SYRIA: United Nations convoy attacked in Lattakia by angry crowds return to Damascus with their damaged vehicles

Record ID: 280873

  • Title: SYRIA: United Nations convoy attacked in Lattakia by angry crowds return to Damascus with their damaged vehicles
  • Date: 14th June 2012
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (JUNE 13, 2012) (REUTERS) THE UN CONVOY ARRIVING BACK AT HOTEL VARIOUS OF THE OBSERVERS GETTING OUT OF THEIR CARS VARIOUS OF A CAR THAT WAS ATTACKED ON ITS WAY TO HAFFEH VARIOUS OF CAR BEING MOVED TO A PARKING BAY DAMAGED WING MIRROR AND WINDOWS VARIOUS OF AN OBSERVER EXAMINING THE DAMAGED CAR
  • Embargoed: 29th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABHCL4SZOR4NHGWV949TKF2FXP
  • Story Text: United Nations monitors who were attacked by angry crowds in Lattakia on Tuesday (June 12) returned to Damascus on Wednesday (June 13). One UN car had smashed windows, dented panels, broken headlights and damaged wing mirrors.
    The UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) said that angry crowds threw stones and metal rods at UN observers as they tried to reach the Syrian town of Haffeh on Tuesday, and three UN vehicles were fired upon as they left the area.
    UNMIS has been trying to reach Haffeh since June 7 but has been impeded by the ongoing violence in the area.
    The shots were fired deliberately, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.
    The 15-month-old conflict in Syria has grown into a full-scale civil war in which the government is attempting to recapture large swathes of urban territory it has lost to the opposition, Ladsous said.
    Syrian State Agency said a UN car heading to Haffeh hit three people who were trying to tell the observers what has been happening in their village. Two of them are in a serious condition.
    At least 50 wounded people have been smuggled across the border to Turkey from Haffeh over the past few days but many more are trapped by fierce fighting and those that try to escape are fired on by President Bashar al-Assad's forces, according to rebels in the southern Turkish province of Hatay.
    The United States this week warned of a "potential massacre" in Haffeh after two reported mass killings in neighbouring provinces in the past three weeks.
    Corroborating accounts of what is happening inside Syria is difficult because the government tightly restricts foreign media access.
    More than 28,000 Syrians are now living in camps inside Turkey, according to the government's disaster and emergency organisation.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register