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Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin have acknowledged at the G8 meeting in Northern Ireland that they have a different stance on Syria, but agreed to push for a summit in Geneva.
After face-to-face talks, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin said they shared a common desire to end the violence.
Both also said they were optimistic on Iran, after its presidential election.
Earlier, the G8 nations discussed the global economy, with the leaders agreeing world prospects remained weak.
The G8 leaders are now heading to a working dinner, where Syria is likely to be top of the agenda.
Other nations joining the UK, US and Russia for the 39th Summit of the Group of Eight (G8) in Lough Erne, County Fermanagh, are Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama met for about two hours on the sidelines of the summit.
Correspondents say that both leaders looked tense as they addressed journalists afterwards, with the Russian president regularly looking at the floor.
Vladimir Putin said: “Our positions do not fully coincide, but we are united by the common intention to end the violence, to stop the number of victims increasing in Syria, to resolve the problems by peaceful means, including the Geneva talks.”
Barack Obama said the two leaders had instructed their teams to press ahead with trying to organize the peace conference in Switzerland.
Neither the rebels nor the Syrian government have yet fully committed to the proposed Geneva talks, which would seek to end more than two years of unrest that has left an estimated 93,000 people dead.
Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin did say that they had agreed to meet in Moscow in September.
Earlier UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who is hosting the summit, had said he hoped to find “common ground” on Syria.
The US said last week it was prepared to arm opposition forces, saying it had evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces had used chemical weapons on a “small scale”.
David Cameron, who backed the recent lifting of EU arms sanctions against the rebels, said on Monday that no decision had yet been made on whether the UK would do the same.
In an interview in Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Monday, President Bashar al-Assad denied that his military had used chemical weapons, and warned that arming the rebels would result in “the direct export of terrorism to Europe”.
“Terrorists will return to fight, equipped with extremist ideology,” he said.
US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland
On Monday, Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said of the possibility of a no-fly zone over Syria: “I think we fundamentally would not allow this scenario.”
The formal talks on Monday covered the global economy.
In their statement after the session, the leaders said prospects remained weak but added that action in the US, Japan and eurozone had helped ease the situation.
“Downside risks in the euro area have abated over the past year, but it remains in recession.
“The US recovery is continuing and the deficit is declining rapidly in the context of a continuing need for further progress towards balanced medium-term fiscal sustainability.”
Ahead of the first session, the US and EU members of the G8 announced that negotiations were to begin on a wide-ranging free-trade deal.
David Cameron, Barack Obama and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso held a press conference on the proposed EU-US deal.
The British prime minister said a successful agreement would have a greater impact than all other world trade deals put together.
“This is a once-in-a-generation prize and we are determined to seize it,” said David Cameron.
He said the deal “could add as much as £100 billion [$157 billion; 117 billion euros] to the EU economy, £80 billion to the US economy and as much as £85 billion to the rest of the world”.
Barack Obama said the deal was a priority for the US and he hoped that it would create an economic alliance as strong as the diplomatic and security alliances the two sides enjoyed.
G8 Summit agenda
Monday:
- 15:45: Official arrivals
- 16:45: Global economy
- 18:15: Bilateral meetings
- 20:00: Foreign policy
Tuesday:
- 07:00: Bilateral meetings
- 08:30: Counter-terrorism
- 10:30: Tax transparency
- 14:30: Closing talks
- 15:30: UK PM press conference
- 15:45: Other leaders’ press conferences
(All timings BST)
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The White House has announced today that President Barack Obama has approved for the first time a direct military aid to the Syrian opposition.
President Barack Obama made the decision after his administration concluded Syrian forces under President Bashar al-Assad were using chemical weapons, a spokesman said.
Ben Rhodes did not give details about the military aid other than to say it would be “different in scope and scale to what we have provided before”.
Russia said the US claims on Syria’s chemical weapons use were unconvincing.
Yury Ushakov, a senior aide to President Vladimir Putin, told reporters that Washington had provided Moscow with its evidence, but “what was presented…. does not look convincing to us”.
The US announcement is one that the Syrian opposition has been pushing and praying for months.
It seems clear that President Barack Obama has finally been persuaded, as Britain and France have argued, that the battlefield cannot be allowed to tilt strongly in the regime’s favor, as is currently happening.
Washington’s “clear” statement was welcomed by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who urged Syria to let the UN “investigate all reports of chemical weapons use”.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the UK agreed with Washington’s assessment and said an urgent response to the Syria crisis would be discussed at the G8 this week.
But a spokesperson for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told said that he remained against “any further militarization” of the conflict in Syria, saying the people there need peace not more weapons.
Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to Barack Obama, said the US intelligence community believed the “Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times over the last year”.
He said intelligence officials had a “high confidence” in their assessment, and also estimated that 100 to 150 people had died from chemical weapons attacks, “however, casualty data is likely incomplete”.
“We have consistently said the use of chemical weapons violates international norms and crosses red lines that have existed in the international community for decades,” Ben Rhodes said.
President Barack Obama has approved for the first time a direct military aid to the Syrian opposition
Ben Rhodes said President Barack Obama had made the decision to increase assistance, including “military support”, to the Supreme Military Council (SMC) and Syrian Opposition Coalition.
He did not give details of the aid, but administration officials have been quoted by US media as saying it will most likely include sending small arms and ammunition.
The New York Times quoted US officials as saying that Washington could provide anti-tank weapons.
Syria’s rebels have been calling for both anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington is also considering a no-fly zone inside Syria, possibly near the border with Jordan, that would protect refugees and rebels who are training there.
When asked whether Barack Obama would back a no-fly zone over Syria, Ben Rhodes said one would not make a “huge difference” on the ground – and would be costly.
He said further actions would be taken “on our own timeline.”
The CIA is expected to co-ordinate delivery of the military equipment and train the rebel soldiers in how to use it.
Until now, the US has limited its help to rebel forces by providing rations and medical supplies.
Ben Rhodes said the White House hoped the increased support would bolster the effectiveness and legitimacy of both the political and military arms of Syria’s rebels, and said the US was “comfortable” working with SMC chief Gen Salim Idris.
“It’s been important to work through them while aiming to isolate some of the more extremist elements of the opposition, such as al-Nusra,” he said.
The US decision marks a significant escalation of the proxy war that has been gathering pace in Syria, our Beirut correspondent says.
The support of the West’s regional allies, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, had helped the rebels in the days after the uprising became militarized.
But the tide turned after the Assad government turned to Moscow and Tehran for help. Hezbollah fighters have also been involved in the government’s counter-offensive.
Now the West is lining up to try and help the rebels, but that is likely to take many months with more bloodshed and destruction.
The White House announcement immediately shook up the ongoing debate in Washington DC over how the US might provide assistance to the rebels.
Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who have been particularly strident in their calls for military aid, said the finding must change US policy in Syria. They called for further action, saying US credibility was on the line.
“A decision to provide lethal assistance, especially ammunition and heavy weapons, to opposition forces in Syria is long overdue, and we hope the president will take this urgently needed step,” they said in a joint statement.
“But providing arms alone is not sufficient. The president must rally an international coalition to take military actions to degrade Assad’s ability to use airpower and ballistic missiles and to move and resupply his forces around the battlefield by air.”
The White House announcement came on the same day the UN said the number of those killed in the Syrian conflict had risen to more than 93,000 people.
A UN report released on Thursday found at least 5,000 people have been dying in Syria every month since last July, with 30,000 killed since November.
More than 80% of those killed were men, but the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) says it has also documented the deaths of more than 1,700 children under the age of 10.
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The White House said today that Syrian forces under President Bashar al-Assad have used chemical weapons “on a small scale” against the opposition rebels.
A senior aide to President Barack Obama said the US estimated 100-150 people had died in “multiple” attacks.
Ben Rhodes said the US president had decided to provide unspecified “military support” to the opposition.
The White House had previously warned that the US considers the use of such weapons crossing a “red line”.
Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to Barack Obama, said the US had no “reliable” evidence the opposition had used chemical weapons.
Earlier, the United Nations said the number of those killed in the Syrian conflict had risen to more than 93,000 people.
Ben Rhodes said the president had made the decision to increase assistance, including “military support”, to the opposition’s Supreme Military Council (SMC).
He declined to provide further details, other than to say it would be “different in scope and scale to what we have provided before”.
Syrian forces under President Bashar al-Assad have used chemical weapons on a small scale against the opposition rebels
“The president has been clear that the use of chemical weapons – or the transfer of chemical weapons to terrorist groups – is a red line for the US,” Ben Rhodes said.
“Our intelligence community now has a high confidence assessment that chemical weapons have been used on a small scale by the Assad regime in Syria. The president has said that the use of chemical weapons would change his calculus, and it has.”
Ben Rhodes said US intelligence agencies had concluded Bashar al-Assad’s forces had used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, based on battlefield reports, “descriptions of physiological symptoms” from alleged victims, and laboratory analysis of samples obtained from alleged victims.
However, the full number killed by chemical weapons was “likely incomplete”, Ben Rhodes said in a conference call with reporters.
“Put simply, the Assad regime should know that its actions have led us to increase the scope and scale of assistance that we provide to the opposition,” he said, including direct support to the SMC.
“These efforts will increase going forward.”
Further actions will be taken “on our own timeline”, Ben Rhodes said.
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EU foreign ministers have said they will not renew an arms embargo on the Syrian opposition, due to expire on Saturday.
However, there was no immediate decision to send arms to Syrian rebels and all other sanctions remained in force.
Even so, Russia said it would “directly harm” the prospects of an international peace conference on Syria.
The EU declaration on Syria came after 12 hours of talks in Brussels. Foreign ministers were unable to reach the unanimous decision required to extend the current arms embargo, and so agreed to renew the other sanctions – including an assets freeze on President Bashar al-Assad and his aides, and restrictions on trade in oil and financial transactions – without it.
The EU decision will not make much difference on the ground in the immediate future.
Member states can now decide their own policy on sending arms to Syria, but agreed not to “proceed at this stage with the delivery” of equipment.
The EU’s Foreign Affairs Council is to review this position before August 1, in light of fresh developments to end the conflict including the ongoing US-Russia peace initiative.
Britain and France had been pressing for the ability to send weapons to what they call moderate opponents of President Assad, saying it would push Damascus towards a political solution to the two-year conflict.
EU foreign ministers have said they will not renew an arms embargo on the Syrian opposition, due to expire on Saturday
There has been increasing pressure on the international community to act since allegations emerged of chemical weapons being used in the conflict. Syria has denied using chemical weapons.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague welcomed the outcome of the Brussels talks, saying it was “important for Europe to send a clear signal to the Assad regime that it has to negotiate seriously, and that all options remain on the table if it refuses to do so”.
But other countries had opposed opening the way for weapons to be sent, saying it would only worsen the violence that has already cost at least 80,000 lives.
Austria had been a key opponent of arms being sent.
“The EU should hold the line. We are a peace movement and not a war movement,” Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called the EU move “a manifestation of double standards”. Russia and the US are leading efforts to organize a peace conference on Syria next month.
The Syrian opposition has not said whether to attend the conference, and was locked in talks in Istanbul, Turkey, as an unofficial deadline to decide on its attendance passed.
A spokesman for the opposition Syrian National Coalition, Louay Safi, was quoted by news agency AFP as saying that the EU move was “a positive step”, but that the coalition was “afraid it could be too little, too late”.
George Jabboure Netto, a spokesman for the Syrian National Council (SNC), another opposition group, said the dropping of the arms embargo was a “step in the right direction”.
He said the SNC was willing to negotiate an end to the conflict, but only on the condition that there was no place for President Bashar al-Assad in the new Syria.
“We think coupling the arming of [the] Free Syrian Army with diplomatic efforts is a must for any hopes for the diplomatic efforts to succeed.”
The EU embargo, first imposed in May 2011, applies to the rebels as much as the Syrian government.
But in February this year, foreign ministers agreed to enable any EU member state to provide non-lethal military equipment “for the protection of civilians” or for the opposition forces, “which the Union accepts as legitimate representatives of the Syrian people”.
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Fighting has raged in Syrian town of Qusair near Lebanon border after government troops launched a major operation to seize the strategic rebel stronghold.
State media said the army “restored security and stability” to most of the town – a claim denied by activists.
Lebanese militants are said to be involved – Hezbollah siding with the army, Sunni gunmen with the rebels.
More than 50 people have reportedly been killed. The fighting has also spilled into Lebanon.
Several mortar rounds fired from Syria struck Lebanon’s north-eastern town of Hermel, Lebanon’s National News Agency said, but no casualties or major damage were reported.
It said that in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, at least five people were injured in clashes between supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel backers.
In a separate development, the UK-based Oxfam aid agency warned that Jordan and Lebanon were in urgent need of help to support hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who had fled the fighting.
Oxfam said a combination of rising summer temperatures and poor sanitation posed increased health risks for the refugees. More than 100 cases of a condition known as “Aleppo boil” had been diagnosed in Lebanon in the past two weeks, caused by a parasite, it added.
Fighting has raged in Syrian town of Qusair near Lebanon border after government troops launched a major operation to seize the strategic rebel stronghold
Syrian troops on Sunday managed to secure most of Qusair and “eliminated large numbers of terrorists, most of them non-Syrians”, the state-run Sana news agency reported.
It quoted a military source as saying that dozens of rebels had surrendered and the army was now “pursuing the armed terrorist groups in some areas” of the town.
Qusair resident and opposition activist Hadi Abdullah said government troops were engaging in house-to-house battles on Sunday, according to the Associated Press.
“It’s the heaviest [shelling] since the beginning of the revolution,” he said, quoted by AP news agency.
He also denied the regime had made advances in the town.
UK-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 52 people were killed in Qusair: 48 fighters and three civilians.
Unconfirmed reports in Lebanese media said that a number of Hezbollah fighters had been killed in a rebel ambush.
The town – close to the border with Lebanon and with a population of 30,000 – has great strategic value. Its control would give the government access from the capital to the coast.
For the rebels, control of Qusair means they can come and go from Lebanon.
In recent weeks the Syrian military has won back surrounding villages and countryside and has encircled Qusair in Homs province.
Earlier this month, Syrian forces reportedly dropped leaflets on the town, warning that it would come under attack if opposition forces failed to surrender.
The UN said last week that the death toll in Syria had reached at least 80,000 since the conflict began in March 2011.
Activists said the number could be as high as 120,000.
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The US has criticized Russia for what it calls an “unfortunate decision” to deliver missiles to the Syrian government.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey said the shipment “will embolden the regime and prolong the suffering” that has killed 80,000.
The sophisticated anti-ship missiles could be used to counter any future foreign military intervention, US officials told The New York Times.
Some 1.5 million people have fled the conflict, says the UN refugee agency.
Most have fled to Jordan and Lebanon, but not all have been registered yet, meaning the true total is likely to be far higher, according to the UNHCR.
Meanwhile, Syria’s national production has dropped by 40% and the number of people living below the poverty line has risen from two million to five million in just two years, according to the man in charge of the UN’s plans for reconstructing Syria after the conflict.
Abdullah al-Dardari, a former deputy prime minister in President Bashar al-Assad’s administration, said the rebuilding what has been destroyed would cost up to $80 billion.
The US has criticized Russia for what it calls an “unfortunate decision” to deliver missiles to the Syrian government
Gen. Martin Dempsey’s description of Moscow’s decision to send missiles to Syria as “ill-timed and very unfortunate” comes amid growing alarm that chemical weapons may have been used in the country, something President Barack Obama has said would be “a red line”.
Russia is one of Syria’s few remaining allies and a long-term arms supplier to the Assad regime. Over the years, in contracts worth billions of dollars, it has sold thousands of tanks, artillery units, aircraft, helicopters and defense systems to Damascus.
In 2007, the two countries signed a deal on the supply of Yakhont missiles which, with a range of 300 km (200 miles), could prove a threat to warships in the Mediterranean.
Although there have been growing calls for arms to be channeled to the rebel fighters in Syria, there has so far been very limited enthusiasm in the West for outright military intervention.
But there is concern that the presence of sophisticated Russian-supplied weaponry will make it much harder to agree and carry out such intervention, implement a blockade or conduct targeted airstrikes in the future.
Without confirming reports of the missile shipment, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the supply of missiles did not break any international rules.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met Sergei Lavrov in Sochi on Friday to discuss plans for an international conference to try to find a way of ending the Syrian conflict, which would aim to bring together the Syrian opposition and members of Bashar al-Assad’s government.
The UN estimates that 80,000 people have died in the uprising, and that some 4.25 million people have been displaced within the country.
The simmering conflict has raised tensions on Syria’s borders: On Friday, Turkish state media reported at least 10 people were killed when a fuel tank exploded in the southern town of Altinozu in Hatay province, where car bombs killed 50 people last week.
The fuel tank was set alight by smugglers during a raid by police, officials said.
Frustrated by the lack of international consensus on Syria, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has had talks this week with President Barack Obama in Washington where he was expected to call for a more assertive stance.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday the UN should discuss imposing a no-fly zone inside Syria at the international conference being mooted.
“With respect to a no-fly zone… it is not a decision that could be taken between the United States and Turkey. It is something that would have to come through the UN Security Council,” he said.
Syria’s Russian-made military:
- Nearly 5,000 tanks; 2,500 infantry fighting vehicles; 2,500 self-propelled or towed artillery units
- 325 Tactical aircraft; 143 helicopters
- Nearly 2,000 air defense pieces
- 295,000 active personnel; 314,000 reserve personnel
Statistics: IISS
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Russia and the United States have agreed to work towards holding an international conference to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of State John Kerry announced it would follow on from an Action Group for Syria meeting in Geneva last June.
John Kerry said they would try to “bring both sides to the table”.
Relations between Moscow and Washington have been strained in the last two years by differences over Syria.
John Kerry held lengthy talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday during his first visit to Moscow since becoming secretary of state.
John Kerry held lengthy talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday during his first visit to Moscow since becoming secretary of state
He told Vladimir Putin that their two countries shared “some very significant common interests with respect to Syria”, including “stability in the region” and “not letting extremists create problems”.
“It is my hope that today we will be able to dig into that a little bit, and see if we can find common ground,” he added.
John Kerry then held further discussions with Sergei Lavrov, after which they jointly announced that they would try to organize an international conference on ending the conflict in Syria, if possible before the end of May.
It will try to convince both the Syrian government and opposition to accept a solution based on the core elements of the final communiqué issued on 30 June 2012, after the UN-backed Action Group for Syria meeting in Geneva.
The communiqué called for an immediate cessation of violence and the establishment of a transitional government that could include officials serving under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and members of the opposition.
“We believe that the Geneva communiqué is the important track to end the bloodshed in Syria,” John Kerry told a news conference.
He added that a negotiated settlement would help avert the danger of Syria breaking up and might influence Washington’s decision on whether or not to arm rebel groups.
Sergei Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow’s belief that the departure of President Bashar al-Assad should not be a condition for peace talks, but insisted he was not trying to keep him in power.
“We are not concerned by the fate of any individual. We are concerned by the fate of the Syrian people,” Sergei Lavrov said.
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Syrian state television has reported that Israeli rockets have hit Jamraya army research centre near Damascus.
Witnesses heard huge explosions near the Jamraya facility, and residents said nearby military positions were also hit.
The Jamraya site was the target of an Israeli strike in January.
Earlier, unnamed Israeli officials said that on Friday Israeli aircraft had attacked a shipment of missiles inside Syria.
Israeli rockets have hit Jamraya army research centre near Damascus
The missiles were believed to be destined for Hezbollah militants in neighboring Lebanon.
The latest attacks come amid reports of massacres in a campaign of sectarian cleansing near the coastal region of central Syria.
Heavy explosions shook Damascus overnight. Amateur footage posted online claimed to show the blasts at the Jamraya research centre, on Mount Qassioun overlooking Damascus.
Residents said military bases in the area had also been hit.
Syrian state media said the attack showed that there was an organic link between Israel and the rebels.
“The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups, which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army,” state TV said, referring to recent offensives by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted eyewitnesses in the area as saying they saw jets in the sky at the time of the explosions.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials on the latest explosions.
Israeli officials have confirmed their forces have carried out two air strikes on Syrian targets this year.
The first attack, in January, apparently targeted the Jamraya facility.
The second, two days ago, targeted a consignment of missiles bound for Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
In a separate development, hundreds of Syrian families have fled the coastal area of central Syria amid reports of massacres.
Activists said that more than 100 people, including women and children, were killed in the Sunni village of al-Bayda and the nearby coastal town of Baniyas.
More than 70,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the conflict erupted in March 2011.
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As Syria marks two years since the start of the nation’s unrest, the EU is set to discuss lifting its arms embargo to allow supplying rebels.
The leaders of France and Britain will try to push other EU members to agree to the move at the Brussels summit.
Ties with Russia, one of Syria’s key allies, will also be discussed. Moscow strongly opposes arming the rebels.
Up to 70,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began.
About one million people have fled the country.
To mark the anniversary, the International Committee of the Red Cross urged world leaders to put pressure on both sides to stop attacks on civilians.
“It is deplorable that high numbers of civilian casualties are now a daily occurrence,” said Robert Mardini, who heads ICRC operations in the Middle East.
“These ongoing violations of international humanitarian law and of basic humanitarian principles by all sides must stop.”
Syria marks two years since the start of the nation’s unrest
The unrest began on March 15, 2011, with nationwide protests following arrests in the southern city of Deraa.Rebels now control large sections of Syria, but the conflict has appeared to be largely in stalemate for months.
A number of vigils have already been held around the world to mark the second anniversary of the conflict, including in the South Korean capital, Seoul, and in Amman in Jordan, where children gathered in front of the Citadel for an event organized by Save the Children.
France’s President Francois Hollande and UK PM David Cameron are expected on Friday to raise the issue of the arms embargo at the talks in Brussels, although Syria is not a formal agenda item.
Speaking on Thursday, Francois Hollande said that Paris was “ready to support the rebels”.
“We cannot allow the massacre of a people by a regime which right now does not want a political transition.
“France’s view is that arms are being delivered to Syria – but to the regime of Bashar, in particular by the Russians,” he said.
But the French president stressed that his aim was not a “total war”.
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The UN has confirmed that about 20 observers have been detained by about 30 armed fighters in the Golan Heights on the Syria-Israel border.
A video posted earlier on the internet showed men claiming to be Syrian rebels standing next to vehicles with the letters “UN” written on them.
The UN said the observers were monitoring a ceasefire between Syria and Israel.
A team is being dispatched from the UN mission to assess the situation.
UN deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said the observers were on “a regular supply mission” when they were stopped near Observation Post 58 by the armed men.
He said the post had sustained damage and was evacuated over the past weekend following “heavy combat in close proximity”.
The spokesman did not provide any further details.
Some reports suggest the UN observers were from the Philippines.
In the video published on the internet, the gunmen identified themselves as the “Martyrs of Yarmouk”.
They are heard saying that the UN personnel would not be released until forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad withdrew from the village of Jamla in the area.
The video was circulated by the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
The SOHR is one of the most prominent organizations documenting and reporting incidents and casualties in the Syrian conflict. The group says its reports are impartial, though its information cannot be independently verified.
About 20 UN observers have been detained by about 30 armed fighters in the Golan Heights on the Syria-Israel border
The UN has had its monitors in the area since the 1974 ceasefire between Israel and Syria.
Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since 1967 and later annexed the territory – in a move that is not internationally recognized.
Recently there has been fighting in the eastern foothills of the Golan Heights between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and rebels.
Israel has said its policy is not to get involved in the Syrian conflict. However, in recent months it has retaliated when there has been Syrian fire into Israeli-controlled areas.
Israel has also reinforced a fence that runs along the armistice line, and officials say Syrian refugees will not be allowed into Israel en masse.
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The United Nations has announced that the number of Syrian refugees who have fled the conflict has reached a million.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the number of people seeking haven in neighboring countries had jumped since the beginning of the year.
Half of the refugees were children, the UN said, most of them under 11 and often traumatized by their experiences.
The largest numbers of refugees were seeking shelter in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt.
The figure includes registered refugees and newer arrivals awaiting registration.
“Syria is spiraling towards full-scale disaster,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement, warning that the international humanitarian response capacity was “dangerously stretched”.
“This tragedy has to be stopped,” he added, warning that the influx of people had also stretched the resources of Syria’s neighbors.
The millionth refugee recorded by UNHCR was a 19-year-old mother of two called Bushra.
“Our situation is so bad, everything is so expensive, we can’t find any work… The situation is so bad, I live with 20 other people in one room,” Bushra told reporters in the Lebanese city of Tripoli.
The number of Syrian refugees who have fled the conflict has reached a million
Many of those who have fled conflict now live in difficult conditions, with poor sanitation and insufficient resources to cope with the harsh winters.
In Lebanon, for example, the influx of almost a third of a million refugees since last February has swollen the country’s population by 10%.
Turkey, providing a temporary home for some 184,000 refugees, has spent more than $600 million setting up 17 refugee camps, and was building new ones to meet the increasing need, the UN said.
“These countries should not only be recognized for their unstinting commitment to keeping their borders open for Syrian refugees, they should be massively supported as well,” Antonio Guterres said.
On Tuesday, King Abdullah of Jordan called on world nations to help his country, Turkey and Lebanon to shoulder “the tremendous burden” of caring for the huge influx of people.
UK charity Oxfam says that only 20% of $1.5 billion promised by international donors in January has arrived, “leaving agencies struggling to respond to the urgent needs of refugees”.
The rush of refugees has surprised even UN experts, who had originally estimated that the one million figure would not be reached until the end of June 2013.
In effect, more than 400,000 have became refugees since 1 January 2013.
The UN’s emergency response plan for Syrian refugees, it said, currently lacked 75% of the funding required.
Jordan’s Petra news agency said that a total of 2,257 Syrian refugees had crossed into the country on Tuesday alone.
Some 110,000 of those who have sought shelter in Jordan are living in the desert camp of Zaatari, near its northern border with Syria.
The conflict in Syria began almost two years ago with demonstrations against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
The protests quickly turned violent as opponents of Bashar al-Assad took up arms to try to resist a brutal crackdown by the authorities.
The conflict has left more than 70,000 people dead and two million internally displaced.
Also on Wednesday, the Commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army, General Selim Idriss, has called for the lifting of the EU arms embargo against Syria, saying it is having a much more negative effect on the opposition than on the Assad regime.
Gen. Selim Idriss said opposition forces desperately needed weapons and ammunition, and that the war would be longer and bloodier if the embargo remained in place.
Please consider making a donation to help the refugees: Syria crisis appeal on Oxfam’s page for Syria.
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Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has accused the UK government of bullying and naivety in its approach to the conflict in his country.
In an interview with the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper, Bashar al-Assad said Britain was determined to militarize the situation.
Bashar al-Assad repeated his conditional offer of talks with the opposition and dismissed suggestions that he might step down.
The UK says it supports the Syrian opposition but does not provide rebels with arms.
However, at a recent Friends of Syria meeting in Rome, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said military aid was possible in the future.
Bashar al-Assad, in a rare interview with a Western newspaper, accused UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s “naive, confused, unrealistic” government of trying to end an EU arms embargo so that the rebels could be supplied with weapons.
“We do not expect an arsonist to be a firefighter,” he said.
“To be frank, Britain has played a famously unconstructive role in our region on different issues for decades, some say for centuries.
“The problem with this government is that their shallow and immature rhetoric only highlights this tradition of bullying and hegemony.”
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has accused the UK government of bullying and naivety in its approach to the conflict in his country
He added: “How can we expect to ask Britain to play a role when it is determined to militarise the problem?
“How can you ask them to play a role in making the situation better, more stable? How can we expect them to make the violence less while they want to send military supply to the terrorists and don’t try to ease the dialogue between the Syrian(s).”
About 70,000 people have been killed in the Syrian uprising that started almost two years ago. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled to neighboring countries.
Meanwhile, fighting is continuing between Syrian government forces and rebels across the country.
Opposition activists reported fierce clashes around the northern provincial capital of Raqqa and said dozens of people had been killed.
Government forces shelled several areas of the city and there were running battles on the outskirts of the city, activists said.
Fighting was also reported at a police academy near the northern city of Aleppo; in the rebel enclave of Daraya and around the capital Damascus.
The violence comes amid the first overseas trip by new US Secretary of State John Kerry.
In the Turkish capital Ankara on Friday, he said the US and Turkey believed “the first priority is to try and have a political solution. We would like to save lives, not see them caught up in a continuing war”.
The main Syrian opposition alliance, the National Coalition, has dismissed offers of talks with the government while President Bashar al-Assad remains in power.
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A car bomb exploded in the Syrian capital Damascus killing at least 31 people and sending smoke billowing across the capital’s skyline.
State media blamed the blast near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party on “terrorists”.
TV pictures showed images of dead people. Overseas activists said at least 31 people had been killed.
The violence comes as Russia and the Arab League say they want to broker direct government-opposition talks.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the war as “a road to nowhere”.
The opposition Syrian National Coalition is holding a two-day meeting in Egypt to discuss a framework for a possible solution.
Some 70,000 people have died since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011, the UN says.
Police and witnesses said the blast was a car bomb. It went off in the central Mazraa neighborhood, close to the Baath offices and Russian embassy.
Surrounding roads are reported to have been closed off to traffic and firefighters and medical staff were at the scene.
State and pro-regime TV showed pictures of dead bodies and destroyed cars.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 31 people had been killed in the explosion.
A car bomb exploded in the Syrian capital Damascus killing at least 31 people and sending smoke billowing across the capital’s skyline
Witnesses told AP news agency the car had exploded at a security checkpoint between the Russian embassy and the Baath Party central headquarters.
“It was huge. Everything in the shop turned upside down,” one local resident said. He said three of his employees were injured by flying glass that killed a young girl who was walking by when the blast hit.
“I pulled her inside the shop but she was almost gone. We couldn’t save her. She was hit in the stomach and head.”
Syrian state media said the explosion had struck near a school and clinic and that schoolchildren were among the casualties.
There have been two other explosions in the city, also at security checkpoints.
And heavy fighting between government and rebel forces is continuing around the city, with the government carrying out air strikes in the suburbs.
Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin and the Arab League wanted to establish direct contact between the Syrian government and the opposition.
Speaking in Moscow, where he hosted league officials and several Arab foreign ministers, the Russian foreign minister said that sitting down at a negotiating table was the only way to end the conflict without irreparable damage to Syria.
“Neither side can allow itself to rely on a military solution to the conflict, because it is a road to nowhere, a road to mutual destruction of the people,” he said.
Sergei Lavrov and Arab League General Secretary Nabil Elaraby said their priority was to create a transitional government to navigate a way out of the violence.
No conditions for the negotiations have been set, they said.
The proposal initially received a cool reception from the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), with senior member Abdelbaset Sieda insisting Bashar al-Assad and his allies “must go first”.
“After that we can discuss with others in the regime who didn’t share in the killing of our people,” he said.
But the news agency Reuters says it has seen a draft SNC communiqué being discussed in Cairo which demonstrates an apparent softening in the group’s stance.
The document reasserts the group’s position that Bashar al-Assad’s apparatus cannot be part of any political solution in Syria, but omits previous demands that Assad’s regime must go even before any talks, Reuters says.
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Syrian footballer Youssef Sleiman has been killed in a mortar strike near a stadium in Damascus, state news agency Sana says.
Sana news agency says two shells landed near Tishreen stadium in Baramkeh district, where Al-Wathba and Al-Nawair teams were preparing to train.
Several other players were injured in the attack “by terrorists”, Sana said.
It comes a day after state media said two mortars landed near Tishreen presidential palace in another area of Damascus without reports of injuries.
Rebels and troops have been fighting in and around Damascus for months.
Opposition sources say more than 50 people were killed in Damascus suburbs on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, at least 31 people were also killed on Tuesday in an army rocket attack in Syria’s second city, Aleppo, eyewitnesses and activists said, in one of the deadliest incident in recent days.
The UN says about 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.
Homs-based club Al-Wathba and Al-Nawair, from Hama, were getting ready to go to the stadium when the shells struck, reports say.
Syrian footballer Youssef Sleiman has been killed in a mortar strike near a stadium in Damascus
The players, who were staying in a nearby complex, were hit by shrapnel, the reports said.
AFP news agency quoted an unnamed sports official as saying four Al-Nawair players were injured.
Youssef Sleiman belonged to Al-Wathba.
“We were collecting our things about to head to the stadium when we heard the first explosion and the windows were blown off,” Ali Ghosn, a 20-year-old player, told the Associated Press.
“Youssef was hit in the neck. We ran out to the corridor when the second explosion struck and I saw Youssef fall down bleeding from his neck,” he said.
A Lebanese judge meanwhile has recommended the death penalty for a former pro-Syrian Lebanese minister for allegedly plotting attacks.
Michel Samaha is accused, along with Syrian security chief Ali Mamlouk, of “transporting explosives from Syria to Lebanon in an attempt to assassinate Lebanese political and religious leaders,” according to a copy of the indictment seen by AFP.
Michel Samaha, a member of parliament, was arrested in Beirut in August, while Ali Mamlouk remains free.
The former minister’s arrest came as a surprise in Lebanon, where the current coalition government includes Syria’s allies.
Syria has formally complained to the United Nations over a reported Israeli attack within its borders.
Syria’s army said Israeli jets had targeted a military research centre north-west of Damascus on Wednesday, killing two people and wounding five.
It denied reports that trucks carrying weapons bound for Lebanon were hit.
Russia has called the attack unacceptable, while a Syrian official and Iranian deputy minister have suggested there could be retaliation.
The Syrian army statement about the incident, carried on state media, said Israeli fighter jets had carried out a direct strike on a scientific research centre in Jamraya.
Meanwhile Lebanese security sources, Western diplomats and Syrian rebels say an arms convoy near Lebanon’s border was targeted. A US official attested to the strike, saying the lorries were carrying Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles.
Israel has declined to comment.
The latest developments have struck a country in turmoil. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continues to cling to power despite a 22-month conflict that has killed more than 60,000 people.
Syria’s foreign ministry summoned the UN commander in the Golan to deliver its formal protest, saying Israel’s action violated the 1974 disengagement agreement between the two sides, who remain technically at war.
A UN observer force has been in place in the Golan since 1974, with the task of providing “an area of separation and for two equal zones of limited forces and armaments on both sides of the area”.
An Israeli air strike on Syria could cause a major diplomatic incident, analysts say, as Iran has said it will treat any Israeli attack on its ally Syria as an attack on itself.
Iran’s foreign minister condemned the alleged air strike as an “overt assault based on the West’s policy” to undermine stability in Syria.
“The Zionists got ahead of themselves in trying to cover up the successes of the Syrian government and nation in maintaining the existing government and restoring stability and security,” Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency.
Iran’s Fars news agency quoted the Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying the raid would have “grave consequences for [the major Israeli city of] Tel Aviv”.
Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali said Damascus could take a “surprise” decision to retaliate.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said: “If this information is confirmed, then we are dealing with unprovoked attacks on targets on the territory of a sovereign country, which blatantly violates the UN Charter and is unacceptable, no matter the motives to justify it.”
Syria has formally complained to the United Nations over a reported Israeli attack within its borders
Relations between Russia and Israel have been improving in recent years as trade and economic ties have grown stronger.
But Moscow is a close ally of President Bashar al-Assad, which would explain its concern at the reports.
The Syrian army statement said the Jamraya centre – which was focused on “raising our level of resistance and self-defence” – was damaged in the attack, and specifically denied reports that an arms convoy had been hit.
It said “armed terrorist gangs” – a term the government uses to describe rebel groups – had tried and failed repeatedly to capture the same facility in recent months.
Some reports suggest the facility could be Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Centre, known by its French acronym CERS, believed to be the state organization responsible for developing biological and chemical weapons.
The Lebanese military and internal security forces have not confirmed the reports of an attack on an arms convoy.
But they say there has been increased activity by Israeli warplanes over Lebanon in the past week, and particularly on Tuesday and the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Israel has voiced fears that Syrian missiles and chemical weapons could fall into the hands of militants such as the Lebanese Shia militant group, Hezbollah.
Correspondents say Israel is also concerned that Hezbollah could obtain anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, thus strengthening its ability to respond to Israeli air strikes.
Israel believes Syria received a battery of SA-17s from Russia after an alleged Israeli air strike in 2007 that destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor near Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, analysts say.
The US government said in 2008 that the reactor was “not intended for peaceful purposes”.
Hezbollah said Wednesday’s target was the Jamraya centre, condemning the attack as “an attempt to thwart Arab military capabilities” and pledging to stand by its ally Bashar al-Assad.
The reported attack came days after Israel moved its Iron Dome defence system to the north of the country.
Israel has also joined the US in expressing concern that Syria’s presumed chemical weapons stockpile could be taken over by militant groups.
Forty-eight Iranians held hostage by rebels in Syria since August have been freed, Iranian state TV reports.
The Iranians were released in exchange for 2,130 prisoners held by the Syrian authorities, a Turkish charity said.
Rebel fighters claimed the hostages had been carrying out a mission on behalf of Syrian government forces.
Iran said a number were retired members of the armed forces, but insisted they were pilgrims who had visited a Shia shrine in the south-east of Damascus.
Officials at the Iranian Pilgrimage and Travel Organization said the group included university students and some public servants.
Shortly after they were seized, the Free Syrian Army’s al-Bara Brigade said it had evidence showing that the Iranians belonged to the Revolutionary Guards and had come to Syria to “serve the regime”.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army, Ahmed al-Khatib, told the AFP news agency that the hostages had been freed.
The Syrian government has not yet confirmed their release and Iranian state TV made no mention of a swap deal.
But earlier, the Turkish Islamic aid organization, Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), said 2,130 civilian prisoners would be released by the Syrian authorities in return for the Iranians.
Forty-eight Iranians held hostage by rebels in Syria since August have been freed
“Most of the prisoners to be swapped are Syrian citizens in exchange for Iranians, and there are a few Turks as well,” IHH board member Osman Atalay told Reuters news agency.
The head of the agency, Bulent Yildirim, was in Damascus to help co-ordinate the prisoner swap, which was already under way, he added.
The Turkish state news agency, Anadolu, said the deal was brokered by Turkey and Qatar, which have backed the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, in which the UN says at least 60,000 people have died.
Meanwhile, the UN’s envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, will meet top US and Russian diplomats in Geneva on Friday, Russia’s Interfax news agency reports, citing the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Mikhail Bogdanov.
The meeting will take place less than a week after President Assad dismissed any chance of dialogue with the opposition in a speech on Sunday, and called on Syrians to fight the “murderous criminals” he claimed were responsible for the violence in their country.
On Monday, a spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he had been disappointed that the speech did not “contribute to a solution that could end the terrible suffering of the Syrian people”.
Ban Ki-moon and Lakhdar Brahimi strongly support the peace plan outlined by the Action Group for Syria in June.
The group called for an immediate cessation of violence and the establishment of a transitional government that could include officials serving under President Bashar al-Assad and members of the opposition.
Lakhdar Brahimi has said any plan must also include a “large, robust peacekeeping force” to ensure the ceasefire is observed.
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According to the UN, 1 million Syrians are going hungry and helpless due to the 22-month civil conflict in the country.
The World Food Program (WFP) says it is helping 1.5 million Syrians, but continued fighting and an inability to use the port of Tartus to deliver food mean many people are not receiving aid.
The UN estimates that more than 60,000 people have been killed in the uprising, which began in March 2011.
Rebels have gained control of swathes of northern Syria in recent months.
The increasingly dangerous situation meant the WFP had pulled its staff out of its offices in Homs, Aleppo, Tartus and Qamisly, said agency spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs.
According to the UN, 1 million Syrians are going hungry and helpless due to the 22-month civil conflict in the country
Late 2012 saw a sharp rise in the number of attacks on WFP aid trucks, said the agency, which has also been hit by fuel shortages.
Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency said the number of refugees fleeing the violence in Syria had leapt by nearly 100,000 in the past month.
It said there were 597,240 registered refugees and individuals awaiting registration as of January 6 – up from 509,559 the month before.
The UN estimates that around four million Syrians are in need of humanitarian aid.
Opposition forces have been making considerable gains in recent weeks, but their efforts to take control of areas around major cities including Damascus have met with stiff resistance and increasingly destructive air strikes.
On Monday, the New York Times reported that Israeli intelligence indicated Syrian troops were mixing chemicals – suspected to be the deadly nerve gas sarin – at two storage sites, and filling dozens of 500-pound (225 kg) bombs that could be loaded on airplanes.
The reports in late November prompted a flurry of international statements warning the regime of President Bashar al-Assad against using chemical weapons on his own people.
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has delivered a rare TV address, denouncing his opponents as “enemies of God and puppets of the West”.
Bashar al-Assad lamented the suffering of the people in the civil war, saying a “black cloud” of pain engulfed every corner.
He also set out a plan involving a national dialogue conference and a referendum on a national charter.
The UN estimates that more than 60,000 people have been killed in the uprising, which began in March 2011.
The speech was Bashar al-Assad’s first public address since June 2012.
He rejected the Syrian opposition movement as puppets fabricated by the West, and said that Syria wanted to negotiate with the “master not the servants”.
Bashar al-Assad said Syria had not rejected diplomatic moves but insisted it would not negotiate with people with “terrorist” ideas.
He said: “There are those who seek to partition Syria and weaken it. But Syria is stronger… and will remain sovereign… and this is what upsets the West.”
His speech was interspersed with applause and chants from defiant supporters in the opera house in central Damascus, and at the end he was mobbed on the stage.
Bashar al-Assad accused the rebels of stealing wheat from the people, depriving children of school and cutting off electricity and medical supplies.
He called on every citizen to defend the country according to their means.
“We are now in a state of war in every sense of the word. This war targets Syria using a handful of Syrians and many foreigners. Thus, this is a war to defend the nation,” he said.
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has delivered a rare TV address, denouncing his opponents as enemies of God and puppets of the West
Bashar al-Assad set out a series of steps he said would provide a solution to the crisis:
- Outside powers to stop arming what he called “terrorist groups”
- The army would then halt military operations, while reserving the right to defend state interests
- The government would then contact what he termed “Syrian individuals and political parties” to engage in a conference of national dialogue
- The conference would try to establish a national charter that would be put to a referendum, leading to parliamentary elections and a new government
The president’s latest words are unlikely to persuade any in the opposition that he is ready to discuss a viable transition.
The opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) quickly dismissed Bashar al-Assad’s proposals.
Spokesman Walid Bunni told Reuters his group would accept nothing less than the departure of Bashar al-Assad and his government.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague accused President Assad of hypocrisy, saying “the empty promises of reform fool no-one”.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s office said the union would consider “if there is anything new in the speech”, but added: “We maintain our position that Assad has to step aside and allow for a political transition.”
The foreign minister of neighboring Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu, dismissed Bashar al-Assad’s remarks as “repetitions of what he’s said all along”.
Bashar al-Assad’s last public comments were in November, when he told Russian TV he would “live and die in Syria”.
Since then opposition forces have gained control of swathes of territory in northern Syria and have formed the SNC, a more inclusive leadership that has been recognized by the US and the EU.
But rebel efforts to gain ground in and around major cities including Damascus have been met by stiff resistance and increasingly destructive air strikes.
The UK-based activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported fresh violence overnight into Sunday, saying that troops had bombarded rebel positions on the outskirts of Damascus, including in Beit Saham, near the airport road.
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Abulaziz al-Shalal, commander of Syria’s military police, has defected from President Bashar al-Assad’s government and reportedly fled to Turkey.
Lt. Gen. Abulaziz al-Shalal is one of the highest-ranking officials to join the uprising against the Syrian regime.
The army had failed to protect Syrians and turned into “gangs of murder”, the general said in a video statement.
The announcement came amid reports of a deadly government strike in the northern province of Raqqa.
After reportedly crossing the border into Turkey, Gen. Abulaziz al-Shalal released a statement saying he had defected because the military had perpetrated massacres in towns and villages instead of protecting Syrians.
“I declare my defection from the army because of its deviation from its fundamental mission to protect the nation and transformation into gangs of murder and destruction,” he said in a video message posted online.
Opposition sources said the commander had been secretly co-operating with the rebels from the outset.
This is believed to be the case with many other senior defectors, our correspondent adds.
But Gen. Abulaziz al-Shalal said defecting was becoming more difficult because of the increased level of surveillance.
“Definitely, there are other high-ranking officers who want to defect but the situation is not suitable for them to declare defection,” he said.
An unnamed Syrian security source confirmed the army chief’s defection but played down its significance, Reuters news agency reports.
Abulaziz al-Shalal, commander of Syria’s military police, has defected from President Bashar al-Assad’s government and reportedly fled to Turkey
Gen. Abulaziz al-Shalal was due to retire soon and joined the uprising to “play hero”, the source is quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, reports of a deadly government strike near a village in the northern province of Raqqa have emerged.
Around 20 people, including eight children, were killed in the shelling, according to the UK-based activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The organization released video footage purportedly of the victims, showing blood-stained bodies laid out on blankets.
The SOHR is one of the most prominent organizations documenting and reporting incidents and casualties in the Syrian conflict. The group says its reports are impartial, though its information cannot be independently verified
Earlier this week, opposition activists said dozens of people had been killed in a government air strike in the rebel-held town of Halfaya in Hama province.
Although rebels have claimed some major territorial gains in recent months, the regime has hit back with massive firepower at the areas it has lost.
In a separate development, rebel fighters said they had seized the north-western town of Harem near the Turkish border.
On Tuesday the UN peace envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi held talks in Damascus with opposition figures who are tolerated by the regime but not supported by the mainstream opposition, our correspondent says.
Earlier, Lakhdar Brahimi had also met President Bashar al-Assad to discuss “the many steps to be taken in the future” to help end the conflict.
He did not, however, elaborate on what these steps were.
With the government dismissing the uprising as a foreign-backed extremist plot, and the rebels demanding that President Bashar al-Assad leave power immediately, the chances for a peaceful compromise seem slight.
Rebels have been fighting Bashar al-Assad’s government for 21 months. Opposition groups say more than 44,000 people have been killed.
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At least 90 people have been killed in a government air strike on a bakery in the central Syrian province of Hama, opposition activists say.
The incident took place in Halfaya, a town recently captured by rebels.
If activists’ reports of 90 deaths are confirmed, this would be one of the deadliest air strikes of the civil war.
Rebels have been fighting President Bashar al-Assad for 21 months, with opposition groups saying more than 44,000 people have been killed.
The latest violence comes as the joint United Nations-Arab League special envoy on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, arrived in Damascus to discuss ways to end the unrest.
One activist in Halfaya, Samer al-Hamawi, told Reuters news agency: “There is no way to really know yet how many people were killed. When I got there, I could see piles of bodies all over the ground.
“We hadn’t received flour in around three days so everyone was going to the bakery today, and lots of them were women and children. I still don’t know yet if my relatives are among the dead.”
At least 90 people have been killed in a government air strike on a bakery in the central Syrian province of Hama
Unverified video footage purportedly of the incident’s aftermath showed graphic images of bloody bodies strewn on a road outside a partially destroyed building.
Rescuers were trying to remove some of the victims buried beneath piles of bricks and rubble.
Several badly damaged motorbikes could be seen scattered near the site of the attack which had drawn a number of armed men to the area.
Rebels of the Free Syrian Army have been making a concerted push recently to take areas of Hama province.
Five days ago they declared Halfaya a “liberated area” after taking over army positions there.
The rebels want to take control of the whole of Hama and link up the territory they control. As has happened many times before, he says, the government has hit back with massive firepower at the areas it has lost.
The UK-based opposition activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said there had been other air strikes on Sunday, including one on the town of Safira in northern Aleppo province, which killed 13 people.
The Observatory also reported that jets had struck the town of Saqba, just north of Damascus.
Meanwhile Lakhdar Brahimi, on his third trip to Damascus since taking the post, arrived overland from Beirut because of fighting near Damascus airport.
He is expected to meet Syria’s foreign minister and President Assad.
However, Lakhdar Brahimi has made little progress on a peace process so far and it is unclear what new ideas he may be bringing.
The rebels now have a clear sense of victory and will not call off their attacks while they feel success is imminent.
He says the rebels’ primary demand is for President Bashar al-Assad to go and, should that happen, the international community is hoping there may be a chance for negotiations for a peaceful transfer of power.
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President Barack Obama has announced that the US now formally recognize Syria’s main opposition coalition as “the legitimate representative” of its Syrian people.
Barack Obama told ABC News that the National Coalition was now inclusive, reflective and representative enough for the US to take this “big step”.
The UK, France, Turkey and Gulf states have already given their recognition.
Russia said the US had decided to place all its bets on the coalition achieving an “armed victory”.
Activists say more than 40,000 people have died in the 18-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Reports from central Syria on Wednesday said a large number of civilians from the president’s Alawite sect had been killed in a village to the west of Hama.
The circumstances are unclear but a video posted by opposition activists purported to show a young Alawite boy describing how government forces had destroyed a building where the civilians were being held hostage by pro-government militia.
The building, in the village of Aqrab, had been under siege from the Free Syrian Army and, according to the boy, as many as 300 civilians were killed,
There has been no word so far from the Syrian government and it is impossible to verify the activists’ account.
More than half a million people have now fled the conflict in Syria to neighboring countries, according to the UN’s refugee agency.
Barack Obama has said the US now formally recognize Syria’s main opposition coalition as the legitimate representative of its people
Announcing the US decision to recognize Syria’s main opposition, Barack Obama said it had earned the right to represent the Syrian people, but issued a note of caution as well.
The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces was formed last month and only a small number of countries have so far recognized it as the legitimate representative of Syrians.
“Obviously, with that recognition come responsibilities,” Barack Obama said.
“To make sure that they organize themselves effectively, that they are representative of all the parties, [and] that they commit themselves to a political transition that respects women’s rights and minority rights.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, expressing surprise at the announcement, said the US had decided “to place all its best on an armed victory of the Syrian National Coalition”.
President Barack Obama’s statement came as foreign ministers from 70 countries prepared to meet in Morocco on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Syria.
The Marrakech meeting will be the first time that the Friends of Syria conference is attended by the Syrian National Coalition.
US recognition of the coalition does not mean the US will begin arming rebel groups, but officials told ABC that might be approved if it was thought to help achieve a political solution in Syria.
Barack Obama warned that the US would not support extremist elements within the opposition coalition.
“Not everybody who’s participating on the ground in fighting Assad are people who we are comfortable with,” he said.
“There are some who, I think, have adopted an extremist agenda, an anti-US agenda, and we are going to make clear to distinguish between those elements.”
One group he mentioned – the al-Nusra Front – is believed to be linked to al-Qaeda and responsible for nearly 600 violent attacks in major Syrian cities in the past year, the US state department estimates.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton designated the group a foreign terrorist organization, freezing any assets its members may have in US jurisdictions.
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Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General, has underlined President Barack Obama’s warning to the Syrian government not to use chemical weapons against its own people.
At a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said their use would be “completely unacceptable”.
The foreign ministers are expected to approve the deployment of Patriot anti-missile batteries to Turkey.
The move is designed to defend Turkey’s border with Syria.
Activists say more than 40,000 people have been killed since the Syrian uprising against President Assad began in March 2011. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country and another 2.5 million are displaced within its borders.
On Tuesday, a teacher and at least 28 students were killed in a rocket attack on their school inside the Wafideen refugee camp, 20 km (15 miles) north-east of Damascus.
The origin of the firing was not clear – state media said it had been a rebel mortar attack.
Speaking ahead of the NATO meeting, Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters: “The possible use of chemical weapons would be completely unacceptable for the whole international community.
“If anybody resorts to these terrible weapons, then I would expect an immediate reaction from the international community.”
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General, has underlined President Barack Obama’s warning to the Syrian government not to use chemical weapons against its own people
The meeting of the 28-member Western military alliance’s foreign ministers in Brussels follows a request from Turkey to boost its defences along the border. NATO officials have made clear such a move would be purely defensive.
Barack Obama has warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad he would face “consequences” if he used chemical weapons against his people.
“The world is watching. The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable,” said Barack Obama in a speech at the National Defense University in Washington.
“If you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons there will be consequences and you will be held accountable.”
A Syrian official has insisted the country would “never, under any circumstances” use such weapons, “if such weapons exist”.
A NATO team has already visited a number of sites in Turkey in preparation for the deployment of Patriot batteries, which could be used to shoot down any Syrian missiles or warplanes that stray over the border.
The missile deployment is likely to be approved despite opposition from Russia, whose foreign minister is also attending Tuesday’s meeting in Brussels.
But analysts say any deployment – possibly supplied by the US, Germany or the Netherlands – could take weeks.
Syrian opposition fighters have reportedly made dramatic gains recently, and several government mortar shells – aimed at rebel targets close to the border – have landed across its 900-km (560-mile) border with Turkey.
Ankara’s request for NATO to deploy the anti-missile batteries came after intelligence assessments that Damascus was contemplating using ballistic missiles, potentially armed with chemical warheads, reports say.
Syria is believed to hold chemical weapons – including mustard gas and sarin, a highly toxic nerve agent – at dozens of sites around the country.
The CIA has said those weapons “can be delivered by aircraft, ballistic missile and artillery rockets”.
One unnamed US official told the New York Times on Monday that the level of concern in Washington was such that contingency plans were being prepared.
On Monday the United Nations said it was pulling “all non-essential international staff” out of Syria, with as many as 25 out of 100 international staff expected to leave this week.
The European Union has withdrawn its mission altogether. The ambassador and head of delegation to Syria, Vassilis Bontosoglou, left Damascus with his six remaining international staff members on Tuesday morning.
Although the head of the Arab League Nabil al-Arabi told AFP on Monday that the Syrian government could fall “any time”, it still holds the capital, parts of the second city Aleppo, and other centres.
Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi is said to have fled the country, amid reports he has been dismissed, ostensibly for making statements out of line with government policy.
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Barack Obama has warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad he will face “consequences” if he uses chemical weapons against his people.
“The world is watching. The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable,” said President Barack Obama.
A Syrian official has insisted it would “never, under any circumstances” use such weapons, “if such weapons exist”.
Meanwhile, the United Nations says it is pulling “all non-essential international staff” out of Syria.
As many as 25 out of 100 international staff could leave this week, the UN news agency Irin reported, while all humanitarian missions outside Damascus will be halted for the time being.
In a speech on nuclear non-proliferation at the National Defense University in Fort McNair, Barack Obama said: “We’ve worked to keep weapons from spreading, whether it was nuclear material in Libya or nor chemical weapons in Syria.
“We simply cannot allow the 21st century to be darkened by the worse weapons of the 20th century.”
“And today I want to make it absolute clear to Assad and anyone who is under his command… If you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons there will be consequences and you will be held accountable.”
But Damascus rejected allegations it was preparing to use such weapons.
A foreign ministry spokesman was quoted by state television as saying: “Syria confirms repeatedly it will never, under any circumstances, use chemical weapons against its own people, if such weapons exist.”
Barack Obama has warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad he will face consequences if he uses chemical weapons against his people
Syria is believed to hold chemical weapons – including mustard gas and sarin, a highly toxic nerve agent – at dozens of sites around the country.
The CIA has said those weapons “can be delivered by aircraft, ballistic missile, and artillery rockets”.
One unnamed US official spoke to the New York Times of “potential chemical weapon preparation”.
The White House says the level of concern was such that Washington is preparing contingency plans.
The crisis in Syria had increased the risk of humanitarian workers in the country due to the increased risk of indiscriminate shooting by fighting forces., said Sabir Mughal, the UN’s chief security adviser in Syria.
The European Union, which has a diplomatic office in the Syrian capital, has confirmed it too is “to reduce activities in Damascus to a minimum level due to the current security conditions”.
Earlier, Egypt Air ordered the return of a flight on its way to Damascus amid reports of a “bad security situation” around the airport – only a day after ending its suspension of flights following violence around the airport and in the capital’s suburbs last week.
Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi is reported to have already left the country, even before reports that he had been dismissed, ostensibly for making statements out of line with government policy.
Rebels have been making gains on the ground, and the head of the Arab League has said the Syrian government could fall at any moment.
But it still holds the capital, parts of the second city Aleppo, and other centres and one diplomat said it still has a lot of fight left in it.
Intelligence that the Syrian government was contemplating the use of the missiles is what led neighboring Turkey to request NATO Patriot missile defences along its borders, Turkish officials were quoted as saying on Sunday.
Several Syrian mortar shells – aimed at rebel targets close to the border – have landed in Turkish territory in recent weeks, leading Ankara to ask NATO for the deployment of the sophisticated anti-missile batteries.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin, after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Monday, warned against such a move, fearing it would “exacerbate” rather than “defuse” tensions on the border.
Moscow has remained a key ally of Syria during the 22-month conflict, while Ankara now backs the rebels trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad.
There was no breakthrough on how to “regulate the situation” in Syria, said Vladimir Putin, while emphasizing that the Turkish and Russian “assessment of the situation completely coincides”.
“We are not advocates of the incumbent Syrian leadership,” he said.
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Egyptair has announced it will resume flights to the Syrian cities of Damascus and Aleppo on Monday, after a three-day suspension by many airlines over security on the airport roads.
It said the road in Damascus, scene of heavy fighting and bombardment by government jets, was now secure.
Earlier a car bomb killed at least 15 people in the Syrian city of Homs, state-run Sana news agency reported.
At least 24 were hurt in the blast in the government-held al-Hamra district.
Video footage posted online showed flames and smoke.
Meanwhile the army is continuing to batter rebel-held districts of Damascus with airstrikes and heavy artillery.
Activists say about 40,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.
Egyptair head Roshdi Zakaria said a decision had been taken to resume flights after consulting with airline staff in Syria and the Egyptian embassy in Damascus.
Egyptair has announced it will resume flights to the Syrian cities of Damascus and Aleppo on Monday, after a three-day suspension by many airlines over security on the airport roads
Many flights in and out of Damascus were cancelled on Thursday and Friday after heavy fighting on the main road to the airport, which is the country’s busiest.
The government said on Saturday that the airport had reopened and domestic flights were operating, but international flights remained suspended.
Also on Saturday, internet services around Damascus resumed after a two-day blackout.
Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, has been a major battleground in the 20-month uprising.
On Sunday Sana reported a “terrorist bombing carried out with a booby trapped bomb” near a mosque in al-Hamra district.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group that monitors the violence, said the death toll could increase as many of the wounded were in a critical condition.
In Damascus the army pounded the district Kfar Sousa, in a attempt to stop rebel forces from reaching the capital, activists said.
Elsewhere, the Syrian army launched air strikes on the northern city of Aleppo, the Observatory said.
The Syrian government blames the uprising on foreign-backed militant groups.
At least 34 people have been killed and many injured by two car bomb explosions in Jaramana, a south-eastern district of Damascus, Syrian state media report.
State television said “terrorists” were behind the blasts in Jaramana and broadcast pictures showing several charred vehicles and damaged buildings.
The district is predominantly Druze and Christian, two communities which have so far not joined the uprising.
Earlier, there were clashes between security forces and rebels in Jaramana.
There has been fierce fighting in recent days in eastern parts of the countryside around Damascus, known as the Ghouta.
The pro-government TV channel, Addounia, said the car bombs exploded in Jaramana shortly after 06:40 local time.
“Terrorists blew up two car bombs filled with a large amount of explosives in the main square,” the official Sana news agency reported.
State television quoted a source at the interior ministry as saying that 34 people had died and 83 had been seriously injured.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based activist group, put the death toll at 38.
“Activists and residents in the town said most of the victims were killed when a suicide attacker blew up his car, just after an explosive device was used to blow up another car,” it said.
At least 34 people have been killed and many injured by two car bomb explosions in Jaramana, a south-eastern district of Damascus
Two smaller bombs also exploded in Jaramana at around the same time as the attack, Sana said, adding that nobody was killed by them.
No group has said it was behind the bombings, and there was no immediately obvious military or government target.
“What do they want from Jaramana? The town brings together people from all over Syria and welcomes everybody,” one resident told the AFP news agency.
The population of Jaramana is mainly Christian and Druze, a heterodox offshoot of Islam. It is also home to many Palestinian and Iraqi refugees.
Few members of Syria’s minority groups have supported the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. They are fearful for their future if the country’s majority Sunni Muslim community chooses an Islamist leadership to replace decades of secular rule.
Supporters of the government in Jaramana and other Damascus suburbs have set up armed vigilante groups – known as Popular Committees – to prevent attacks such as Wednesday’s. On 29 October, 11 people were killed in a car bombing in Jaramana.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, witnesses told AFP that rebel fighters had captured the pilot of a warplane shot down over Darat Izza, in the northern province of Aleppo. One of the agency’s reporters earlier saw a large explosion as the jet crashed near the town.
Fighter jets earlier bombarded rebel positions in the western Damascus suburb of Darayya, the SOHR said.
The government army also reportedly shelled Zabadani, a town in the mountains north-west of the capital. The Syrian Revolution General Commission, an opposition activist network, said more than 50 shells had fallen on the town in 30 minutes, injuring several people.
The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), another activist network, reported that at least 50 people had been killed across the country on Wednesday, most of them in Jaramana.
Activists say more than 40,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.
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