Violence in Syria as Russia studies peacekeeping proposal

Feb 13, 2012, 15:14 GMT

Beirut - Syrian forces intensified their assault on restive areas on Monday, killing at least 21 people, activists said, while Russia said it would study an Arab League proposal to send a peacekeeping force to the violence-racked country.

'A mission to support peace needs to have peace in place at the very beginning, that can be maintained,' Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said in comments reported by the Interfax news agency.

On Sunday the Arab League said it had agreed to open contacts with Syria's opposition and ask the United Nations to form a joint peacekeeping force to the nation.

'There must be an agreement on a ceasefire,' Lavrov said after meeting in Moscow with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Russia, a close ally of President Bashar al-Assad and one of Syria's top arms suppliers, has been widely criticized by western governments for its recent veto, along with China, of a UN security council resolution that would have condemned Assad.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi on Monday met with the Arab ambassadors to the United Nations as well as the envoys to Egypt of the Security Council member states - China, Russia, France, Britain and the United States - at the league's headquarters in Cairo.

After the meeting, al-Arabi left for Germany, where he is to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday to discuss developments in the Middle East, especially Syria, the Arab League said.

Damascus blasted the Arab League's proposal, saying it is not concerned with any decisions taken while it is absent. The Arab League suspended Syria's membership in the 22-member bloc in November.

Burhan Ghalioun, head of the opposition Syrian National Council, on Monday welcomed the Arab League move and described it as 'a first step' towards the fall of the regime.

Western countries like Britain and Germany also welcomed the proposal.

Meanwhile on Monday, at least 15 people were killed when government troops shelled heavily populated areas of Rastan, in Homs, activists said.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said army defectors had managed to stop the troops from storming the area and killed three soldiers loyal to the regime.

Bahaa al Homsi, a resident of the Homs neighbourhood of Inshaat and who arrived in Lebanon two days ago, told dpa that food and medical supplies were running out in Baba Amr and al-Khalidiyeh neighbourhoods.

'There is neither water nor electricity. Simply this regime is trying to starve their people to death,' he said.

Other activists based near the capital said six people, among them two women and two children, were killed in a suburb of Damascus by security forces when they stormed the area.

The United Nations estimated in January that more than 5,400 people had been killed in Syria since the uprising began in March. But the UN stopped counting when the violence escalated, saying it was too difficult to verify numbers.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which regularly updates the number of casualties, says more than 7,200 people have died.