Region | Syria

Refugees recount brutal offensive against Syrian opposition

US Senator Mccain seeks air strikes to force out Syrian President Bashar Al Assad

AP
Published: 00:00 March 7, 2012

Syrian refugees, who fled the violence in their homeland, at a building hosting them temporarily

Image Credit: Reuters
Syrian refugees, who fled the violence in their homeland, at a building hosting them temporarily, in the hillside town of Arsal, in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, on Monday.

Qaa: Syrian refugees fleeing to neighbouring Lebanon have said they feared they would be slaughtered in their own homes as government forces hunted down opponents in a brutal offensive against the opposition stronghold of Homs.

With world pressure at a peak in the boiling crisis, US Senator John McCain called for air strikes against Syria. He said the United States has a moral and strategic obligation to force out Al Assad and his loyalists.

"The only realistic way to do so is with foreign air power," McCain said from the Senate floor. "The United States should lead an international effort to protect key population centres in Syria, especially in the north, through air strikes on Al Assad's forces."

Also on Monday, the UN refugee agency said that as many as 2,000 Syrians crossed into Lebanon over the last two days to flee the violence in their country. In the Lebanese border village of Qaa, families with women with small children came carrying only plastic bags filled with a few belongings.

"We fled the shelling and the strikes," said Hassana Abu Firas. She came with two families who had fled government shelling of their town Al Qusair, about 22 kilometres away, on the Syrian side.

Tank attacks

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The town is in Homs province, where the government has been waging a brutal offensive for the past month.

"What are we supposed to do? People are sitting in their homes and they are hitting us with tanks," Firas said. "Those who can flee, do. Those who can't will die sitting down."

Lebanese security officials say more than 10,000 Syrians are believed to be in the country. One official said as many as 3,000 are believed to have crossed in recent days because of violence in Homs, though it is unclear how many have returned to Syria.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under government protocol.

Inside Lebanon, many Syrians fear agents from their own country's security services. Stories have circulated of kidnappings and collaboration between Lebanese and Syrian security forces. Syria controlled Lebanon for decades and Hezbollah, the party which now dominates Lebanon's government, is closely allied with Syria and Iran.

Turkey says it hosts more than 11,000 Syrians in camps along the border with Syria, including more than 1,000 who crossed in the last month. About 100 have entered in the last two days.

Emissaries

Jordan has more than 80,000 Syrian refugees, according to the government.

As international condemnation mounts, the Syrian regime agreed to allow in two prominent international emissaries it had previously rebuffed — former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the new special envoy to Syria, and UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos.

Annan goes to Damascus on Saturday and Amos said she will arrive in the capital today and leave on Friday. Amos said the aim of the visit is "to urge all sides to allow unhindered access for humanitarian relief workers so they can evacuate the wounded and deliver essential supplies."

The Obama administration added Syrian state television and radio to a US sanctions list — part of an effort to block Syrian government assets within the US.

Concerns were mounting over the humanitarian situation in Baba Amr. Activists alleged that after the Syrian forces seized control of Baba Amr, they killed dozens of residents execution-style and burned homes in revenge attacks against those believed to be supporting the rebels.