SYRIA: Video obtained by Reuters shows images of injury and destruction in the area of Idlib, Syria, where, opposition activists say, government forces have kill dozens of people in a sustained assault

Record ID: 280456

  • Title: SYRIA: Video obtained by Reuters shows images of injury and destruction in the area of Idlib, Syria, where, opposition activists say, government forces have kill dozens of people in a sustained assault
  • Date: 14th March 2012
  • Summary: MARRET MUSEIRIN, 10 KM NORTH OF IDLIB, SYRIA (MARCH 13, 2012) (VIDEO OBTAINED BY REUTERS) CROWD OF MEN PUTTING AN INJURED MAN ON BACK OF PICK UP TRUCK / TRUCK DRIVES AWAY CLUSTER OF MEN CARRYING INJURED PERSON ON SIDEWALK RUNNING / SHOUTS IN ARABIC OF 'GOD IS GREATER' / SOUNDS OF GUNFIRE IN DISTANCE BACKS OF CROWD OF MEN AROUND ANOTHER INJURED PERSON VARIOUS OF SEVERE
  • Embargoed: 29th March 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA74QU6L5M34143ZADT6QGZSHEC
  • Story Text: Syrian government forces killed dozens of people in the northern city of Idlib, dumping their bodies in a mosque, while some 22 soldiers died in two separate rebel ambushes, opposition activists said on Tuesday (March 13).
    The army intensified its assault on the Idlib province near the Turkish border, intermittently shelling built-up areas and spraying houses with machinegun fire in a bid to dislodge anti-government fighters.
    Video obtained by Reuters and filmed in a town 10 kilometres north of Idlib on Tuesday shows images of injury and destruction.
    Clusters of men are seen rushing injured people off the streets to the sound of gunfire. In one sequence, a severely injured child is treated.
    Others images from the town, Marret Museirin, show buildings pock-marked with shell and bullet holes, while rubble lies on shell-cratered ground.
    Following a brutal crackdown in the central city of Homs, the army has intensified its operations in the north and has been shelling the city of Idlib for the past three days.
    An activist in the town, speaking by telephone, said security forces had killed more than 20 people trying to leave the area in the past two days and dumped their bodies in al-Bilal mosque. When locals went to inspect the corpses, they too came under fire, pushing the death toll above 50, he said.
    Another activist gave a slightly lower death toll.
    Reports from Syria cannot be independently verified as the authorities deny access to rights groups and journalists.
    Army defectors killed at least 10 soldiers in an ambush in Idlib region, while rebels also killed 12 members of the security forces in the southern town of Deraa, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
    Clashes were also reported on Tuesday in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor and security forces shelled Syria's third largest city, Homs, as the year-long uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's authoritarian rule increasingly resembles a civil war.
    The United Nations says more than 8,000 people have died in the uprising and its refugee agency said on Tuesday that some 230,000 Syrians had fled their homes during the past 12 months, of whom around 30,000 have sought safety abroad.
    In an apparent bid to deter the exodus, Syrian forces have laid landmines near its borders with Lebanon and Turkey, along routes used by refugees to escape the mayhem, advocacy group Human Rights Watch said.
    Speaking after meeting opponents of Assad in Turkey, U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan said he was expecting to hear later on Tuesday the response from Syria to "concrete proposals" he had made to end the escalating violence.
    By evening, there was no word on an answer, although the Syrian parliament said Assad had ordered a legislative election for May 7. It will be held under a new constitution, approved by a referendum last month which the opposition and their Western and Arab backers dismissed as a sham.
    Both Russia and China have welcomed Assad's reform pledges, including the promised election, and have blocked moves in the United Nations to censure the Syrian leader.
    But the U.S. State Department was dismissive of the plan, describing it as "ridiculous", given the level of violence ongoing in the country.
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