Ini bukan "Orang Barat" lho yang omong, tapi pemimpin Liga Arab...
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Fight rages in Aleppo, where Arab League chief says war crimes being committed
- CNN.com
>From Ivan Watson, CNN
July 29, 2012 -- Updated 2039 GMT (0439 HKT)
CNN.com
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Northern Syria (CNN) -- Syrian troops at a besieged military base just north of
Aleppo fired out in three directions on Sunday in the face of a rebel
onslaught, part of a high-stakes battle for a city where a top regional leader
claimed war crimes are being committed.
Anti-government forces have been trying to takeover the northern Syrian city,
where many residents appear to support their cause, for days, only to be
answered by fierce fighting by the Syrian military.
The fight for the military base is one of many hotspots of violence raging
around Aleppo, which is the commercial and cultural center of the Middle
Eastern nation and its largest city.
Yet it is indicative, in many ways, of what's going on: with the rebels
attacking from seemingly many different directions, and scores of troops inside
firing back furiously with machine guns -- oftentimes straight into neighboring
villages. Rockets and shells routinely land in residential communities, many of
which are largely deserted as civilians flee the area.
On Sunday, it wasn't uncommon for up to six family members to be seen packed
somehow on solitary motorcycles, zooming away from battle zones . They are
among the roughly 200,000 people in Aleppo and surrounding areas who have fled
shelling and heavy weapon fire over the past two days, according to Valerie
Amos, the U.N.'s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.
Nabil Elaraby, the head of the Arab League, said Sunday in a statement that his
group supports calls from the Syrian opposition for an emergency U.N. Security
Council meeting to address the situation in Aleppo.
Elaraby added that the group believes war crimes are being committed in the
city.
Officials from the Arab League are planning visits to Russia and China hoping
to convince the superpowers, which have vetoed several resolutions over Syria,
to change their stance, he said.
The regional group's statement came hours after Syria's top diplomat delivered
ominous words about the battle for Aleppo, vowing that rebel troops would not
gain control of the city.
"Since last week, (opposition fighters) planned for whatever they called the
'great Damascus battle,' but they have failed after one week," Foreign Minister
Walid Moallem said during a trip to Iran, one of his nation's few remaining
allies, in referring to a rebel offensive beaten back earlier this month.
"That's why they moved to Aleppo, and I can assure you that they will fail."
Aleppo was just one hub of violence Sunday in Syria. The city saw 10 deaths out
of 100 nationwide, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees of
Syria. At least 39 people were killed in the Damascus suburbs including 18
unidentified bodies whose bodies were found charred on farms in the area, while
30 were killed in the province of Daraa, the group said.
State media and activists reported violence elsewhere as well, including
clashes in suburbs near the southwestern city of Daraa and the northwestern
city of Idlib.
Aleppo: Great world city in grip of war
That said, Aleppo has gotten much of the attention in part because controlling
it is considered key for both the embattled regime and the anti-government
fighters.
Regime forces are preventing fuel and food from entering Aleppo neighborhoods
controlled by rebel fighters, opposition activists said. Rebels have had to set
up medical clinics in homes.
Abo Hamdi, an activist, said government forces, tanks and heavy machinery have
tried to overrun the neighborhood of Salahuddin, but were outside by Sunday
night looking in. He said the opposition Free Syrian Army fighters have brought
in ammunition and secured key locations around the neighborhood.
"The situation in the city of Aleppo is very critical and quite serious," he
said. "We are trapped in this neighborhood, but the ... Free Syrian Army is
preparing for fierce battle."
Syrian TV reported that "terrorists" suffered heavy losses after clashes in
three neighborhoods.
With relentless attacks rocking Aleppo, the head of a prominent Syrian
opposition group pleaded for world allies to help arm rebels.
"Our friends and allies will bear responsibility for the terrifying massacres
that will happen in Aleppo if they don't move soon. This regime is planning for
a big massacre in Aleppo," Abdulbaset Sieda, head of the Syrian National
Council, told reporters in Abu Dhabi.
He urged allies to act outside of the U.N. Security Council, as resolutions
there can be vetoed.
"The rebels now are fighting with primitive types of weapons against the
killing machine. We need weapons that will allow us to stop tanks and planes,"
Sieda said.
Libyan rebels move onto Syrian battlefield
Meanwhile, Syria's foreign minister decried what he called a "vicious"
international plot against the Syrian regime.
"I can tell you that we are facing a global war against Syria, and as a proud
Syrian I can tell you that it is a great honor to be part of a great country
that is facing a ferocious attack by certain countries," he told reporters in
Tehran after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart. Moallem also described a
"media campaign" by the United States and others about chemical weapons in
Syria.
Iran's foreign minister accused Israel of being behind "a conspiracy against
Syria."
"It is completely ridiculous and delusive to believe that there is a
possibility of creating a vacuum in the leadership in Syria," Iranian Foreign
Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said. "We call upon the people of the region to be
fully aware and not to move in the wrong direction, because there will be
severe consequences that will go beyond the borders of the region to the
outside world."
U.S. increasing contacts with Syrian rebels
The Syrian crisis started in March 2011, after President Bashar al-Assad's
regime cracked down on peaceful protests.
More than 20,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in the conflict, the LCC
said. Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said almost 17,000 people
have died.
CNN's Hamdi Alkhshali, Saad Abedine and Mohammed Jamjoom and journalists
Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Shiyar Sayed Mohamed contributed to this report.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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