Syria: Saudis a partner in killings
Source: Agencies |
February 26, 2012, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SYRIA lashed out at Saudi Arabia yesterday, a day after the kingdom's foreign minister backed the idea of arming the rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, accusing Riyadh of becoming "a partner" in the killings taking place in Syria.
The sharp riposte from Damascus, which was published in a state-run newspaper, came as activists said regime forces were pounding rebel-held neighborhoods in the central city of Homs, where the International Committee of the Red Cross said negotiations have resumed to evacuate wounded civilians as well as two Western journalists who were wounded in government shelling earlier this week.
Syria's traditionally cold relations with Saudi Arabia have worsened sharply since the 11-month-old uprising against Assad began. The Sunni power in the region, Saudi Arabia has been a harsh critic of the Assad regime, which is controlled by the minority Alawite sect, and its brutal crackdown against the mostly Sunni opposition.
Also yesterday, government bombardment killed at least nine people in Homs. The attack is now in its fourth week. An International Committee of the Red Cross team evacuated 27 people on Friday from Homs' besieged neighborhood of Baba Amr but has so far failed to get out two wounded Western journalists and the bodies of two other reporters killed by government rockets.
ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan said yesterday the group and Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society have resumed negotiations with the government and opposition to continue evacuating all persons in need of help in Baba Amr.
"Until last night, seven wounded persons were evacuated from Baba Amr, as well as 20 women and children," Hassan said.
Syria's Foreign Ministry accused gunmen of blocking the evacuation of the wounded journalists. Activists, however, said French journalist Edith Bouvier of Le Figaro and British photographer Paul Conroy of the Sunday Times refused to leave Baba Amr with the Syrian Red Crescent Society and demanded they be taken out by the ICRC.
The bodies of two journalists - an American and a Frenchmen - are still in Baba Amr.
The sharp riposte from Damascus, which was published in a state-run newspaper, came as activists said regime forces were pounding rebel-held neighborhoods in the central city of Homs, where the International Committee of the Red Cross said negotiations have resumed to evacuate wounded civilians as well as two Western journalists who were wounded in government shelling earlier this week.
Syria's traditionally cold relations with Saudi Arabia have worsened sharply since the 11-month-old uprising against Assad began. The Sunni power in the region, Saudi Arabia has been a harsh critic of the Assad regime, which is controlled by the minority Alawite sect, and its brutal crackdown against the mostly Sunni opposition.
Also yesterday, government bombardment killed at least nine people in Homs. The attack is now in its fourth week. An International Committee of the Red Cross team evacuated 27 people on Friday from Homs' besieged neighborhood of Baba Amr but has so far failed to get out two wounded Western journalists and the bodies of two other reporters killed by government rockets.
ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan said yesterday the group and Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society have resumed negotiations with the government and opposition to continue evacuating all persons in need of help in Baba Amr.
"Until last night, seven wounded persons were evacuated from Baba Amr, as well as 20 women and children," Hassan said.
Syria's Foreign Ministry accused gunmen of blocking the evacuation of the wounded journalists. Activists, however, said French journalist Edith Bouvier of Le Figaro and British photographer Paul Conroy of the Sunday Times refused to leave Baba Amr with the Syrian Red Crescent Society and demanded they be taken out by the ICRC.
The bodies of two journalists - an American and a Frenchmen - are still in Baba Amr.
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