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Subscribe to RSSUp to 2,000 refugees fleeing violence in Syria are crossing the border into northern Lebanon, a spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency told Reuters on Sunday.
"Between one and two thousand (Syrians) are in the process of coming from Syria to Lebanon," the UNHCR's deputy representative in Lebanon Jean Paul Cavalieri told Reuters.
"Numbers will become clear in the coming hours. This is what we are hearing from our teams on the ground and local authorities."
A Reuters witness on the Lebanese border heard heavy shelling coming from the nearby Syrian town of Qusair earlier on Sunday and saw mainly women and children fleeing towards Lebanon on foot.
Meanwhile, International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Sean Maguire told NBC News the organisation was delivering aid around the Baba Amr district of Homs on Sunday, following days of delays, but not in the former rebel stronghold itself.
He said: "Negotiations to enter Baba Amr are ongoing and we still hope to enter that area today. This morning ICRC and Syrian Arab Red Crescent started distributing assistance in a village called Abel, less than two miles from Homs city. The plan is to continue to the neighborhoods of Al Insha'at and Al Tawzii in Homs to populations and to families displaced from Baba Amr."
Earlier, the ICRC said it had been prevented from entering Baba Amr by Syrian ground forces despite receiving government permission, a move activists said was to prevent aid workers witnessing army "massacres".
"We have the green light, we hope to enter, we hope today is the day," said the ICRC's Damascus-based spokesman Saleh Dabbakeh, declining to give further details about what he said were sensitive talks with Syrian officials.
"We are very concerned about the people in Baba Amr."
After a month of bombardment by President Bashar al-Assad's forces, concerns mounted for freezing, hungry and wounded civilians in Homs, which on Saturday had come under renewed shelling by government troops, anti-Assad activists said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday he had received "grisly reports" troops were executing and torturing people in Homs after insurgents abandoned their positions.
South of Homs, the border town of Qusair came under shelling by government troops, forcing residents to flee on foot to neighbouring Lebanon, a Reuters witness said.
"The people said they were sat at home and suddenly the shelling started and they fled. They said it was tank shelling and gunfire," said Reuters reporter Afif Diab.
He spoke at the border to what he said were mainly women fleeing with their children. Blasts could be heard from the Lebanese border, which is some 7 miles from Qusair.
Other Lebanese border sources spoke of attacks in Syria by aircraft, but reports could not immediately be verified.
"Between 1,000 and 2,000 (Syrians) are in the process of coming from Syria to Lebanon," the UNHCR's deputy representative in Lebanon, Jean-Paul Cavalieri, told Reuters.
The United Nations says Syrian security forces have killed more than 7,500 civilians since the revolt against the Assad family's four-decade rule began in March last year.
The Syrian government said in December that "armed terrorists" had killed more than 2,000 soldiers and police during the unrest.
Lebanon deployed more troops to its northern border in response to the violence in Syrian towns nearby, a Reuters witness said, part of a conflict that risks dragging in regional powers with rival sectarian interests.
In the Lebanese capital Beirut, hundreds of soldiers and scores of military trucks and jeeps blocked off the city centre on Sunday during protests for and against Assad, whose ruling clan are Alawites, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.
Lebanon is mainly made up of Shi'ites, Sunnis and Christians, and is home to the powerful Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Shi'ite Iran.
Sunni Arab states Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been among the loudest calling for Assad's downfall, and have even suggested arming his opponents.
"We sacrifice our blood and souls for you Bashar," chanted a pro-Assad crowd of some 500 people. Some stepped on photos of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and threw shoes at a poster of him.
A similar sized anti-Assad crowd sang: "We sacrifice our blood and souls for you, Homs."
Former Syrian ally Turkey said Assad was guilty of "war crimes" while China said it was "deeply worrying that the situation in Syria remains grave".
NBC News Correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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Hello folks, when will we discard our Imperialistic mindset? We’ve caused enough trouble around the world. If you can't see that we are the instigators in most of the world's wars and displacement of millions of people who are fleeing our aggression, than you are in denial and are not paying attention. If you don’t think we have been in Syria covertly arming the rebels you are in denial and forgetting about Libya. We need to stay out of other country’s civil disputes. I hope we aren’t going to go against the United Nations vote earlier this month and unilaterally go into Syria under the pretext that we need to stop the violence like we did in Libya. General Wesley Clark has stated that a Syria invasion has been pre-planned for quite awhile.
General Wesley Clark: "America will take out 7 countries in 5 years"
According to Former NATO supreme allied commander, former presidential candidate and 4 star US General Wesley Clark that they had received a memo that America is going to take out 7 countries in the Middle East starting with Iraq, Libya, Syria Lebanon Sudan and Somalia, seeing what's going on today in Libya but also in Syria where violent protests are ongoing, it is amazing how these things that were planned years ago are being achieved in front of our eyes.
Why is it other countries feel like they have to defend their territory? Could it be that they know we have no problem invading their sovereignty just as we have done to countless other countries. Since World War II, 90% of the casualties of war are unarmed civilians. 1/3 of them children. Our victims have done nothing to us. From Palestine to Afghanistan to Iraq to Somalia to wherever our next target may be, their murders are not collateral damage, they are the nature of modern warfare. They don't hate us because of our freedoms. They hate us because every day we are funding and committing crimes against humanity. The so-called "war on terror" is a cover for our military aggression to gain control of the resources of western Asia.
This is sending the poor of this country to kill the poor of those Muslim countries. This is trading blood for oil. This is genocide, and to most of the world, we are the terrorists. In these times, remaining silent on our responsibility to the world and its future is criminal. And in light of our complicity in the supreme crimes against humanity in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ongoing violations of the U.N. Charter in International Law, how dare any American criticize the actions of legitimate resistance to illegal occupation.
We are going into Syria for a couple of reasons (yes we are in Syria with our Drones at a minimum), one, we are trying to dislodge Russia from there because they have a foothold in the Middle East via two military bases in Latakia and Tartus in Syria. Two, Syria is a strong ally of Iran. If we invade Syria we take out a strong ally and maybe incite Iran to assist giving the U.S. the reason they are looking for to attack Iran. The ultimate goal is to surround, weaken and to invade Iran. The petro dollar is at stake as other countries are switching to other forms of currency in buying Iran’s oil.
Since the Russian war in 1828, Iran has never attacked another country. We on the other hand have attacked to name a few:
Libya, Iran, Nicaragua, Haiti, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Angola, Mozambique, Honduras, Chile, Congo, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, Angola, Columbia, Peru, Panama, Yemen, Pakistan, Grenada, Mexico, etc..
Wake up people we are being herded down the Military Industrial Complex gauntlet again to another false war to enrich the greedy Corporations and distract the American people. Did we not learn anything from the Iraq war where we have killed well over 1 million Iraqi people, lost thousands of American lives and God knows how many hundreds of billions of dollars?
Who do you support, humanity or the greedy elite?
Many of our soldiers don't fight for America, they fight for their lives and their buddies beside them, because we put them in a war zone. They're not defending our freedoms, they're laying the foundation for permanent military bases to defend the freedoms of Exxon Mobil and British Petroleum.
Face it we're Imperialists pure and simple. The elite look down on all of us as expendable chattel.
"Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy" Henry Kissinger
I’m not asking you to hate war but to love peace. War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!
#
Well let's see, kissinger was a diplomat, wasn't he? What did he accomplish?
Hey Trust-verify, Why can't you simply make a short readable post instead of a book made up of mostly dribble that most people don't have the time to read and could care less about and then move on?
If BP survives this, then there is no hope for the world. Corporations can do anythng and get away with
it. Lie, cheat, steal, bribe, murder, foul the planet with impunity. Nothing matters anymore . They have
won, we are pawns. Oil & natural gas rule this planet, and we count for nothing. BP got away with
murder, and it was a British invasion. In WW2 an invasion of Canada was planned on some pretext or
other. In my opinion, Lebanon is a good place for the 2000 refugees until something happens!!!!!! And
it is happening!!!!!!!!!!!
The word is "gantlet". A gauntlet is a glove.
trust-verify,
Just keep it brief by blaming George Bush and the jews
Hey Trust, stop with the copying and pasting. Cub T is right. No one wants to read your bull$hit. I am asking all posters to vote to collapse your post. Now, back to the story. It seems to me that the neither the Red Cross, nor the Chinese or anybody wants to call it like it is. Assad is a murderer and the Iranians are his masters. Also, Muslim on Muslim violence is a true reflection of how the Muslim world really is.......violent, violent, violent.
Some don't understand and listen and some learn only the hard way!
When the US soldiers and politicians tried to be too smart in Vietnam, they had to flee from the Saigon airport.
Worse will happen if the US and politicians try to be too smart by enlarging the battle zones to Syria and Iran. Result will be more batterings from all sides including inside US than just Iraq wars.
These people could not handle Iraq and even while withdrawing they had to use huge forces.
In Iraq, when there will be bloody civil wars then except collapsing comments of TrustVerify and abusing likes of I, you people can't even look at the map of Iraq.
In Afghanistan, the very people are not able to handle Quran burning issue.
What are those war mongers talking?
Post the writings on wall: one can't go doing too many Iraq wars!
Read it after ten years.
a corporal punishment, "Running the gauntlet" or alternative spelling gantlet coutesy of wikipedia
War is a false profit and only creates the casues and conditions of future wars... projecting US dominance is not defense, we are now out to replace the British Empire but all of western civilization is a war-based system since the Middle Ages for the Nobles-Knights-Merchant Guild-Missionary paranoia prtotection scheme using the serfs in the name of protecting the serfs...
Invading for fear of imminent attack from WMD's by a third world defeated and disarmed country in UN supervison and sanction is absurd on the face of it and only a total transpaent excuse to get around the rules of international law we helped build. Flaunting international with Might Makjes Right only sets the example for all other countries to follow and mean our citizens trabeling abroad could also find intenational law not pertaining to them.
should we call him what he is DICTATOR ABDULLAH!
Is it so?
Then what do you call Sunni Saudi ruler with 5000 princes and princesses and their huge battalions of girls and women from all over the world?
Mind you: even the US pals Saudis and UAE rulers and rich sharks of ME duped big time US, British and other banks more than those in the US and other nations!
Why are you forgetting Sunni Kuwaiti ruler with 65 wives, whose golden toilets US soldiers fixed?
You give them labels: "democratic", "secular", "women rights" and "human rights protectors"!!!!
Are Saudis and co, oil companies and their lobbyists screaming?
The emerging civil war in Syria is causing everyone to pick sides.
We don't know how many of those 2,000 refugees are Sunni rebels fleeing from Homs.The rebels are innocent protestors inside Syria.Outside they are refugees.The UN is doing a wonderful job supporting the rebels.
Do these cheap paid agents and puppets, UN, human rights groups, Observatorys have limited vision?
In Muslim country, does 2000 mean anything?
Why are they not seen in Somalia, Sudan and other places? Are they not profitable business?
Iraq is battered with two Iraq wars with huge refugees and why are these people helping them out?
"...stepping on pictures of King Abdullah...." Where do you get pictures of the Saudi King?? They were throwing shoes at his poster. There must be a store that sells flags for burning and posters of hated people.
I think they make this stuff up most of the time.
I think that's simply islam being islam and they clearly have no shortage of dumb@!$%#s who will buy into it.
allah akbar!!!!
then puke
The Powerful Shiite militant group Hezbollah, backed by Iran, Might get a taste of Sunni led Al Qaida in Iraq. This breaks my heart. Pray to Allah for Peace and compassion.
leroy: When Allah is furious and he wants as many of them cleaned, where do these "Peace and commassion" come?
80 percent of world problems including economic are due to Sunni Saudi, Kuwaiti, UAE and other ME rulers and their Sunni Islamic radicals and militants like al-Qaida.
Oil companies, lobbyists and their paid agents are dancing as they direct to keep oil prices at high levels by inventing wars like Iraq and with Syria and Iran on plate.
Even economic mess all over the world are due them.
Assad's supporters have made a good beginning by booting and burning Saudi Kings photo.
Extend that and just eliminate the enemies of infidels (including Shiites) and don't leave a single Sunni ruler and their bunch.
Indirectly this will help Sunnis too! Did they get much from Iraq wars?
That's just their corner of the market, unfortunately it's a conrner most people use everyday. But when faced with these adversitites either a person can stand by and take it or find another way.
Noe if Assad closely follow's Russia's advice, he will transplant his supporters to these areas just like Stalin and the rest of the Russian tyrants deported Ukranians, Balts, Tatars, etc and replaced them with ethnic Russians to "settle the matter"..
I think that today they would call this "genocide"........
Bring all our brave soldiers home and let other countries take care of themselves. If they want help; weapons, manpower, money, supplies? PAY ME! Leave them be and they'll kill each other(problem solved)