti-Assad struggle started in March 2011, when protesters inspired by successful Arab Spring uprisings against dictators in Tunisia and Egypt took to the streets in Syria. As Assad's forces used deadly force to stop the unrest, protests spread and some Syrians took up arms against the regime.
Activists put the total death toll at more than 8,000, most of them civilians.
In Kuwait, the parliament Thursday passed a non-binding resolution calling on the government to help arm the Syrian opposition and to break diplomatic ties with Assad's regime. A day earlier, parliament passed a non-binding resolution urging the government to recognize the SNC as the country's sole representatives.
There was no immediate reaction from the rulers in the oil-rich Gulf state. Some lawmakers also have proposed severing diplomatic ties with Assad's regime, but the issue has not come up for full debate.
Activist organization Avaaz reports that 17 civilians have been beheaded or partially beheaded in the outskirts of the stronghold Baba Amr, according to CNN.
Former UN Chief Kofi Annan plans to visit Syria "fairly soon," Reuters reports. Annan was named UN-Arab League envoy on Syria last week and was in New York on Wednesday to discuss the crisis with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
"I would plead with (Assad) that he should engage, not only with me, but with the process we are launching," Annan told reporters. "The first thing we need to do ... is everything we can to stop the violence and the killing, to facilitate humanitarian access and to ensure that the needy are looked after, and work with the Syrians in coming up with a peaceful solution," he added.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Syrian authorities to cooperate and work towards "a peaceful solution for the Syrian people."
The UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution introduced by Turkey that condemns Syria for "widespread and systematic violations" against civilians, the Associated Press reports. Russia, China and Cuba voted against the resolution.
The AP reports:
The resolution urged Syria to immediately stop all attacks on civilians and grant unhindered access to aid groups. It also supported gathering evidence on possible crimes against humanity and other serious abuses in the fighting in Syria, so that those who committed them can be held to account at a later date. Syria's seat in the room remained empty during the vote, after the country's U.N. envoy stormed out of the council Tuesday having accused the body of supporting terrorism and prolonging the crisis in his country.
Syrians queue for bread outside a bakery in Qusayr, 15 kms (nine miles) from Homs, on March 1, 2012. (GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images)
Syrian women walk under the snow after buying bread from a bakery in Qusayr, 15 kms (nine miles) from Homs, on March 1, 2012. (GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images)
A Syrian man carries bread from a nearby bakery as he walks under the snow in Qusayr, 15 kms (nine miles) from Homs, on March 1, 2012. (GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images)
Britain has withdrawn its diplomatic staff from Damascus and suspended services at the embassy, Reuters reports. A diplomat told the news service the decision was made in response to the worsening security situation in the country. Hague tweeted: "I have informed Parliament that I have withdrawn British diplomats from #Syria & suspended our Embassy there for security reasons."
According to HuffPost UK, the foreign secretary explained in a statement before parliament:
"We have maintained an Embassy in Damascus despite the violence to help us communicate with all parties in Syria and to provide insight into the situation on the ground. Throughout this time we have kept the security situation of our staff and Embassy premises under intense and constant review. We now judge that the deterioration of the security situation in Damascus puts our Embassy staff and premises at risk, and have taken the decision to withdraw staff accordingly."
The AP reports Syrian rebels in Homs have announced they are making a "tactical retreat" from the Baba Amr neighborhood because of worsening humanitarian conditions. From the AP:
A statement by the Baba Amr rebels brigade says the decision was made to spare some 4,000 civilian residents who insisted on staying in their homes. In the statement issued Thursday, the rebels warn government troops against carrying out "revenge" attacks targeting civilians. It said any such action will "cost the regime dearly."
Burhan Ghalioun, head of the opposition Syrian National Council, told a news conference in Paris that rebels have relocated from some areas but said the resistance in Baba Amr "is still strong."
Syrian elite troops launched a ground assault on Wednesday to "cleanse" the Baba Amr neighborhood from gunmen. Security forces have been shelling Homs for over 3 weeks.
Thirteen Syrian activists have been killed in the process of helping wounded foreign journalists trapped in Homs escape to safety over the past week, the international activist group Avaaz has reported.
According to Avaaz, which has helped facilitate the escapes, all four journalists set out from Homs with a team of local Syrian guides on Sunday night, but were soon after attacked by the Syrian Army. Three Syrians were killed in this attack, which forced Daniels and Bouvier to return to the field hospital in Baba Amr. Seven more Syrians were killed during the retreat.
Both Espinosa and Conroy managed to continue beyond Homs, but became separated when their party was once again targeted by shells from the Syrian Army, Avaaz said; three more Syrians were killed then.
Espinosa stayed behind to attend to some of the wounded Syrians while Conroy, who was wounded in the legs in the initial press-center attack, continued on to Beirut. It took three more nights of risky travel through the woods and mountains of northern Syria before Espinosa arrived in Beirut.
Read the full report by HuffPost's Joshua Hersh here.
The Obama administration strongly criticized the Syrian regime on Wednesday over the bloodshed in the city of Homs.
According to the Associated Press, the administration summoned senior Syrian envoy Zuheir Jabbour over the attack on Homs. State Department diplomat Jeffrey Feltman met with the envoy, and reportedly expressed "outrage over the month-long campaign of brutality and indiscriminate shelling.''
Also on Wednesday, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice slammed Syria's decision to deny the U.N. humanitarian chief access to the country. "Rather than meeting the needs of its people, the barbaric Syrian government is preparing its final assault on the city of Homs," Rice said in a statement, according to the AP. "Meanwhile, food shortages are reported to be so severe that people, especially children, will soon start dying of hunger," she added.
Free Syrian Army supporters chant anti government slogans under snowfall on the outskirts of Idlib , north Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Amateur video released by Reuters purports to show a child trapped in rubble in the city of Homs. The video also allegedly shows a dead body lying in the rubble of one of the city's streets, and gunfire rocking streets of Idlib.
Reuters could not independently verify the footage.
WARNING: This video contains GRAPHIC images.
Spanish journalist Javier Espinosa has reportedly escaped the city of Homs, the Associated Press writes.
Espinosa's domestic partner said on Wednesday that the journalist is currently in Lebanon. Edith Bouvier and William Daniels, two French journalists, remain trapped in the besieged city.
"All the signs out of Homs are that they are trying to finish it off," a senior Western diplomat told Reuters on Wednesday.
Elite troops attacked the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs on Wednesday morning in what appears a new drive to capture the neighborhood from rebels. The troops reportedly belong to the 4th Armored Division, which is controlled by president Bashar Assad's younger brother.
Reuters reports:
Details from Homs were sketchy but as Syria refused to allow a visit to the country by a senior U.N. humanitarian envoy, Valerie Amos, a senior Western diplomat told Reuters: "All the signs out of Homs are that they're trying to finish it off. "They clearly feel that letting her in now would be devastating for their image - as indeed it would be.
"Communicating over the Internet, the Baba Amro activist, who calls himself only Ahmed and who said he had just left the area, said: "We call on all Syrians in other cities to move and do something to lift the pressure off Baba Amro and Homs.
"They should act quickly."
Homs, a symbol of opposition to Assad in a nearly year-long revolt, was without power or telephone links, Ahmed said.
Also on Wednesday, activists said troops bombarded Rastan and have attacked the town of Helfaya.
Syrian mourners carry the body of a man who was killed by a shrapnel during his funeral in Qusayr, 15 kms (nine miles) from Homs, on February 28, 2012. (GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images)
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos says Syria has repeatedly denied her access to the country. In a statement, Amos said she is 'deeply disappointed' that Syria rejected her visa requests.
@ AP : UN humanitarian chief says Syria has denied her repeated requests to visit besieged country: http://t.co/wkAZamf4 -EF
French journalist Edith Bouvier of Le Figaro is still in Homs, the French government confirmed on Wednesday. According to the Associated Press, William Daniels and Spanish reporter Javier Espinosa also remain trapped inside the city.
Bouvier was injured last week in the city's Baba Amr neighborhood, in the same attack that killed American reporter Marie Colvin and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik.
The AP reports:
The French Foreign Ministry demanded that the Syrian regime ensure conditions that allow for the "sure and rapid evacuation" of the two French journalists, "notably through an immediate cease-fire in Baba Amr." "France is mobilized to accomplish the priority evacuation of its two citizens blocked in Homs, in liaison with Syrian authorities," as well as the Red Cross and Red Crescent, ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
Syrian security forces appear to have started a ground operation in the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs, the Associated Press reports. A Syrian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, reportedly vowed the neighborhood would be "cleaned" within hours.
According to the AP, about 100,000 residents are trapped in the area -- including three Western journalists.
Venezuela has continued fuel shipments to Syria despite growing international condemnation of the Syrian regime, the country's energy minister said on Tuesday.
From the AP:
Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said the possibility of facing international sanctions won't deter Venezuela from helping Syria. He said Venezuela's state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, has sent two loads of 300,000 barrels each to Syria. "Syria is a blockaded country," Ramirez said. "If it needs diesel and we can provide it, there's no reason not to do it."
Chavez is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has drawn widespread international criticism for his tough military response to an 11-month-old uprising.
Syria is not facing an economic blockade as Ramirez alleged. But European Union countries have frozen the assets of Syrian government officials and the country's central bank, and the bloc has also sought to cut Syria's supply of equipment for its oil and gas sectors. So far, the EU sanctions have had little effect on Assad's regime.
A Free Syrian Army soldier walks next to a burned tractor in Sarmin, north of Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012. According to the residents of the city at least fourteen people were killed yesterday during clashes between the Free Syrian Army and President Assad's forces. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Villagers prepare the tomb for Ghassan Ali, 40, who was killed during clashes between the Free Syrian Army and the government forces in Sarmin, north of Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Residents stand by their house destroyed in clashes between the Free Syrian Army and President Assad's forces in Sarmin, north of Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Reuters and the Associated Press released video out of Homs that purportedly shows security forces relentlessly shelling the city's civilian neighborhoods.
The International Committee of the Red Cross delivered food and supplies to the cities of Homs and Idlib, Reuters reports on Tuesday.
"We managed to bring relief material into Homs city and Idlib today which was handed over to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent branches in both cities to be distributed as soon as possible," ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan said.
Yet the group warns security has to improve before the aid can be distributed. The organization calls for a daily ceasefire to guarantee civilians safe access to the aid supplies. "People need to have a daily window during which they know they will receive the necessary help," Hassan told Reuters.
Testifying before the Senate, U.S. Secretary of State Clinton said on Tuesday that Syria's President Bashar Assad fits the definition of a war criminal. From the AP:
Asked if Assad is a war criminal, Clinton said he would fit into that category. She stopped short of saying the international community should make that designation and level charges, pointing out that such a step often makes it difficult for a leader to step down.
Fayssal al-Hamwi, Syrian Ambassador in Geneva delivers his statement to the urgent debate on Syria during the 19th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2012.
The Syrian ambassador blamed members of the human rights body of promoting terrorism and prolonging the Syrian crisis, according to the AP. "We are convinced that the real aim behind holding this session today is to cover up for the violence and murder perpetrated by the armed groups against innocent civilians," Al-Hamwi reportedly said.
Reuters reports Tunisia offered to give president Bashar al-Assad and his family political asylum if it would help end Syria's crisis. An aide to Tunisia's president told Reuters that "Tunisia is ready in principle to grant political asylum to Bashar al-Assad and his family if this proposal will contribute to stopping the bloodshed."
A diplomat and rebel sources told Reuters that French journalist Edith Bouvier is also in Lebanon.
Yet according to the Associated Press, Bouvier is still in Syria. "The Syrian opposition group Local Coordination Committees and global activist group Avaaz said Paul Conroy was the only foreign journalist to escape Syria," AP writes.
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad casts his ballot next to his wife Asma at a polling station during a referendum on the new constitution, in Damascus, Syria, on Sunday Feb. 26, 2012. Syrians began voting on a new draft constitution aimed at quelling the country's uprising by ending the ruling Baath Party's five-decade domination of power, but the opposition announced a boycott and clashes were reported across the country. (AP Photo/SANA)
Syrian women and children take shelter from fierce fighting between the Free Syrian Army and government troops in Idlib, north Syria, Saturday, March 10, 2012. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) 
Women chant anti-government slogans during a demonstration in Idlib, north Syria, Friday, March 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) 
A woman weeps as she prays during an anti-government demonstration in Idlib, north Syria, Friday, March 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) 
Women chant anti-government slogans during an a demonstration in Idlib, north Syria, Friday, March 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) 
Syrians queue for bread outside a bakery in Qusayr, 15 kms (nine miles) from Homs, on March 1, 2012. (GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images) 
Syrian women walk under the snow after buying bread from a bakery in Qusayr, 15 kms (nine miles) from Homs, on March 1, 2012. (GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images) 
A Syrian man carries bread from a nearby bakery as he walks under the snow in Qusayr, 15 kms (nine miles) from Homs, on March 1, 2012. (GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images) 
Syrian mourners carry the body of a man who was killed by a shrapnel during his funeral in Qusayr, 15 kms (nine miles) from Homs, on February 28, 2012. (GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images) 
A Free Syrian Army soldier walks next to a burned tractor in Sarmin, north of Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012. According to the residents of the city at least fourteen people were killed yesterday during clashes between the Free Syrian Army and President Assad's forces. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) 
Villagers prepare the tomb for Ghassan Ali, 40, who was killed during clashes between the Free Syrian Army and the government forces in Sarmin, north of Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) 
Residents stand by their house destroyed in clashes between the Free Syrian Army and President Assad's forces in Sarmin, north of Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Fayssal al-Hamwi, Syrian Ambassador in Geneva delivers his statement to the urgent debate on Syria during the 19th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2012. 
