Syria violence rages despite UN truce hopes
25 Oct 2012 4:30 AM IST
Deadly clashes in Syria showed no signs of easing on Tuesday, even as the United Nations said it has plans to assemble a peacekeeping force in case a truce proposed by its special envoy takes hold.
Warplanes raided a district of the northern city of Aleppo as fighting across the country kept up unabated, three days ahead of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha during which peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has proposed a ceasefire.
‘Neither the rebels nor the regime appear to want a ceasefire, and the daily death toll continues to exceed 100,’ Syrian Observatory of Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
In Syria’s second city Aleppo, a rebel was killed in fighting, which was taking place in several districts, while planes bombed the Katergi quarter, the Observatory said.
In the Damascus provincial town of Harasta, at least two rebels were killed, the Britain-based group said.
In the capital itself, security forces carried out searches in the Zahira quarter, where gunfire could be heard.
Overnight, one man was killed in a bomb attack on the southeastern outskirts of Damascus. The Observatory also reported fighting in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor and in Daraa, southern Syria. In the face of the 19-month revolt against his regime, President Bashar al-Assad issued an amnesty on Tuesday for all crimes committed in Syria ‘up until on Tuesday,’ state television said, but with rebels excluded.
He ordered ‘a general amnesty for crimes committed before 23 October,’ except for those carried out by ‘terrorists’ - the regime’s term for rebels.
Warplanes raided a district of the northern city of Aleppo as fighting across the country kept up unabated, three days ahead of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha during which peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has proposed a ceasefire.
‘Neither the rebels nor the regime appear to want a ceasefire, and the daily death toll continues to exceed 100,’ Syrian Observatory of Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
In Syria’s second city Aleppo, a rebel was killed in fighting, which was taking place in several districts, while planes bombed the Katergi quarter, the Observatory said.
In the Damascus provincial town of Harasta, at least two rebels were killed, the Britain-based group said.
In the capital itself, security forces carried out searches in the Zahira quarter, where gunfire could be heard.
Overnight, one man was killed in a bomb attack on the southeastern outskirts of Damascus. The Observatory also reported fighting in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor and in Daraa, southern Syria. In the face of the 19-month revolt against his regime, President Bashar al-Assad issued an amnesty on Tuesday for all crimes committed in Syria ‘up until on Tuesday,’ state television said, but with rebels excluded.
He ordered ‘a general amnesty for crimes committed before 23 October,’ except for those carried out by ‘terrorists’ - the regime’s term for rebels.
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