Dubai A “fresh massacre” is looming in Latakia’s Al Haffeh town after eight continuous days of government bombardment.
UN monitors were unable to access the city saying the situation is too dangerous for them to enter.
Activists say helicopter gunships were brought in, and are being increasingly used to fight Syrian rebel strongholds.
The Al Haffeh region is dominated by the Alawite sect and is close to Kardaha, which is the hometown of President Bashar Al Assad’s family.
The United States accused Al Assad’s government Monday of using “new horrific tactics,” while State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also said the regime “may be organising another massacre” in Latakia.
Syria’s Arab News Agency SANA reported Tuesday said that Syrian forces are still tracking down “terrorists,” who it said had attacked the residents of Al Haffeh.
Meanwhile, a UN report on Tuesday accused Syrian troops of using children as “human shields”.
List of shame
Branding Damascus as one of the worst offenders on its annual “list of shame” of conflict countries, the report said that Syrian children as young as nine had been victims of killing and maiming, arbitrary arrest, detention, torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence.
“Rarely, have I seen such brutality against children as in Syria, where girls and boys are detained, tortured, executed, and used as human shields,” said Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN special representative for children in armed conflict.
Human rights groups estimate that about 1,200 children have died during the 15-month uprising against the Al Assad regime.
Meanwhile a desperate Kofi Annan, the UN envoy to Syria, said he will invite governments with influence to “twist arms” to help stop the violence.
“It is totally unacceptable and it must stop, and that is why Annan has invited governments with influence to raise the bar to another level to get the parties to implement the plan,” his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said.
