Red Cross seeks Syrian ceasefire to deliver aid

THE INTERNATIONAL Committee of the Red Cross has been “exploring several possibilities for delivering urgently needed humanitarian aid” in contested areas in Syria.

These include temporarily halting the fighting and “facilitating access for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the ICRC”, according to Saleh Dabbakeh, a spokesman for the organisation in Damascus. He said contacts were “bilateral and confidential”.

Meanwhile, Syrian army tanks and infantry were reported to be deploying around the rebel stronghold of Bab Amr in Homs in preparation for a full-scale assault.

The report by the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was not, however, confirmed by an activist in Bab Amr who said only that army shelling had intensified.

Government forces have gained control of Hama, north of Homs. Opposition activists say roadblocks have been set up by the security forces, sealing off neighbourhoods. “Hama is cut off from the outside world. There are no landlines, no mobile phone networks, and no internet. House arrests take place daily,” an activist said.

Last week’s operations by the army focused on the city’s northern quarters from where Free Syrian Army rebels had been staging raids against pro-government militiamen.

Syrian news agency Sana said an officer and a sergeant had been killed in Hama, another officer abducted in Deir al-Zor in the east and weapons seized in an ambulance stolen by rebels in Homs.

Dismissing a proposal to arm the opposition made by US politicians John McCain and Lindsey Graham, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff Gen Martin Dempsey warned it was “premature to take a decision to arm the opposition movement” and that military intervention in Syria would be “very difficult”. Since there are multiple protest factions, armed groups and al-Qaeda involved in the struggle against the regime, he challenged “anyone to identify the opposition . . . until we’re a lot clearer about who they are and what they are, I think it would be premature to talk about arming them”.

Following the weekend visit to Damascus by China’s deputy foreign minister Zhai Jun, Communist Party newspaper, the People’s Daily, commented: “If western countries continue to fully support Syria’s opposition, then in the end a large-scale civil war will erupt and there will be no way to avoid the possibility of armed intervention.”

China extended its support for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s referendum on a new constitution scheduled for next Sunday, although exiled opposition figures and the US have rejected it. Some 14.6 million people are eligible to vote in the referendum and a parliamentary election is due to be held 90 days later. Tunisian foreign minister Rafik Abdessalem announced that Syrian opposition groups, including the Syrian National Council, a coalition of exiles, are expected to take part in Friday’s “Friends of Syria” conference in Tunis. “There has been enough killing. There must be radical political change,” he said after meeting counterparts from north Africa and Europe in Rome. While none of those attending sought military involvement, he observed: “We shall send a strong message to the Syrian government.”

Meanwhile, two Iranian naval ships have docked at the Syrian port of Tartous. The ships were said to be providing training for Syrian naval forces. Iranian defence minister Ahmad Vahidi said: “Our ships passed through the Suez Canal and it is Iran’s right to have a presence in international waters.”

With Iran already at odds with the US, Europe and Israel over its nuclear programme, the deployment added to western concerns that the Syrian crisis could boil over into a regional conflict if it is not resolved soon. – (Additional reporting Reuters)