Syria: Tremseh killings targeted rebels, UN says

[maddezmom]

Source: BBC

The government attack on the Syrian village of Tremseh mainly targeted the homes of rebels and activists, the UN mission in the country has said.

It said heavy weaponry including artillery and mortars were used.

A UN spokeswoman issued a statement after inspectors visited the scene of Thursday's attack, in which at least 200 people are said to have died.

The BBC's Jim Muir says the initial findings seem to contradict earlier reports of a massacre of civilians.

Instead, the inspectors' preliminary findings are more in line with the government's claims that it was attacking what it calls "nests of terrorists" or rebel hideouts, our correspondent says.


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18840535

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

Mark Twain.

[MIDNITERIDER1438]

2. Another Angle of Dangerous Unpredictability to the Syrian Crisis

http://serpline.blogspot.com/2012/07/syrian-crisis-unpredictability.html

[may3rd]

5. Russian Ship with Helicopters Sets Sail for Syria Again

..... It is unclear if the ship will make a stop in Syria. The ship’s owners say the vessel will arrive in St. Petersburg on July 19 and may then head to the Russian Far East.

On June 18 the MV Alaed retreated to its home port of Murmansk after insurers pulled their coverage of the vessel after learning that weapons bound for Syria were onboard.
.....

Following the insurance revoking, the ship’s owner reflagged the vessel from a Curacao flag to a Russia flag. The Russian military has said that the vessel would eventually set sail again for Syria under the patrol of the Russian Navy.

On Tuesday the Russian navy announced the deployment of a flotilla of six ships and an advanced anti-submarine destroyer to in naval base in Tartus, Syria. Sailing under the Russian flag and with no EU nations insuring the vessel, there is little the West can do to stop the vessel from reaching Syria.
.....

http://www.yalibnan.com/2012/07/14/russian-ship-with-helicopters-sets-sail-for-syria-again/



Deal or nyet deal ?

http://www.yalibnan.com/2012/07/14/syria-moves-chemical-weapons-as-west-watches/

[leveymg]

6. Thank you. The danger of loss of control over Syrian chemical/bio agents isn't being discussed.

Very informative link. As the comment states (paraphrase), considering what might happen if some of Syria's large arsenal of Sarin gas gets into the wrong hands amidst the chaos of civil war, "the neocons around Romney egging on US intervention should be the last of our worries"

P.S. - Welcome to DU

[dipsydoodle]

3. Syria unrest: UN to resume Tremseh killings probe

This is the later BBC link :

UN observers plan to return to the Syrian village of Tremseh to continue their investigations into an attack on Thursday that killed up to 200 people.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18846320

Here in the UK in depth analysis of film footage had not shown any children or women to have been present - that had already been broadcast by our our foreign correspondents.

[may3rd]

4. 4 Palestinians shot dead in refugee camp at protest in Syria

...Syrian security forces opened fire at demonstrators in Al-Yarmouk refugee camp on Friday, sources said.

Palestinians in the Damascus-area camp told Ma’an that hundreds of refugees had taken to the streets to protest the killing of 16 Palestinians earlier in the week. At the demonstration, Syrian forces opened fire on protesters, killing at least four, whom witnesses say suffered gunshot wounds to the upper body. On Wednesday, 15 officers affiliated to the Palestinian Liberation Army in Damascus and their driver were found dead after they had been kidnapped en route to the Palestinian refugee camp Nairab near Aleppo several weeks ago, a Palestinian official said.

Palestinian refugees in Syria must do military service for one month in the Palestinian Liberation Army. The PLA was established as the armed wing of the Palestine Liberation Organization, but later integrated under Syrian military command and used to police refugee camps.

The group was returning from training in a military institute in Misayaf between Hama and Homs when a group of gunmen seized the bus, the head of the PLO’s politburo in Damascus Anwar Abdul-Hadi said.
He said Palestinian officials in Syria were in touch with the leadership in Ramallah, and they had
contacted the kidnappers who refused to provide a justification or release the group. The identity or affiliation of the kidnappers was not clear.
....
The largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria which is home 200,000 Palestinians, al-Yarmouk has also experienced a number of deadly incidents.

A Syrian security official threatened to raid the camp due to Fatah’s alleged support of anti-Assad demonstrations, sources in the camp told Ma’an in March.
.....

http://www.yalibnan.com/2012/07/14/4-palestinians-shot-dead-at-protest-in-syria/