Rebels down chopper; envoy says Syria war risk to region
18 October, 2012
MAARET AL-NUMAN: Rebels shot down a helicopter on Wednesday as troops tried to retake a key Syrian town, a watchdog said, and peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned that the conflict risks setting the region ablaze. The fierce battle for the Damascus-Aleppo highway raged around the northwestern town of Maaret al-Numan even as Brahimi appeared to have won tentative support for a ceasefire. The UN and Arab League envoy warned of the conflict spreading as he visited neighbouring Lebanon, the latest leg of a Middle East tour aimed at ending more than 19 months of bloodshed. "This crisis cannot remain confined within Syrian territory," the veteran trouble-shooter told reporters. "Either it is solved, or it gets worse... and sets (the region) ablaze." He said a truce for the four-day Eidul Azha holiday starting on October 26 would be "a microscopic step on the road to solving the Syria crisis." "The Syrian people, on both sides, are burying some 100 people a day," said Brahimi. "Can we not ask that this toll falls for this holiday? This will not be a happy holiday for the Syrians, but we should at least strive to make it less sad. "If the Syrian government accepts, and I understand there is hope, and if the opposition accepts," a truce would be a step "towards a more global ceasefire." Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, who met Brahimi on Tuesday, backed his call for an Eid truce, also asking for international support. Pope Benedict XVI has arranged a high-profile Vatican visit to Syria likely to take place next week. "We cannot be mere spectators of a tragedy such as the one that is unfolding in Syria," Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Berton said in announcing the move. The conflict began in March 2011 with pro-reform protests inspired by the Arab Spring, but is now a civil war. At times it has spilled over into neighbouring nations. Turkey-Syria tensions have soared, with Ankara taking an increasingly strident line since a shell fired from inside Syria killed five Turks on October 3. A mortar bomb fired from Syria hit Turkish territory on Wednesday but caused no casualties, Turkish NTV reported. Brahimi's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told AFP the envoy would "soon go to Damascus." His tour has already taken him to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as Iran and Iraq. End.
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Reader Comments:
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UN is dead or weakened |
As a Christian i pray for the Syrian Refugees scattered around Syria, who lost their home, loved once, their city, their country..their peace...it's hard to say...but it's they who suffer between the Opposition and Army....
Navin, India - 18 October, 2012
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