TURKEY: Syria's opposition calls on the international community to act after the killing of two Western journalists highlights the Assad regime's brutality against opponents

Record ID: 280267

  • Title: TURKEY: Syria's opposition calls on the international community to act after the killing of two Western journalists highlights the Assad regime's brutality against opponents
  • Date: 23rd February 2012
  • Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (FEBRUARY 22, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF REVOLUTION SUPPORT CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS MEMBER OF SYRIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL SITTING VARIOUS OF MEMBERS OF SYRIAN CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS UNION LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (French) MEMBER OF SYRIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL BASEM HATAHET, SAYING: "What happened in Syria is very unfortunate. We have heard of two journalists
  • Embargoed: 9th March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7VPF7DZFIBBX03YVB5ZAQGW6M
  • Story Text: Syrian opposition figures on Wednesday (February 22) condemned the killing of two western journalists and called on the international community to recognize the Syrian National Council opposition.
    Reporter Marie Colvin and photographer Remi Ochlik died in the besieged Syrian city of Homs when shells hit the house they were staying in, opposition activists and witnesses said.
    "What happened in Syria is very unfortunate. We have heard of two journalists but there are many others who were killed in Syria. More than 8,000 people have been killed in Syria. There are 42,000 prisoners in Syria.
    "It is a very catastrophic situation. We call on the international community to do something. They need to hurry up," said Syrian National Council Basem Hatahed at a conference in Istanbul.
    Hatahed also called for the international recognition for the Syrian National Council, beginning with a "Friends of Syria" conference taking place in Tunisia on February 24, a meeting of Arab, regional and other international states.
    Ibrahim Kuki, a Syrian activist who had to flee the country a few weeks ago, said the Syrian regime kills anyone who gets in their way.
    "The regime .... operates a scorched earth policy: so anything standing in the face of the regime, anything that affects the regime, is faced with death, even if that person is from their own sect, a small child, a woman, a medic, a doctor, a person filming on a mobile, a journalist reporting on what is happening. The regime has no problem in conducting another massacre to get rid of and end this revolution."
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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