Violence in Syria claims more lives ahead of Arab League talks

Feb 11, 2012, 17:16 GMT

Beirut - Fresh violence killed nearly 50 people in Syria on Saturday ahead of an Arab League meeting that will discuss international efforts to halt the bloodshed in the country.

Arab foreign ministers began to arrive in Cairo ahead of Sunday's meeting. It comes just days after Russia and China vetoed a resolution at the United Nations Security Council aimed at ending the violence in Syria. The ministers are also expected to discuss a proposed joint Arab League-UN monitoring mission after the Arab League suspended its mission last month.

The 193-nation UN General Assembly is to hold a debate to discuss the crisis with an address by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Monday.

According to the state news agency SANA, unknown 'gunmen' shot dead a Syrian military official outside his house in Damascus. Brigadier Issa al-Khuli, who heads a military hospital in the Syrian capital, is believed to be the first senior ranking army personnel to be assassinated in Syria since the uprising began in March.

SANA also quoted the Interior Ministry as saying its forces would 'wipe out terrorism' and 'hunt down those who compromise the country's security and citizens.'

Government forces, meanwhile, shelled for a seventh consecutive day areas in restive areas around Homs, where 35 people were killed, activists in the area said.

'Four children and their mother were killed when a shell slammed the shelter they were hiding in inside the Baba Amr neighbourhood,' Omar Homsi, a Syrian activist told dpa by satellite phone from the region of Kussair, in Homs.

He added that the security forces were now focusing their attacks on regions on the outskirts of the capital Damascus and the area of Zabadani, near Lebanon's eastern border.

Hani Abdullah, another activist based in the capital Damascus, said that shells were targeting the area of Zabadani and that black smoke was billowing over the entire area.

'So far we have reports of six killed in Damascus suburbs area and six others in Zabadani,' he said.

On Friday, at least 90 people were killed across Syria, including 28 people who died in twin suicide bombings at two security facilities in city of Aleppo.

While state media blamed the Aleppo attack on 'terrorist gangs,' the opposition accused President Bashar al-Assad's regime of masterminding the bombings to tarnish the rebels' image.

In Northern Lebanon, fighting eased off after two people were killed and 19 wounded, in clashes that erupted between gunmen loyal to the Syrian government and its opponents.

The clashes, which took place in the Bab al Tabbneh and Jabal Mohsen neighbourhoods, in the northern port city of Tripoli, stopped after Lebanese army soldiers deployed heavily in both areas and ordered all gunmen out of the streets.

According to a Lebanese army source, a ceasefire reached between the two sides was scheduled to go into effect later on Saturday.

Tripoli is dominated by Sunni Muslims, but it is also home to members of al-Assad's Alawite minority sect.

The Sunni residents of Tripoli have been helping Syrian refugees who are fleeing to northern Lebanon to escape the violence at home.