Syrian Troops Attack Sunni Village, 15 Killed.

Syrian Troops Attack Sunni Village, 15 Killed.

VOA | 21 Sep 2013 :: Syrian activists say government troops backed by militia fighters have killed at least 15 people during a raid on a Sunni village in the center of the country.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday two women and a child were among those killed in the attack on Sheik Hadid village.

The group said the fighters used guns and knives to kill the residents, calling the raid a "massacre." It said it is not clear if the rest of the men killed were rebel fighters or civilians.

Syria's government is fighting a Sunni-dominated rebel force. Over 100,000 people have been killed in the two-and-a-half-year conflict.

Diplomatic efforts have recently focused on a U.S.-Russian deal that would require Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up his stockpile of chemical weapons.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says the Syrian government has begun supplying information about its chemical weapons, in line with the deal.

In a VOA interview Friday, spokesman Michael Luhan said the group has received a partial inventory of the weapons and expects to receive additional information by this weekend.

He said the OPCW would not release details of what was in Syria's declaration.

U.S. and Russian officials agreed, last Saturday, on a framework for ending Syria's chemical weapons program that included a one-week deadline for Damascus to submit a comprehensive list of such weapons.

The plan also calls for Syria to eliminate or remove all chemical weapons material and equipment by mid-2014.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Syrian non-compliance could lead to a request for punitive action in the U.N. Kerry said Friday that he had discussed prospects for a "firm and strong" U.N. resolution with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

Luhan said the next step for his agency was supposed to be a Sunday meeting to discuss plans regarding Syria's chemical weapons. However, he says the meeting has been postponed indefinitely.

A U.N. report released earlier this week showed overwhelming evidence that chemical weapons were used in an attack near Damascus, last month. However, the report does not assess blame.(Courtesy:Voice of America)

Syria opposition claims hundreds dead in 'gas' attacks.

Syria opposition claims hundreds dead in 'gas' attacks.

This citizen journalism image provided by the Local Committee
 of Arbeen which has been authenticated based on its contents
 and other AP reporting, shows Syrian citizens receiving treatment
 after an alleged poisonous gas attack fired by regime forces,
 according to activists in Arbeen town, Damascus, Syria, on Aug. 21, 2013.

SYRIA | 21 Aug 2013 ::  Government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have carried out a "poisonous gas" attack near the capital Damascus that has left hundreds dead, Syrian opposition groups claimed Wednesday.

Anti-regime activists are saying that regime forces fired "rockets with poisonous gas heads" in the attack. The number of reported deaths has ranged from 100 to close to 800. The claims and reports could not be independently confirmed.

The Syrian government said there was no truth to the allegations "whatsoever" that chemical weapons were used.

"They are an attempt to divert the United Nations commission on chemical weapons from carrying out its mission," the state-run SANA news agency said.

UN chemical weapons inspectors are in Syria this week to investigate claims that chemical weapons have been used there by both sides in a bloody and protracted civil war.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the shelling was intense and hit the eastern suburbs of Zamalka, Arbeen and Ein Tarma. Rami Abdul-Rahman from the SOHR says he has documented at least 100 deaths from Wednesday's attack. He says it's not clear whether the victims died from shelling or toxic gas attacks.

The Local Coordination Committees said hundreds of people, perhaps as many as 775, were killed or injured in the shelling. Such different figures are common in the immediate aftermaths of attacks in Syria.

Videos and images that appeared to show victims with symptoms consistent with a chemical attack surfaced online Wednesday, although their veracity could not be immediately confirmed.

The Syrian government has long denied claims by the opposition on chemical weapons use, saying rebels fighting to overthrow Assad's government have used such weapons.

Wednesday's claim of the chemical attack, if confirmed, would be the most serious since the March 19 incident in Khan al-Assal when at least 30 people were killed. Assad's regime and the rebels have blamed each other for that attack.

Unrest in Syria began in March 2011 and later exploded into a civil war. More than 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague was among the first international leaders Wednesday to comment on the reports, saying he was "deeply concerned" by the allegations. The United Kingdom will raise the alleged attack with the U.N. Security. Council.

"It is clear that if they (the reports) are verified, it would mark a shocking escalation in the use of chemical weapons in Syria," Hague said.

He called on the Syrian government to allow immediate access to the area for the U.N. team currently in Syria.

France has asked the U.N. delegation to visit the site of the alleged attacks.

That request would seem to fulfill the U.N. requirement that a member state make a formal request before such action can occur. Syria would also need to agree to the request. It was not immediately clear whether that would happen.

Syria's ambassador to Russia dismissed the allegations, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.(Courtesy:USA To Day)

Shelling kills 11 near Syrian capital, activists say.

Shelling kills 11 near Syrian capital, activists say.

his image made from amateur video released by Ugarit News,
 which has been authenticated based on its contents and other
 AP reporting, shows smoke rises in Damascus, Syria, Friday
, June 21, 2013. (Photo credit: AP/Ugarit News via AP video)

BEIRUT  | AP | 02 Jul 2013 :: — Syrian troops shelled a rebel-held suburb of the capital Damascus Tuesday, killing at least 11 people including women and children as government forces forge ahead with offensives against rebel-held areas around the country, activists said.

The shelling on Kfar Batna appeared to be part of a concerted government push against contested and rebel-held areas around the capital. In recent months, troops have captured several suburbs of the capital, Damascus, as President Bashar Assad regime’s looks to secure its seat of power.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the dead in Tuesday’s shelling include two women and a child. Mohammed Saeed, an activist based in the nearby suburb of Douma, said the shelling began early Tuesday and lasted several hours and put the death toll at 13.Saeed said Kfar Batna is usually relatively quiet and shelters a large number of Syrians displaced from other, more tense suburbs of Damascus.“Kfar Batna gets hit every day with a shell or two but today it was struck with about 60 mortar shells in four hours,” Saeed said via Skype.An amateur video showed a man carrying into a hospital a dead baby boy who was draped in white cloth in accordance with Muslim traditions while saying in a shaking voice: “Oh God.”“Oh son” said the man, whose arm was bandaged and shirt smeared with blood, as he placed the dead baby next to other bodies put together in a hospital room.Activists then brought the body of what appeared to be a female relative of the man next to the dead infant. “May God forgive you,” the man said as looked at the woman’s covered body.Another video showed the dead baby boy before he was covered laying on a hospital bed, his mouth open and his face covered with blood. A man in the room said the dead boy was three months old. “May God help us,” the man said.A third video showed seven bodies lined in a room, two of them of children. Names of the dead, who were covered in white sheets, were handwritten on the white covers. One of the dead, next to the two children was identified as “Nour Turshi and her children.”The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.The United Nations has estimated that more than 6,000 children are among the some 93,000 people killed in Syria’s more than 2-year-old conflict, which started with largely peaceful protests against the rule of President Bashar Assad. The uprising escalated into an armed rebellion in response to a brutal government crackdown on the protest movement.Activists say more than 100,000 people have been killed since the crisis began.The Observatory said that in the northern province of Aleppo, rebels were able to destroy an army vehicle using a Russian-made Konkurs anti-tank missile that they recently received from Gulf Arab states. Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said the rebels appear to have received large numbers of such missiles in recent days.Activists said recently that Syria’s rebels have received shipments of more powerful weapons from Gulf allies in recent weeks, particularly anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, that have already helped stall aggressive new advances by regime forces.