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| Syria crisis - live updates | Syria crisis - live updates |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| 8.59am: There are conflicting accounts of a possible Free Syrian Army raid against the national hospital in Homs, yesterday. | |
| Some activist claimed the hospital was "liberated" but this is far from verified. | |
| Video footage has emerged purporting to show fighting around the building | |
| Homs activist Abu Abdel Rahman, told the Guardian that the FSA attacked a military checkpoint in front of the hospital to retrieve bodies being kept in a morgue. | |
| He claimed that the authorities had converted hospitals into military barracks across Syria to prevent injured protesters being treated. He said he didn't know whether the rebels controlled the hospital. | |
| The activist group the Syrian Revolution General Commission, said 64 bodies were found in the hospital yesterday. Another activist group, the Local Co-ordination Committees in Syria, said 75 unidentified corpses were found there. | |
| EA WorldView is treating the story with caution but says it is potentially an important development. | |
| The death toll and the lack of information from Homs obscured what appears to be a significant story. If insurgents can re-take one of Syria's largest hospitals, after weeks of siege and attack by regime forces, what did this say about the possibilities for President Assad's military to put down resistance once and for all? | |
| 8.52am: The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Jakob Kellenberger, is in Damascus lobbying for a two-hour daily ceasefire. | |
| Kellengber has meet foreign minister Walid al-Moualem, according to tweets from foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi. | |
| Minister Moualim is having a positiveand constructive talks now with the head of the ICRC and Head of SARC | |
| — Dr.Jihad Makdissi (@Makdissi) April 3, 2012 | |
| They explored ways to improve access and cooperation with ICRC... Channels of Com are open ..Syria is engaging positively undoubtfully | |
| — Dr.Jihad Makdissi (@Makdissi) April 3, 2012 | |
| 8.07am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live. Syria's pledge to partially implement Kofi Annan's peace plan by 10 April has been greeted with widespread scepticism. | 8.07am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live. Syria's pledge to partially implement Kofi Annan's peace plan by 10 April has been greeted with widespread scepticism. |
| Here's a roundup of the main developments | Here's a roundup of the main developments |
| Syria | Syria |
| • Syria has told the international envoy Kofi Annan that its military will withdraw troops and heavy weapons from populated areas by 10 April. Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, said: "We have seen commitments to end the violence followed by massive intensifications of violence. So the United States, for one, would look at these commitments and say, yet again, the proof is the actions, not in the words." | • Syria has told the international envoy Kofi Annan that its military will withdraw troops and heavy weapons from populated areas by 10 April. Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, said: "We have seen commitments to end the violence followed by massive intensifications of violence. So the United States, for one, would look at these commitments and say, yet again, the proof is the actions, not in the words." |
| • Syrian refugees in Turkey and Jordan have been recounting the violence and persecution that they fled from. | • Syrian refugees in Turkey and Jordan have been recounting the violence and persecution that they fled from. |
| Mohammed, a former Idlib prison guard who defected to the opposition and then fled to Turkey, describes the torture he witnessed: | |
| One man lost an eye in a beating. If prisoners refused to say that 'Assad is our leader', they sat them down naked on to a glass bottle. The bottleneck penetrated [their anus]. | One man lost an eye in a beating. If prisoners refused to say that 'Assad is our leader', they sat them down naked on to a glass bottle. The bottleneck penetrated [their anus]. |
| Um Eddine, a mother of four whose husband was arrested in December, describes fleeing across the border to Jordan where a family were helped by soldiers: | Um Eddine, a mother of four whose husband was arrested in December, describes fleeing across the border to Jordan where a family were helped by soldiers: |
| My three-and-a-half year-old asked me, why do these soldiers gave us tea while the ones at home kill people? I said: 'Because that is Syria.' My sons haven't gone to school for a whole year. They haven't been able to play in the streets for a year. In Daraa, they were in a state of fear the whole time. I pray that I will see my husband again. I pray for him and all those who are arrested. | My three-and-a-half year-old asked me, why do these soldiers gave us tea while the ones at home kill people? I said: 'Because that is Syria.' My sons haven't gone to school for a whole year. They haven't been able to play in the streets for a year. In Daraa, they were in a state of fear the whole time. I pray that I will see my husband again. I pray for him and all those who are arrested. |
| • Egypt's foreign minister has warned that arming Syrian rebels could lead to civil war, the Egyptian Independent reports. Mohamed Kamel Amr also called for meeting with the Syrian opposition at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo. | • Egypt's foreign minister has warned that arming Syrian rebels could lead to civil war, the Egyptian Independent reports. Mohamed Kamel Amr also called for meeting with the Syrian opposition at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo. |
| • Syria's rebels have been forced to abandon efforts to hold territory and focus instead on guerilla tactics, a senior opposition commander told the Telegraph. He said: "After what happened in Deraa, in Homs, in Idlib, the Free Syrian Army is not focusing on holding cities anymore. We are now adopting guerilla tactics; we have watchers who spy on checkpoints and attack." Brown_Moses, a frequent commenter on this blog, notes an increase in IED attacks against Assad's forces and compiles a series of videos purporting to show such incidents on his new blog. | • Syria's rebels have been forced to abandon efforts to hold territory and focus instead on guerilla tactics, a senior opposition commander told the Telegraph. He said: "After what happened in Deraa, in Homs, in Idlib, the Free Syrian Army is not focusing on holding cities anymore. We are now adopting guerilla tactics; we have watchers who spy on checkpoints and attack." Brown_Moses, a frequent commenter on this blog, notes an increase in IED attacks against Assad's forces and compiles a series of videos purporting to show such incidents on his new blog. |
| Egypt | Egypt |
| • The Muslim Brotherhood's decision to field Khairat al-Shater as a candidate in the presidential election is seen by some as a panicky response to manoeuvring by the generals who ousted Hosni Mubarak. Rumours that Mubarak's intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, is about to declare his candidacy have fuelled expectations of a dramatic fight. | • The Muslim Brotherhood's decision to field Khairat al-Shater as a candidate in the presidential election is seen by some as a panicky response to manoeuvring by the generals who ousted Hosni Mubarak. Rumours that Mubarak's intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, is about to declare his candidacy have fuelled expectations of a dramatic fight. |