E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSUndeterred by international condemnation, the Syrian military continued its unrelenting shelling of the city of Homs. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Residents of Syria's capital spoke about a night of shooting and explosions in the worst violence during the uprising against President Bashar Assad.
The nearly 12 hours of fighting in Damascus suggested a new boldness among armed rebels, who previously kept a low profile in the capital. It also showed a willingness by the regime to unleash in the capital the sort of elevated force against restive neighborhoods it has used to crush opponents elsewhere.
For the first time in the uprising, witnesses said, regime tanks opened fire in the city's streets, with shells slamming into residential buildings.
"Yesterday was a turning point in the conflict," said Maath al-Shami, an opposition activist in the capital. "There were clashes in Damascus that lasted hours. The battle is in Damascus now."
Blasts shook the neighborhoods of Qaboun and Barzeh until about 1:30 a.m. on Saturday.
"We spent a night of fear," one resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. The resident said the shooting and explosions in the capital "were the worst so far."
As tanks fired shells, troops clashed with rebels in the two neighborhoods, al-Shami said via Skype. He said at least four people were killed.
The battles began when troops opened fire on anti-Assad protest marches and rebels responded, witnesses said. In one brazen attack, the rebels struck a power plant in Qaboun with rocket-propelled grenades, setting fire to a generator and causing blackouts. The attack left buses charred and smashed a car. A video of the aftermath taken by U.N. observers said a soldier was killed in the RPG attack.
One resident said a large sports venue, the Abbasid stadium, had been transformed into an army barracks as the military tried to reinforce the capital, and that increasing numbers of checkpoints had been set up.
Earlier, a car bomb aimed at a bus carrying security men exploded in a Damascus suburb, killing at least two, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Troops also clashed with rebels from the Free Syrian Army in Damascus' Kfar Souseh district when rebels attacked a military checkpoint. The FSA, which groups defectors from the Syrian military with protesters who have taken up weapons, had made an unusually public appearance Thursday night in Kfar Souseh, overtly joining a large opposition rally. The bolder moves were a strong sign the ragtag group is pushing to take its fight to the regime's base of power.
At least 17 killed in Daraa, activists say
To the south, regime forces heavily shelled a district of the city of Daraa until the early hours Saturday, smashing homes, according to activists. Daraa is the city where the uprising against Assad's regime first erupted in March 2011.
Shaam News Network / AP
This image from video purports to show a man being treated in Daraa, Syria, on Saturday
"People were taken by surprise while in their homes," Adel al-Omari, a local activist, said of the shelling, including mortar fire that hit the Mahata district.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 17 people were killed in the shelling. The Local Coordination Committees said 19 civilians lost their lives, include a father and two children from one family and five members of another family.
The LCC and the Observatory also reported shelling and clashes in the central city of Homs, one of the main battlegrounds of the uprising. Both groups said troops stormed Homs' posh neighborhood of Ghouta and the Observatory said security forces are conducting raids and searching for wanted people in the area.
Robert King / Polaris
A doctor treats six wounded children in Homs, Syria, on Friday.
U.N. releases massacre video
Also Saturday, U.N. observers in the country ostensibly to monitor the cease-fire issued the first independent video images from the scene of a reported massacre last week in a remote farming village. Activists say up to 78 people, including women and children, were shot, hacked and burned to death in Mazraat al-Qubair on Wednesday.
The video, taken in the U.N. visit a day earlier, showed blood splashed on a wall pockmarked with bullet holes and soaking a nearby mattress. A shell punched through one wall of a house. Another home was burnt on the inside with dried blood was splashed on floors.
One man wearing a red-and-white checked scarf to cover his face, pointed at a 2008 calendar adorning a wall, bearing the photo of a lightly-bearded, handsome man. "This is the martyr," the resident, sobbing. He sat on the floor, amid strewn colorful blankets, heaving with tears. It was not immediately clear if he was a resident of the village or related to the man in the photograph.
"They killed children," said another unidentified resident. "My brother, his wife and their seven children, the oldest was in the sixth grade. They burnt down his house."
After the observers' visit, U.N. spokeswoman Sausan Ghosheh said the scene held evidence of a "horrific crime" and that the team could smell the stench of burned corpses and saw body parts strewn around the now deserted village, once home to about 160 people.
She said residents' accounts of the mass killing were "conflicting," and that the team was still cross checking the names of the missing and dead with those supplied by nearby villagers.
Opposition activists and Syrian government officials blamed each other for the killings. Activists accused pro-government militiamen known as "shabiha." A government statement on the state-run news agency SANA said "an armed terrorist group" killed nine women and children before Hama authorities were called and killed the attackers.
Report: Journalist says rebels tried to get him killed
Thousands have been killed since the crisis began in March last year. The U.N.'s latest estimate is 9,000 dead, but that is from April and it has been unable to update it. Syrian activists put the toll at more than 13,000.
The latest escalations are another blow to international envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan, which aims to end the country's bloodletting. Annan brokered a cease-fire that went into effect on April 12 but has since been violated nearly every day since and never properly took hold.
Russia on Saturday indicated it would not oppose the departure of Assad if such a move is a result of a dialogue between Syrians themselves and is not enforced through external pressure.
"If the Syrians agree between each other, we will only be happy to support such a solution," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
No Lenny only the ones we do not like , The Saudis and Qataris are God chosen people to our politicians , Money have alot to do with , Poor Assad he does not have oil or money , He is screwed .
What's the over-under on how long governments last when they have tank battles in their capital? Just askin'.
And the world stands by watching another dictater government kill helpless children
Don't think of it as "killing children" but try to remember that they are being martyred and sent to paradise. My question for the religion of peace is, what is a child going to do with 72 Virgins?
Sick mind.
Yeah, so????????????
YOU feel like going in there and straightening everything out? GO FOR IT!
Scores of children in THIS COUNTRY (yes, the GOOD OLE U.S. of A) are being killed, abused and oppressed by unfit, incompetent parents AS WE SPEAK. Why isn't anyone here squawking about THAT??
Seems to be that we should be getting our OWN house in order here before we decide to barge into anyone else's.
right on target hotticket....we're spending millions to "upgrade" Gitmo, so the inmates can have a better life, like you posted what about the thousands of people/children in the good ol "usa"that could use a meal or medicine...screw the syrians, if they can't help themselves....whatever will be , will be.....
It seems that bad men will continue to start wars and good men will die in them....Very sad.
Chicago had over a dozen shootings last night, a few murdered. No Muslims were involved. The victims and the attackers were all people that Obama, Jackson, and Sharpton share their heritage with. Obama might say, if the cops shoot one of the murderers, that "the kid could have been his son". Sounds right. Obama is a known ex druggie. He has let his Justice Department give guns to the Cartels without an investigation. He has given the Cartels free access to an Arizona National Forest. He collects massive campaign contributions from the drug dependent Hollywood wealthy. Don't blame Islam. There are many cultures with subsets who have no morals. While Chicago is not as dangerous as Damascus, I wouldn't let any tourist roam out of the loop or ride public transportation. Could Chicago Democrats actually be more dangerous than Islamic Terrorists? Of course!
Jamie, I wish comments were limited to "Intelligent-Only" ones. Yours would be among three or four registered thus far! Extremely well said ... keep reading and keep caring ... and do write once in a while!
The NRA controlled TP Republicans are arming gangs and drug lords. Gingrich wants an international law guaranteeing everyone the right to bear arms. Everybody already has as many guns as they want, many of which are sold by the American gun industry.
Go for it Jamie!
My concern is with you all people , You pic and choose the dictators you want out . Your Saudies and Qataris ( are OK in your book , Because Hillary and our politicians tell so ) but Assad is no good , He never killed his own people till we decided to Send the thugs from Libya and Iraq and every rat hole in the World , OH boy he just flipped . Come on people give an Fing break .
The killings need to stop. Women and children are being killed with seemingly no regret.
send in nato to drop more DU. that will solve the problem.
Dog eat Dog, Survival of the fittest, Let'um kill each other...
There it is!
The only way to get the attention of the world is to kill children. Sadly, one day we will be numb even to that news.
The sad thing is that it has already happened. More of their people need to stand an fight and not just flee or watch from the side lines. The time for a peaceful solution has long past.
We kill unborn babies ... 300,000 per year ... that's over 100 an hour. The "suburban women" and a number of other groups lured by the Democrats are already numb to those killings ... oh, "choices" ... sorry....
stan, this is not a discussion about abortion. And blaming Democrats for abortions is just GOP propaganda. Do you really believe that there are no Republicans who have had abortions or paid for a woman to get one because they couldn't keep their pants up?
The discussion, is about the next war McCain and the right wing Republicans want to get us into. As you watch Faux News today, please take note of how many times they show these videos of dead children and make comments like "how long will Obama stand by and do nothing?" It's the hope of the right wing supporters, those billionaires who make so much money from every war (Chenney comes to mind) that Romney will win and their bread will continue to be buttered by middle class tax payers for another good decade of more wars.
I respect your anti abortion views. I am against abortion as well. But I am under no illusions when it comes to your claim that the "Demonic Democrats" are pushing women to have abortions. I see the Democrats are pushing for women to have a right to choose what to do and make their own decisions. I hate that women choose abortion. And I know that many Republican women choose abortion daily. Though they don't dare admit it.
A relative once told me that wars provide jobs. True, but the thought of making money off the blood of a man or woman fighting a war really bothers my conscience.
You're right stan, they are splitting hairs. Life is alive, dead is dead. Where they and I are different is that I don't lie to myself.
Don't get me wrong, I am pro-abortion, in fact, I think that parents should legally, be able to kill their children any time they want to, what ever the age. Why should a calendar have anything to do with it.
gee IWonder. You don't happen to have some freshly laid concrete in your basement do you?
Yeah you are right-hence all these intensive killings of children after the Annan's plan and the enter of UN monitors.
This is heartbreaking. Every human being should be angry and demand intervention.
Maybe you should volunteer your time in country to sort this bs out!
Go for it thomas...all you gotta do is volunteer, and aign the post front sight in center of rear aperture sight, squeeze trigger and feel satisfaction when rifle hits your shoulder...you don't know dog poop about intervention or what the cost can be...
More than 100 times this goes on in China everyday, unreported, but known by the US and of course and of course nothing will be said....
Why is this such an importance while right next door in Mexico over 60,000 have been murdered by drug lords in just the past couple years?
Why is this place so important when in China thousands are murdered/disappear by the Government just for saying their mind?
With Russia having veto power in the UN it is like having free speech in the US. As long as you don't offend anyone's feelings it is okay. The last I heard the UN didn't know who they wanted in power. The US doesn't know who will be the best for the US interests so they don't know who to back. Get out and let the revolutionaries fight. It may be a revolution now but as soon as they win it will become a secular civil war.
Why is nothing being done? Strategic military strikes by the U.S. or U.N. (yeah right) should be carried out immediately. An example needs to be made to show any government/dictator who is willing to kill children and innocent civilians that there are consequences to their actions.
We only know what we are being "fed"...just like Libya and Egypt...
I stopped long ago believing any photo description in any news article. I have no idea if the children shown in the photo being treated by the doctor in Homs, Syria are wounded by combat or involved in an auto accident. I trust nothing I read any more coming from the news media.
Sadly, the caption may be absolutely true and a graphic depiction of a hideous war crime. There is probably no way we will be able to verify any of this. Another example: When the article states: "Activists say up to 78 people, including women and children, were shot, hacked and burned to death in Mazraat al-Qubair on Wednesday", does this mean at least 0 people died and as many as 78? Why should we believe anything activists say? They have a definite agenda and are served just as well by propaganda as by facts.
Watch out Edukated Man You are going to offend Hillary and McCain , you got to believe what they tell you , Never mind our Intel. and Generals what they said about Alqaeda been there and doing all the killings and bombings , These are good Alqaeda they came in with the Help of the Saudis and Qataris ( Our Friends ) , And I like to know what happened to our Media , Years ago they use to tell both sides of the story , Now they only telling the side of the Rebels and their human right based office in London , And how come our reporters know more about what's happening in Syria , While they are sitting in Cairo and Beiryt , Lebanon , Miles away from Syria , And they say we can not confirm this , But they keep going as if it was the Gospels . Amazing.
Why don't we go back less than a century to examine some of the history of the area? I'm thinking specifically of the time shorty after World War I ("The war to end all wars"), when England and France (were there others in this?) divided the Middle East into its present national boundaries. I believe that the present national boundaries were selected to keep any Muslim group (Shiite, Suni, etc.) from getting a controlling majority in any nation, and to ensure that the countries would be constantly mired in internal conflict. I think that part of the plan was also to keep the "western" powers more easily in control of certain valuable resources (read oil) and their transport across the region. Syria, for example, carried (carries?) pipelines from Iraq and Iran. Thus, control of Syria could make the Persian Gulf oil ports unnecessary, as all the oil could go by pipeline to the Med. There could be other motives also, but I'm not aware of them. Can anybody corroborate my thoughts? Discussion?
Yes fred Craven Your point is correct about the Europeans dividing that part of the world , They even wrote their constitutions for them , But see now there is a new player that they did not pay attention to back then , Which is ( ISRAEL ) . Israel now the country that dictate most of the policy of that area , specially because they have so much influence in the US , They control the US politicians , Strangle so the DEMOCRATS and the REPUBLICANS , ( If you watched when Prime Minister Natenyahu spoke in the senate , He had 29 standing ovations by both parties , Nobody was sitting down ) , And back to the story , Iran getting stronger in that Area , Hezbollah had a war with Israel and kinda whipped up little bit on their Army , ( and off course that's a no no when it comes to the US ) . So Syria and Iran support Hezbollah . The US and Israel tried through Saudis and Qataris to pay Assad not to keep that Alliance , Well he did not want to have part of that , Simply because he Knows these Gulf States , ( Saddam already dealt with them and look what happened to Him ) , So when Assad did not accept the offer ( Billions of DOLLARS , MIND YOU ) , So they decided to bring their army which is ( Alqaeda and the Wahhabi's extremist ) they played the Syrians Muslims Brother hood and Syria have some of them , and they started this upraising . They are bringing arms through Lebanon and Turkey and they are bringing the left over fighters from Libya and Iraq and Chechnya and every little rat hole in the world , And off course they have the back up of the US through Hillary Clinton and John McCain and lots of our Israeli's Supporters and off course the Media . which the Jews control in the US . Well here you go , and the movie is playing . Its complicated , But trust me they are spending lots money and thugs power .
Hey my turn... go put on your KKK robes and burn your cross. We don't need your racist conspiracy theories.
Gary Clark -3303449 Hey buddy tell me , What was the Iraq war ?? And how about the Libyan war , Conspiracies , Yes buddy , That's what they are , They big corporations and big countries governments they play with peoples lives like you play stud poker , Thanks for the KKK rob though buddy , But I do not my African American friends will like for me to have one . And I respect people and Cherish human lives , Unlike these thugs we are supporting in Syria .
Reports like this are being manipulated by the Syrian rebels with the misguided cooperation of most of the Western journalists.Read today's Telegraph UK newspaper how a a group of 4 journalists of Channel 4 were unsuccessfully led by the rebels into a death trap so that their killing could be blamed on the Assad regime.We just can't take the allegations and claims of the rebels at face value.
Bravo! I also read Alex Thomas' account of being led into a trap. I've been taking to other sources of news from other countries and they are quite different from what the standard fare has been in our media--which up til now has been to blame Assad's government forces for everything. I don't want to see any of our journalists get killed covering this, however, the rebels know very well that the media will report with loud outraged voices if one of their own is killed. And, they will most likely blame it on "Assad's government forces."
hopefully they can get Assad out of there someday soon... but even then it will take quite awhile to stabilize the country
You said it. Saddam Hussein has been dead and gone for years, and they still have a "stability" issue in Iraq. Just because the dictator goes doesn't mean the country transitions smoothly.
yeah greg "hope and change" just like someone told us three years ago...and how long will it take to stabilize this country...
The Syrian government is commiting War Crimes and the United Nations should intervene and arrest Assad !!!
The UN intervene in Yogoslavia!!! Arrested it's leader, so why not Syrian President. This wholesale Murdering of unarmed men , women, and children most not go unpunished.
How much war do u need Alfa59. Oh and the UN intervened in Libya and now Alqaeda raises their flag. Or should I say the CIA. War mongering as s hol e.
Syrian government is doing no such thing. The crimes and massacres are being perpetrated by Druze rebels and are terrorizing the public. The Syrian government has never done these things to this day. These are events meant to destabilize this country and are being induced by foreign governments who have a financial gains to be made IE the US and Israel
I was wondering if someone could explain to me how the US and Israel will benefit financially when the Iranians decide they've been laying low long enough and come swarming over the border to more openly support their mercenaries (oh, sorry I meant to say "the rebels") in Syria ?
NATIONAL DEBT, Funny how the countries being invaded by mercenary armies, lybia, iraq, afghanistan, syria, and iran all had no national debt, because they control their own currency. It is alll about usery and forcibly putting society into debt slavery.
All the leaders of the U.N. should be tried for crimes against humanity, and receive the death penalty, on the grounds of accessory to murder. They are as guilty as Assad, plain and simple. In society when one sits back and watches ruthless murder and doesn't take proper action, such as calling 911, they are just as guilty as the perpetrator. The U.N. needs to face a firing squad. Isn't justice for one supposed to be justice for all.
PEOLPE WAKE UP. These pictures are just propaganda to have us fight on another front. It's becoming comical to see how the US media works. Just keep marching the globe USA and when a real nation stands their ground u will understand the misery u inject on the world. I am for a total US stand down which includes NATO and the UN. Let's lead with another example, PEACE.
That's a pretty radical idea you got there.
As much as some people want to see a conspiracy, about the fighting in Syria, the truth is far simpler. The ruling minority Alawites (Shiite) are going to fight the majority Sunni with all their might. Assad's father put down a Sunni revolt before. The difference, this time, is the perception among the Sunni's of international support. This IS, in fact, already a civil war.
ROFL, This is similar to Lybia , a very peaceful and prosperous country, who was attacked and destabilized by mercenaries and a leaching minority culture. It has nothing to do with Shiite or Sunni, the disgusting group of men here are druze. They are a @!$%# bag group of leaching scum and they have been doing this for decades, but now with Syria and independent nation , the international bankers see a opportunity to seize power in that country by terrorism and violence and install a minority leaching group in charge similarto our country and most others. This is why we hear no news from Lybia because the leaches are busy killing independent reporters and suppressing the public.
Who gives a s**t. They need to kill as many as possible so the United States Marine Corp can send less ammo. Death to all islamist. They don't need our money or troops. Let the french handle it. Oh wait they have never won a war. Better send the IRISH!
Syria was peacefull untill the druze decided they wanted power to become the leaches of that country. They are responsible for this and it will not end until the leaching bankers of the world can get their way. They are the ones who invented terrorism and they are behind this violence. They are disgusting group of leaches.
As America withers away due to our failed attention, failed leadership, we have the audacity to point at other countries and say "oh those poor people, those poor children". How about American children, American people and to hell with these UN civil engineering projects. We need to do some work here at home(like seal the southern border, remove drug gangs from our cities and schools, make our cities beautiful again).
What pomposity as we look elsewhere and say "we need to help-them".
...and the beat goes on....
The right-wing drum beat for war, that is.
dls Did JFK beat his Drums when he started the Vietnam War.58.000 dead!!!
dls, mike ritter: or Wilson with WW1, Roosevelt with WW2, Truman with Korea, although not a war, Carter with Iran (most people don't know that a take over of an embassy is a INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED ACT OF WAR), Clinton in Bosnia...... Now back track to the enemies. Hitler and Stalin were socialists, big government control leaders, Vietnam was communist supported by USSR and China to a point. It is just naive to think only conservatives start war. When you look back at the 20th Century, it is the story of one thing: Big Government vs Big Government. Yet for some reason Americans keep voting to make the American government bigger and bigger until you can't control the beast anymore. Maybe that will make people think before declaring Tea Party members as terrorists and rascists etc.. They simply want less big government. Which view will more than likely lead to peace? I know which way I vote, dls, which of the 2 other parties do you worship?
I don't support any theocratic dictatorship, or theocratic oppression. And I consider anyone who doesn't preside over a free country a despot, and any such regime as inhuman. It's that simple. This goes for Muslim theocracies in place now, those who want to overthrow them and replace them with another, those who want to warp the US into a "Christian" theocracy in any way, etc.
And it's not just theocracies. Any oppression of freedom is inherently a morally reprehensible act to me, and worthy of fighting to the death. And it's not the United States of America's burden to be the Great Satan and Mother Teresa at the same time, nor is it the responsibility of some international organization to step in on every conflict. If the UN steps in, what can we expect from these "rebels"? If they guarantee a secular democracy, or face immediate removal, then by all means UN step in. Otherwise it's future depraved oppressors of humanity fighting current ones.
Bingo.
Dear Billumbergh:
Theocracy ruled the Arab Muslim world since the beginning of its birth. Democracy and Islam don't mix as long there are Ayatollahs, Kings, and the thirst of oil and the Zion's dream for a greater Israel. You should read my novel 'Twins in Arms' because our U.S.A. needs smart people like you to influence our government to safeguard our nuclear power plants from a immanent terrorist attack that would devastate the U.S. in due time.
Sat. 6/9/12
Perhaps this will seem to be a very Cold Statement but WHERE ARE THE FELLOW MUSLIMS ? WHERE ARE THE
FELLOW ARABS Why are they NOT there to defend & save Fellow Muslims in Syria ?
I see all of this extreme WEALTH & RICHES in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Nations literately Billions & Billions of Money being spent but NONE of these Arab Nations are there to save their fellow Muslims in Syria. WHY ?
They claim to be "Morally Superior" to Americans but Do Nothing to Save Their Own ? WHY ?
They certainly have the $money$ to build any Military they Wish but they still do nothing as their fellow Arabs are Murdered Daily. WHY ?
Anyone got a Answer for that One ?
SPW "Airborne"
I think they're still in the same place they were when their Muslim brothers were being slaughtered in places like Bosnia-Herzegovinia and Albania--riding around in their chauffer-driven air-conditioned cars ordering around their servants from African and Southeast-Asian countries and thinking up ways to keep their women from voting and getting drivers licenses. Whaddya think?