Crisis in Syrië #10 Bloedbad!

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RAGreeneCNN twitterde op dinsdag 28-02-2012 om 12:40:35 BREAKING: Wounded journalist Edith Bouvier REFUSING to leave #BabaAmr #Syria #Homs without promise govt won't confiscate photos/recordings reageer retweet

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Paul Conroy: Syrian activists killed during rescue

• Volunteers die while getting photographer out to Lebanon
• Three other journalists remain trapped in Homs
• UN human rights chief calls for immediate ceasefire

Paul Conroy, the British Sunday Times photographer who was wounded in the besieged city of Homs, has been smuggled out of Syria to Lebanon in a dramatic rescue.

According to those familiar with his escape a number of Syrian opposition activists died during the rescue effort after they came under artillery fire while leaving the city.

The evacuation party came under fire twice. Three activists were killed on the first occasion while more were reportedly killed when they came under fire again.

A spokesman for the paper said: "The Sunday Times can confirm that the photographer Paul Conroy is safe and in Lebanon. He is in good shape and good spirits."

"I have heard that he is out," Conroy's wife Kate Conroy said. "All I can say is that we are delighted and overjoyed at the news, but I am not going to say any more than that at this point."

An FCO spokesperson said: "We can now confirm that the injured British journalist Paul Conroy is safely in Lebanon, where he is receiving full consular assistance from our embassy."

Conroy's father Les, said his wife had spoken to their son and described him as being in "very good spirits", though he confirmed he had not personally talked to the photographer.

"We're all very relieved and happy that Paul's out," he said.

Despite the successful rescue of Conroy – whose colleague Marie Colvin was killed last week in Homs along with French photographer Rémi Ochlik during an attack on the makeshift media centre in the suburb of Baba Amr – three other journalists remain trapped in the city. They are Edith Bouvier of Le Figaro, who sustained a broken femur, French photographer William Daniels and the Middle East correspondent of El Mundo, Javier Espinosa.

The dramatic nature of Conroy's evacuation underlines the high level of risk being faced by those who have been trying to run medical, food and other supplies into the besieged suburbs of Homs and evacuate the injured, including foreign journalists.

The regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which has recently moved the elite 4th Division commanded by his brother Maher into the battle for Homs, has been using a foreign-supplied drone to target its artillery and mortar fire into the city.

Conroy had twice refused to leave Baba Amr without the body of Colvin, who was killed during a rocket attack last Wednesday. The group of reporters has been holed up in Baba Amr ever since and protracted negotiations to evacuate them have failed.

According to the Avaaz network, it had been working with 35 Syrian activists in Homs who volunteered to help free the reporters.

"Paul Conroy's rescue today is a huge relief but this must be tempered with the news that three remain unaccounted for, and with our respects for the incredibly courageous activists who died during the evacuation attempts," said Ricken Patel, executive director of Avaaz.

"The rescue is ongoing and we are deeply disappointed that sections of the media broke this story before all the journalists are safe."

According to activists, Bouvier and Daniels have been refusing to leave Baba Amr without an embassy escort to guarantee their safe passage.

In recent days the attacks on Homs have intensified, targeting up to six neighbourhoods of the city.

News of Conroy's rescue came as the UN's human rights chief called for an immediate ceasefire in Syria, saying the situation had deteriorated rapidly in recent weeks as authorities reinforced their onslaught against the opposition.

Navi Pillay, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said the international community has to take action to prevent Syrian security forces from continuing their attacks against civilians, which had resulted in "countless atrocities".

"There must be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to end the fighting and bombardments," Pillay told an urgent meeting of the UN human rights council.

She urged Syria to end all fighting, allow international monitors to enter the country and give unhindered access for aid agencies to Homs and other embattled cities.

The appeal prompted a bitter riposte from Syria's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, who accused the 47-nation council of promoting terrorism in his country.

Before walking out of the room, Fayssal al-Hamwi said Tuesday's meeting would only prolong the crisis in his country, where the UN estimates at least 5,400 people have been killed since March. Anti-government activists say the real figure is much higher.

Pillay cited the report of a UN expert panel last week, which concluded that Syrian government officials were responsible for crimes against humanity committed by security forces against opposition members. The crimes included shelling civilians, executing deserters and torturing detainees. Some opposition groups had also committed gross abuses, it said.

The panel has compiled a confidential list of top-level Syrian officials who could face prosecution over the atrocities.

Pillay reiterated her call for Syria to be referred to the international criminal court "in the face of the unspeakable violations that take place every moment".

"More than at any other time, those committing atrocities in Syria have to understand that the international community will not stand by and watch this carnage and that their decisions and the actions they take today ultimately will not go unpunished," she said.

Members of the council are expected to pass a resolution on Tuesday condemning "widespread and systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities".

A draft resolution supported by many Arab and western nations says the regime's use of heavy artillery and tanks to attack civilian areas has contributed to the deaths of thousands of people since March.

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Op dinsdag 28 februari 2012 15:31 schreef AryaMehr het volgende:

[..]

Allemaal voor de show.

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Spanish reporter escapes from Homs

Javier Espinosa, El Mundo correspondent trapped in besieged Syrian city, is smuggled to safety as fighting rages in Baba Amr

Javier Espinosa, the El Mundo correspondent who had been trapped in a besieged suburb of the Syrian city of Homs, has escaped to safety, according to executives on his paper.

While details were sketchy on Wednesday evening, it appears that Espinosa, who has written a series of dramatic dispatches from Homs – some published in the Guardian – was smuggled out afternoon after making the perilous journey out of the city.

In his dispatches, he detailed the suffering of the suburb of Baba Amr, which has been under siege for 25 days, and he was one of the tiny group of journalists trapped in Homs when two journalists, including the Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin, were killed last week.

Espinosa's escape was announced as it was disclosed that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad had refused permission for the UN's humanitarian aid chief, Valerie Amos, to enter the country, despite the urgings of Moscow. Reports also emerged of heavy fighting on all four sides of Baba Amr.

Meanwhile, Kofi Annan, the newly appointed UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, said he would hold talks in New York with the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, and member states. He will then meet the Arab League chief, Nabil Elaraby, in Cairo.

According to witnesses' accounts, the Syrian army's 4th Division has moved towards the outskirts of the suburb, where troops were involved in heavy clashes with members of the Free Syrian Army.

Espinosa's escape follows that of Colvin's colleague, the Sunday Times photographer Paul Conroy, who was smuggled to safety on Sunday evening after the journalists were split up during their escape attempt while under attack by government troops. Thirteen activists were killed trying to get them to safety.

The fate of two other remaining journalists – Edith Bouvier of Le Figaro and William Daniels, a photographer based in France – was uncertain. Some reports said they remained trapped in Baba Amr. Bouvier broke her leg badly during the attack that killed Colvin and the French photographer Remi Ochlik last week.

Espinosa's escape came as the situation in Baba Amr grew more precarious amid claims by a Syrian government official that it was preparing to "clean" the rebel-held areas of Homs.

Sources of reliable news from inside Homs were also scarce on Wednesday as activists in the city were cut off for long periods from communicating with the outside world.

The rebels have sworn to fight to the last man, according to Ahmed, an activist who said he had just left Baba Amr. He said other opposition areas of Homs were also under attack but gave no details of casualties. "Pray for the Free Syrian Army. Do not be miserly in your prayers for them," activists in the city said in a statement.

"We call on all Syrians in other cities to move and do something to lift the pressure off Baba Amr and Homs. They should act quickly," Ahmed said via Skype.

However, some activists said leaders of the Farouq Brigade had already left Baba Amr.

Homs, a symbol of opposition to Assad in a nearly year-long revolt, was without power or telephone links, Ahmed said.

YouTube footage posted by activists showed army trucks and tank carriers on a highway purportedly heading for Homs.

Reports from the city could not immediately be verified due to tight government restrictions on media work in Syria, where Assad is facing the gravest challenge of his 11-year rule.

A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Hicham Hassan, said the violence was making the humanitarian situation more difficult.

"This makes it even more important for us to repeat our call for a halt in the fighting," he said.

"It is essential that people who are in need of evacuation – wounded people, women and children – that we are able to offer them that with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent."

Libya will donate $100m (£62m) in humanitarian aid to the Syrian opposition and allow them to open an office in Tripoli, a government spokesman said, in a further sign of its strong support for forces fighting Assad.

Representatives from the Syrian National Council visited Tripoli this week after Mustafa Abdel, chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), made the initial offer earlier this month to host an office there.

The United Nations estimated on Tuesday that Assad's security forces had killed more than 7,500 civilians since the revolt began last March. This figure was significantly higher than previous estimates.

This is disputed by Syria's government, which said in December that "armed terrorists" had killed more than 2,000 soldiers and police during the unrest.

France said this week that the UN security council was working on a new Syria resolution and urged Russia and China not to veto it, as they have previous drafts.

An outline drafted by Washington focused on humanitarian problems to try to win Chinese and Russian support and isolate Assad, western envoys said.

But they said the draft would also suggest Assad was to blame for the crisis – a stance opposed particularly strongly by his long-time ally, Russia.

But China's foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, also called for political dialogue in Syria, something ruled out by Assad's opponents while the bloodshed goes on.

Russia has warned against interference in Syria under a humanitarian guise.

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Meeste rebellen zijn Baba Amr ontvlucht

De meeste Syrische rebellen hebben de wijk Baba Amr in Homs verlaten. Dat melden activisten op de facebookpagina van Baba Amr. Enkele rebellen zijn achter gebleven in het bolwerk van verzet om hun kameraden rugdekking te geven tijdens hun vlucht.

'Wij, de Baba Amr brigade, hebben besloten om ons terug te trekken vanwege de burgers die zoch nog in de wijk bevinden', schrijven de activisten. 'De humanitaire situatie is op zijn slechtst: er is geen voedsel meer, geen water, geen elektriciteit en er zijn geen medicijnen. Er is ook geen mogelijkheid om binnen de wijk met elkaar te communiceren. We hebben bovendien niet genoeg wapens om de burgers te verdedigen. Het leger van Assad heeft de huizen van de meeste burgers vernield door hen met raketten te beschieten. Helikopters hebben Baba Amr vanuit de lucht aangevallen en tanks schieten met mortieren.'

'Wijk in handen van leger'
De melding van de terugtrekking kwam kort nadat activisten berichtten dat de rebellen in Baba Amro standhielden en de aanval van de troepen van president Bashar al-Assad hadden afgeslagen. De regering meldde toen al dat ze bijna heel de wijk in handen had.

Eerder vandaag zwoer het Syrische regime Baba Amr na bijna vier weken van bombardementen 'schoon te vegen'. Syrië kondigde een groot offensief aan om de wijk binnen enkele uren te 'zuiveren van alle gewapende elementen'.

De activisten roepen het Internationale Rode Kruis op om de wijk direct binnen te gaan en alle burgers te verplaatsen. 'Zij hebben de verantwoordelijkheid om mensen te redden en alle hulp te geven die nodig is om hen in leven te houden.'

Syrische Nationale Raad
Een overkoepelend orgaan van verschillende oppositiegroepen die zich vooral vanuit het buitenland tegen Assad keren, de Syrische Nationale Raad (SNC), wil de gewapende opstand gaan coördineren. SNC-voorzitter Burhan Ghalioun zei vandaag in zijn woonplaats Parijs dat daar een militaire raad voor wordt opgezet. De SNC stond aanvankelijk erg terughoudend tegenover het Vrije Syrische Leger.

TRIP TO SYRIA -- don't just watch, help Syria!

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OpPinkPower twitterde op vrijdag 02-03-2012 om 01:44:40 RT @AnonOpsSweden: In 5 days swedish anon fieldmedics will bring medication into #Syria #OpTripToSyria http://t.... http://t.co/FW4rZSDm reageer retweet

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Syria's deadly neighbourhood and the desperate attempts to escape

After days in Baba Amr with little food or water, the journalists and activists had no choice except to leave

In the bitterly cold darkness of last Sunday morning, four western reporters and a group of activists protecting them made a decision they had twice tried to avoid – to flee Baba Amr.

Led by local people determined to see their guests to safety, but themselves resigned to staying behind, the group made for a passageway that was to be their only way out of one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods on earth.

The Briton, Paul Conroy, whose wounds were minor, was one of the first to climb into the 5 metre hole in the centre of the ravaged district. He was followed by Javier Espinosa, the veteran Middle East correspondent for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, and a number of activists, among them a young Syrian known simply as Abu Hanin.

Last came two French reporters, Edith Bouvier and William Daniels, both of whom had been wounded in the shelling that claimed the lives of their colleagues, Marie Colvin and Rémi Ochlik only metres away four days earlier.

Bouvier's wounds were by far the most serious. Her femur was shattered and the basic medical care available to her in Baba Amr could not ward off the main risk she faced in being moved – a blood clot. If that happened on the journey, it would probably be fatal.

However, by then it had become clear that staying behind meant certain death. For four days and nights, the group had been huddled in the hallway as Syrian rockets thundered down on buildings around them. They had no food and next to no water. One of the group had taken to eating tobacco leaves.

"The Syrians were firing at them from four different directions," said one observer familiar with the evacuation. "They were trying to kill them."

Somehow the regime's gunners had zeroed in on the group's location. However, not one rocket tube or tank turret had a direct angle of fire. To achieve that, the regime would have to whittle away the building in front of the refuge – a task it was attempting with vigour. "The building was crumbling by the hour," the observer said. "They didn't have a choice but to leave."

The only passage out was no longer easy. For months the access route had been a lifeline to the neighbourhood. Even as the Syrian military formed a stranglehold around rebel-held parts of the country's third city, it had still been used for a while as a sole supply line.

But that changed in the second week of February, when loyalist forces got wind, blowing up parts of the access point and stationing troops all around. The reporters and activists suspected Syrian forces would be waiting somewhere along the line. And they were.

Paul Conroy was towards the front of the group when the shooting started. He had been among the most reluctant to flee Baba Amr, partly because it meant leaving behind his slain colleague, the veteran Sunday Times correspondent, Marie Colvin. But also because two evacuation attempts suggested earlier would have meant leaving the badly wounded Bouvier's fate to Syrian Red Crescent officials.

Attempts to negotiate a ceasefire and a humanitarian corridor had all failed. And at that point, there seemed little reason to trust that Damascus had Bouvier's interests at heart.

Conroy moved forward, away from the fire. Espinosa was nearer to the firefight – and in trouble. In the frenetic minutes that followed, three of the group's Syrian escorts are believed to have been hit by gunfire and died. Espinosa is understood to have given aid to some of the wounded before managing to move forward. He and Conroy were met separately down the access point by activists.

Bouvier, Daniels and their escorts, however, had no option but to turn back. By that point, the evacuation was in shambles. Getting separated had been a terrible outcome and half the group being forced to return to the living hell they had fled was even worse.

Conroy was taken to a small town, notionally in the control of the Free Syria Army, which spilt southwards towards lands that the opposition guerillas could more confidently control. Espinosa was soon able to follow a similar route, smuggled from point to point by activists and guerillas, none of whom could talk to each other via mobile phones (the regime had brought down the mobile network), or by radio (because of the risk of interception).

For Bouvier and Daniels, things looked grim. On Tuesday, however, the Homs activists managed to smuggle the pair out of Baba Amr and into another part of Homs. It was a remarkable feat, given how tightly controlled the neighbourhood had become.

From this point – Tuesday afternoon – details of the three separate journeys are sketchy. Conroy made it to Lebanon early on Tuesday morning, where he was met by the Sunday Times photographic editor and staff from the British embassy in Beirut.

News of his rescue led to fears the Syrian military would make extra efforts to hunt down the other three – all of whom had witnessed the final days of the regime's assault on Homs, which on Thursday led to a long-expected ground invasion.

Espinosa made it to Lebanon on Wednesday. This morning he took to Twitter to pay tribute to the bravery of his hosts, in particular Abu Hanin, who ran Baba Amr's media centre for at least the last six months, and the citizen journalists there who have chronicled the battle for the heartland of the Syrian uprising with a stream of uploaded videos. "I never saw 'journalists' so brave," he said.

Late on Thursday, after the most fraught of the journeys, the wounded French reporters also made it to the Bekaa valley in Lebanon. French president Nicolas Sarkozy said he had spoken to Bouvier, yet to make her way to Beirut. Heavy snow on the mountain passes may delay the final part of her journey.

Minutes after the last of the group made it to safety, a reminder of what they were forced to leave behind was posted online. Doctors at the Baba Amr medical clinic, who had used valuable fuel to preserve the bodies of Colvin and Ochlik in the hope that they too could be evacuated, recorded a video of a simple burial.

A torch beam shone through the gloom to confirm Colvin's identity before her shroud was covered with soil. It was the last act of a grim week in Homs that has forever changed the Syrian uprising and how it is reported.