World

Children Among 74 Dead in 2 Days of Syrian Violence

Children Among 74 Dead in 2 Days of Syrian Violence by Forces Loyal to Bashar AssadBEIRUT (AP) — Two days of bloody turmoil in Syria killed at least 74 people, including small children, as forces loyal to President Bashar Assad shelled residential buildings and fired on crowds in a dramatic escalation of violence, activists said Friday.

Video posted online showed the bodies of five small children, five women and a man, all bloodied and piled on beds in what appeared to be an apartment after a building was hit in the city of Homs. A narrator said an entire family had been “slaughtered.”

Much of the violence was focused in Homs, where heavy gunfire hammered the city Friday in a second day of chaos. A day earlier, the city saw a flare-up of sectarian kidnappings and killings between its Sunni and Alawite communities, and pro-regime forces blasted residential buildings with mortars and gunfire, according to activists.

At least 384 children have been killed, as of Jan. 7, in the crackdown on Syria’s uprising since it began nearly 11 months ago, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said Friday. The count, based on reports from human rights groups, included children under age 18.

Most of the deaths took place in Homs and most of the victims were boys, UNICEF said. It said 380 children have been detained, including some under age 14. The United Nations estimates that more than 5,400 people have died in the turmoil.

The U.N. Security Council met in a closed-door session to discuss the crisis, which diplomats said was a step toward a possible U.N. resolution against the Damascus regime.

However, any resolution faces strong opposition from China and Russia, and both nations have veto power. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Friday that Moscow will oppose any resolution because it does not exclude the possibility of outside military interference.

The Syrian uprising, which began last March with mostly peaceful protests, has become increasingly violent in recent months as army defectors clash with government forces and some protesters take up arms to protect themselves. The violence has inflamed the sectarian divide in the country, where members of Assad’s Alawite sect dominate the regime despite a Sunni Muslim majority.

Activists said at least 35 people were killed in Homs on Thursday and another 39 people were killed across the country Friday.

The video posted Friday by activists showed the bodies of five young children, their faces bloodied, wrapped in orange plastic bags. It said the children were believed to be from two families, the Akras and the Bahadours. Brown cardboard placards with the children’s names written in Arabic were placed on their chests, identifying them: Thanaa, Ali, Najm, Abdul-Ghani and Sidra.

The video could not be independently verified.

Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut, said the spike in violence was linked to increasing pressure from the international community, the Arab League and the United Nations.

“The regime is trying to finish the matter through military means as soon as possible,” and for that reason the level of violence increased,” he said.

On Tuesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem insisted that Damascus will continue its crackdown and said Syria would not accept any international interference in its affairs.

Assad’s regime claims terrorists acting out a foreign conspiracy by the U.S., Israel and Gulf Arab countries are behind the uprising, not protesters seeking change.

The head of Arab League observers in Syria said in a statement that violence in the country has spiked over the past few days. Sudanese Gen. Mohammed Ahmed al-Dabi said the cities of Homs, Hama and Idlib have all witnessed a “very high escalation” in violence since Tuesday.

A “fierce military campaign” was also under way in the Hamadiyeh district of Hama since the early hours of Friday, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activists. They said the sound of heavy machine-gun fire and loud explosions reverberated across the area.

Some activists reported seeing uncollected bodies in the streets of Hama.

Elsewhere, a car bomb exploded Friday at a checkpoint outside the northern city of Idlib, the Observatory said, citing witnesses. The number of casualties was not immediately clear.

Details of the wave of killings in Homs emerged Friday from an array of residents and activists

“There has been a terrifying massacre,” Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told the AP on Friday. He called for an independent investigation.

Thursday started with a spate of sectarian kidnappings and killings between the city’s population of Sunnis and Alawites, a Shiite sect to which Assad belongs as well as most of his security and military leadership, said Mohammad Saleh, a centrist opposition figure and resident of Homs.

There was also a string of attacks by gunmen on army checkpoints, Saleh said. Checkpoints are a frequent target of dissident troops who have joined the opposition.

The Observatory said at least 11 people, including eight children, died when a building came under heavy mortar and machine-gun fire in the city’s Karm el-Zaytoun neighborhood. Some residents spoke of another massacre that took place when shabiha – armed regime loyalists – stormed the district, slaughtering residents in an apartment, including children.

“They are killing people because of their sect,” said one Sunni resident of Karm el-Zaytoun, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Thursday’s death toll in Homs was at least 35, said the Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, an umbrella group of activists. Both groups cite a network of activists on the ground in Syria for their death tolls.

The reports could not be independently confirmed. Syria tightly controls access to trouble spots and generally allows journalists to report only on escorted trips, which slows the flow of information.

Also Friday, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said gunmen in Syria kidnapped 11 Iranian pilgrims traveling by road from Turkey to Damascus.

Iranian pilgrims routinely visit Syria – Iran’s closest ally in the Arab world – to pay homage to Shiite holy shrines. Last month, seven Iranian engineers building a power plant in central Syria were kidnapped. They have not yet been released.

The Free Syrian Army, a group of army defectors fighting the regime, released a video on its Facebook page claiming responsibility for the kidnapping and saying the Iranians were taking part in the suppression of the Syrian people.

Comments (31)

  • PKama
    Posted on January 29, 2012 at 5:26pm

    Who give a rat’s a$$ if they kill each other. They have caused this world so much grief. As long as they don’t try their crap here, I could care less if they wipe themselves off the face of the earth.

    Report Post » PKama  
    • Magyar
      Posted on January 29, 2012 at 9:32pm

      @PKAMA Was planning to say exactly the same thing—thanks for doing such a good job! I’m sure the Israelis feel the same…

      Report Post »  
  • PKama
    Posted on January 29, 2012 at 5:21pm

    And that comes from the culture of the nations who practice the great Religion of Peace. The never ending sacrifices they make in order to get their share of the virgins in the afterlife.

    Report Post » PKama  
  • otmonger
    Posted on January 29, 2012 at 6:31am

    B.H.O. Must save his minions!!!!!

    Report Post » otmonger  
  • Secret Squirrel
    Posted on January 28, 2012 at 3:48pm

    .
    The “religion of peace” rolls on.

    Report Post » Secret Squirrel  
  • itsmyfirstday
    Posted on January 28, 2012 at 10:48am

    coming to America soon….

    Report Post » itsmyfirstday  
  • notmeatglennbeckdotcom
    Posted on January 28, 2012 at 9:08am

    What would have happened in 1860 if the UN and Obama had been around? We lost more than half a million citizens, not a couple of thousand. No doubt the UN would have ordered international forces to the US to overthrow Abraham Lincoln because the South was getting slaughtered. They would have ignored the potential outcome of a Southern win and who might come to power.

    Not say Assad is Lincoln, but this is nonsense. It is a Civil War, pure & simple and we’ve seen from the Arab Spring that overthrowing dictators leads to instability and the likelihood that the caliphate extends into a new region.

    NOT IN OUR INTERESTS TO BE INVOLVED. If it spills over, let Israel clean it up. It would be done in 5 minutes.

    Report Post »  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on January 28, 2012 at 9:06am

    Hey Barry? Why did Gaddaffi have to go but, Assad gets a pass from you? Why Barry, why?

    Report Post » Gonzo  
    • MCDAVE
      Posted on January 28, 2012 at 7:01pm

      Gaddaffi had a huge amount of gold in a bank here in the US…he ask for his gold to be returned to him..now he’s dead ….Don’t here much about that.

      Report Post »  
  • cuinsong
    Posted on January 28, 2012 at 2:14am

    I have been watching, listening & reading about the 2012 prophecies. I have concluded that with everything happening today it is a little scary to say the least! It seems that we are moving faster & faster toward destruction. I see the whole world moving right along with us. It is accelerating day by day. We seem to be about to enter a warring time that will spread all over the world. The people trying to ignite this war do not really know the amount of destruction they are encouraging. They are just playing their parts in prophetic history. I am convinced the Maya’s new more then we realize about the end of the world! The stories and the reality happening all over the world led me to write this song called “The end times”
    http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_10381143
    For the people encouraging this path I wrote this song called “The Devils song”
    http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_10789987

    Report Post » cuinsong  
    • OhSuzieQ
      Posted on January 28, 2012 at 9:48am

      @CuinSong…You’e spot on…Great voice! Thanks for sharing it.. ;-)

      Report Post » OhSuzieQ  
  • Obamas.drunken.uncle
    Posted on January 28, 2012 at 1:28am

    Big deal. Who will win Patriots or Giants?

    Report Post »  
  • Suchiazski
    Posted on January 28, 2012 at 12:35am

    This is getting worse than Darfur and Iraq combined. Might as well redirect those troop fleets from Afghanistan and Iraq up to Syria.

    Report Post » Suchiazski  
  • Teaparty-grammy
    Posted on January 28, 2012 at 12:24am

    Yeah, Obama — isn’t that Arab Spring GREAT? Ya just gotta love it.

    Report Post » Teaparty-grammy  
  • Teaparty-grammy
    Posted on January 28, 2012 at 12:23am

    I don’t know what everybody is so shocked and upset about–it is just the Religion of Peace going about its peaceful business as usual . . .

    Report Post » Teaparty-grammy  
  • zoro51
    Posted on January 27, 2012 at 11:55pm

    MUSLUMS killing other MUSLUMS for NO REASON.. thier religion MAN MADE thier gode FALSE STONE IDOL their prophet MOHAMUDD DEAD n GONE.. alls thats left is thier THURST for BLOOD.. they care not whom they kill BUT that they kill period… MUSLUMS MURDER DAILY!

    Report Post » zoro51  
  • poverty.sucks
    Posted on January 27, 2012 at 11:33pm

    Syrian violence mirrors Socialist values that has contributed to the current state of our economy.

    Report Post » poverty.sucks  
  • SilentReader
    Posted on January 27, 2012 at 10:58pm

    This is the face of Islam’s dark and oppressive tyranny.

    Report Post » SilentReader  
  • RightPolitically
    Posted on January 27, 2012 at 10:48pm

    Gotta luv the Arab Spring.

    Report Post » RightPolitically  
  • Detroit paperboy
    Posted on January 27, 2012 at 10:05pm

    Obama’s ARAB SPRING…. taste like pork, smells like death… He makes JIMMY THE HEMMORHOID CARTER…. look like a middle east GENIUS….. it would be funny, if it was’nt so scarey !

    Report Post »  
  • Detroit paperboy
    Posted on January 27, 2012 at 10:00pm

    I could not care Less… They are sick muslims and future terrorists… Anyone of those KIDS would slit the throat of a newborn JEW…. get the hell out of the way, and let them kill each other…. They are all inbred sick freaks !

    Report Post »  
  • Netsurfer2
    Posted on January 27, 2012 at 8:57pm

    It‘s a sad world when you can’t go anywhere in this world for fear that they will cut your head right off! All these people know is violence from a young age! Nothing but hate from what they were taught! They could care less if you truly believe in your heart that people in general are good people! Their only ideas are of showing that they are faithful to their culture and even willing to give their lives for the cause of killing many others!

    We don’t have all the answers in life, nor does anyone else! We are not without sin to begin with! Christians are taught to trust in Jesus Christ with their whole heart! Jesus said “I am the way the truth and the life and only through me shall you enter the kingdom of heaven!”

    Now is there anything wrong with believing that??? What makes someone want to kill in the name of religion??? I still don’t get it! How can Arabs be so blind??? Yet they say we are the blind ones and want to kill everyone that does not believe the way they do! They cannot accept people for just who they are and/or what they believe in! Does that really separate them from others???

    I always think that we are human beings and truly need to be honest with ourselves!

    Report Post » Netsurfer2  
    • cuinsong
      Posted on January 28, 2012 at 2:42am

      NETSURFER2, You are right. They are so backward they really believe their teaching’s. The idea of ever living under this kind of stupidity as a way of life is really crazy. I would rather fight with any means possible and so I use music as my choice of offence! This song is a reflection of my understanding of what kind of a people they are proud to be. It’s called “What for”
      http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_9134679

      Report Post » cuinsong  
  • Robert-CA
    Posted on January 27, 2012 at 8:48pm

    & our “Anti-American” administration calls the Syrian dictator a reformist .

    Report Post » Robert-CA  
  • DividedWeFail
    Posted on January 27, 2012 at 8:43pm

    As long as the children are Muslim – I DO NOT CARE. It is their problem. STAY OUT OF IT. T

    The more they kill of the own (and the younger the better), the less of them can kill Christians (IF they grow up)

    Sounds harsh – TOUGH!

    Report Post »  
    • Robert-CA
      Posted on January 27, 2012 at 9:07pm

      I agree with you sounds way harsh .

      Report Post » Robert-CA  
    • YA-allthe-WEH
      Posted on January 27, 2012 at 9:14pm

      Jesus only died for Christians?

      Report Post » YA-allthe-WEH  
    • Detroit paperboy
      Posted on January 27, 2012 at 10:10pm

      I agree , get out of the way, and lef them kill each other !!! They are inbred zombies… Rememeber when we didnt even know about these sick SOBz ? WS’nt life great !!!!!! Baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and Chevrolet ??????

      Report Post »  
    • Robert-CA
      Posted on January 28, 2012 at 1:34am

      Take it easy , we’re talking about children here .

      Report Post » Robert-CA  
  • Sirfoldallot
    Posted on January 27, 2012 at 8:38pm

    Must u all be reminded this is Irans buddy ! Sick just sick

    Report Post » Sirfoldallot  

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