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| Syria crisis - UN peacekeeping team heading for Damascus - live updates | Syria crisis - UN peacekeeping team heading for Damascus - live updates |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| 9.55am: Activists in the central Syria city of Hama claim the army has been raiding the city since dawn. | |
| Speaking on Skype chat one contact, who calls himself Abo Ghazi, said: "Assad gangs stormed the city with tanks and anti aircraft guns since the morning. There is a campaign of arrests of young men in the neighbourhoods Hamidiya, al Faryah and Baraziah." | |
| On Twitter activist ArabSpringFF wrote: | |
| Raids are beginning on the outskirts of Hama and will move towards the center. There's snipers in several places. #Syria must go now | |
| — Free Syrian (@ArabSpringFF) April 4, 2012 | |
| I have a bad feeling about what's happening now. It's a massive military campaign planned on Hama, but it's been preparing for hours. | |
| — Free Syrian (@ArabSpringFF) April 4, 2012 | |
| Video from activists purports to show an anti aircraft gun being manoeuvred around Hama today. | |
| 9.41am: Bahrain: The authorities have been harassing the family of citizen journalist Ahmed Ismael Hassan who died on Saturday after being shot while filming a demonstration, EA WorldView reports. | |
| Men in a civilian vehicle – alleged to be pro-regime vigilantes – opened fire, hitting Ahmed in the leg and severing an artery. He died later in hospital. | |
| According to EA WorldView's correspondent in Bahrain, the interior ministry is pressing his family to sign a death certificate which gives the cause of death as a deep cut. The family are refusing to sign unless it clearly states that he died from a gunshot wound. As a result, the ministry is refusing to release his body for burial. | |
| 9.09am: Gruesome video has emerged purporting to show decomposing bodies, discovered after Monday's reported liberation of a hospital in Homs. | 9.09am: Gruesome video has emerged purporting to show decomposing bodies, discovered after Monday's reported liberation of a hospital in Homs. |
| The clip shows several bodies in a container lorry outside the hospital and more in the hospitals morgue. [warning: disturbing content] | The clip shows several bodies in a container lorry outside the hospital and more in the hospitals morgue. [warning: disturbing content] |
| The clip came as more details emerged about the raid. Dima Moussa, media spokeswoman for the Revolutionary Council of Homs, has this account: | The clip came as more details emerged about the raid. Dima Moussa, media spokeswoman for the Revolutionary Council of Homs, has this account: |
| Assad's forces took over the National Hospital some time ago and turned it into a military barrack. There have been reports of injured people being taken there and tortured to death, in addition to the retaining of the bodies of people killed by Assad forces. | Assad's forces took over the National Hospital some time ago and turned it into a military barrack. There have been reports of injured people being taken there and tortured to death, in addition to the retaining of the bodies of people killed by Assad forces. |
| Assad snipers have been actively targeting civilians from the hospital, making the surrounding areas very dangerous for any kind of movement. The Free Syrian Army went in to take over the hospital and put an end to these attacks against innocent civilians. | Assad snipers have been actively targeting civilians from the hospital, making the surrounding areas very dangerous for any kind of movement. The Free Syrian Army went in to take over the hospital and put an end to these attacks against innocent civilians. |
| As of now, there is still at least one part of the hospital occupied by a group of soldiers from the Assad army. We have received reports about bodies being discovered inside the hospital, but these reports have not yet been confirmed, and the exact number is not yet available. | As of now, there is still at least one part of the hospital occupied by a group of soldiers from the Assad army. We have received reports about bodies being discovered inside the hospital, but these reports have not yet been confirmed, and the exact number is not yet available. |
| Video has also emerged purporting to show the liberation of the hospital in Homs by the Farouq brigade. | Video has also emerged purporting to show the liberation of the hospital in Homs by the Farouq brigade. |
| The footage cannot be verified and at times appears to resemble a recreation of a raid rather than a raid itself. | The footage cannot be verified and at times appears to resemble a recreation of a raid rather than a raid itself. |
| 8.40am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live. A UN peacekeeping team is due in Syria today or tomorrow as the security council drafts a new statement calling for the immediate implementation of Kofi Annan's peace plan. | 8.40am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live. A UN peacekeeping team is due in Syria today or tomorrow as the security council drafts a new statement calling for the immediate implementation of Kofi Annan's peace plan. |
| Here's a roundup of the latest developments: | Here's a roundup of the latest developments: |
| Syria | Syria |
| • A United Nations team is heading to Damascus to discuss deploying unarmed peacekeepers, Bloomberg reports. The security council will also consider "further steps" if president Bashar al-Assad fails to respect a 10 April for implementing Annan's plan, according to a new draft statement. | • A United Nations team is heading to Damascus to discuss deploying unarmed peacekeepers, Bloomberg reports. The security council will also consider "further steps" if president Bashar al-Assad fails to respect a 10 April for implementing Annan's plan, according to a new draft statement. |
| • Syrian troops have began pulling out from some cities ahead of the deadline, a government official told AP. But the US said it has seen no evidence that Syria is and "mechanised units" from cities. | • Syrian troops have began pulling out from some cities ahead of the deadline, a government official told AP. But the US said it has seen no evidence that Syria is and "mechanised units" from cities. |
| • A leading internal opposition figure, Yassin Haj Saleh, has expressed his frustration at the external opposition and the lack of command of armed rebels. In an interview with the LA Times, Saleh described the Syrian National Council's overall performance as "depressing," and he bemoaned the militarisation of the uprising. "None of us asked for it," Saleh said of the Free Syrian Army and other factions that have taken up arms. "The problem is how to organize these groups." | • A leading internal opposition figure, Yassin Haj Saleh, has expressed his frustration at the external opposition and the lack of command of armed rebels. In an interview with the LA Times, Saleh described the Syrian National Council's overall performance as "depressing," and he bemoaned the militarisation of the uprising. "None of us asked for it," Saleh said of the Free Syrian Army and other factions that have taken up arms. "The problem is how to organize these groups." |
| • The Assad regime is tightening control of its borders with fresh landmines, aid workers and fleeing refugees told the Independent. As spring arrives, the Syrian army is said to be laying new mines along the 330km long border with Lebanon to replace those washed away during winter flooding and removed by activists. "We have heard that now that the weather has turned sunny the army has been replanting the mines," said Hassan al-Sabeh, the Lebanon country manager for Islamic Relief.l | • The Assad regime is tightening control of its borders with fresh landmines, aid workers and fleeing refugees told the Independent. As spring arrives, the Syrian army is said to be laying new mines along the 330km long border with Lebanon to replace those washed away during winter flooding and removed by activists. "We have heard that now that the weather has turned sunny the army has been replanting the mines," said Hassan al-Sabeh, the Lebanon country manager for Islamic Relief.l |
| • Russian embassy officials in Washington have defended their country's support of the Syrian regime in a private meeting with congressional staffers on Capitol Hill, according to Foreign Policy. | • Russian embassy officials in Washington have defended their country's support of the Syrian regime in a private meeting with congressional staffers on Capitol Hill, according to Foreign Policy. |
| About half a dozen Senate staffers attended the briefing, which got pretty heated, according to congressional sources briefed on the meeting. The Russian embassy officials refused to acknowledge basic facts about the burgeoning conflict in Syria, including that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continues to kill his own people. The Russia officials also claimed that an equal number of Syrian civilians have died at the hands of the Syrian opposition. | About half a dozen Senate staffers attended the briefing, which got pretty heated, according to congressional sources briefed on the meeting. The Russian embassy officials refused to acknowledge basic facts about the burgeoning conflict in Syria, including that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continues to kill his own people. The Russia officials also claimed that an equal number of Syrian civilians have died at the hands of the Syrian opposition. |
| Morocco | Morocco |
| • Morocco is under growing pressure to better protect women after a man who was allowed to marry a 16-year old girl he had allegedly raped was invited by a newspaper to join a discussion on improving women's rights. The man did not attend the roundtable meeting about the case of the teenager, Amina Filali, who killed herself after a court ordered the marriage. Moroccan human rights groups criticised the man's invitation, claiming it was further evidence of the impotence of the state and the justice system. | • Morocco is under growing pressure to better protect women after a man who was allowed to marry a 16-year old girl he had allegedly raped was invited by a newspaper to join a discussion on improving women's rights. The man did not attend the roundtable meeting about the case of the teenager, Amina Filali, who killed herself after a court ordered the marriage. Moroccan human rights groups criticised the man's invitation, claiming it was further evidence of the impotence of the state and the justice system. |
| Israel and the Palestinian territories | Israel and the Palestinian territories |
| • The Israeli prime minister has intervened to prevent the eviction of hardline Jewish settlers from a house in the tense West Bank city of Hebron, despite a Palestinian family's insistence that they are the legal owners of the property. Binyamin Netanyahu overruled his defence minister Ehud Barak, who had ordered the eviction of scores of settlers from the property on the grounds that they had not secured a permit for purchase from the Israeli authorities in the West Bank. | • The Israeli prime minister has intervened to prevent the eviction of hardline Jewish settlers from a house in the tense West Bank city of Hebron, despite a Palestinian family's insistence that they are the legal owners of the property. Binyamin Netanyahu overruled his defence minister Ehud Barak, who had ordered the eviction of scores of settlers from the property on the grounds that they had not secured a permit for purchase from the Israeli authorities in the West Bank. |
| Libya | Libya |
| • Fighting between rival militia around the western city of Zuara is reported to have claimed as many as 31 lives, according to the Libya Herald. An official from nearby Rigdaleen was quoted saying that said 17 fighters and residents were killed. Zuara spokesman Ayour Ali said that 14 Zuarans had been killed and 62 wounded. |