Syria unrest: UN debate as siege of Hama goes on

Hama resident Osamah: "They're shooting anything that moves"

A divided UN Security Council is due to resume its debate on Syria as government forces maintain their bloody siege of the city of Hama.

Amid sharp condemnation of the Syrian president by the UN secretary general, the council has been unable to agree on the wording of its response.
Russia, China and others are pitted against the US and its EU allies.
According to unconfirmed reports, tanks entered Hama on Wednesday morning after new shelling.
At least 140 people have been killed since Sunday, mainly in Hama, as Syria's leaders seek to crush dissent.
The civilian death toll in the protests, which began in March against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, is believed to be at least 1,600.
Mr Assad has promised reforms but blames the violence on "armed gangs" backed by unspecified foreign powers.
Access to events in Syria has been severely restricted for international journalists and it is rarely possible to verify accounts by witnesses and activists.
Divided council Talks at the 15-member Security Council in New York ended inconclusively on Tuesday and are due to pick up again on Wednesday.
Amid concern that Syria, a strategically important state in the Middle East, may be slipping into civil war, Western states on the 15-strong body have been pushing for a resolution condemning Mr Assad's crackdown.
The argument is whether it should be a formal resolution or a less substantial statement.
Russian UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said the latest wording put forward by Western members was "detrimental" to peace efforts.

Unverified amateur footage purportedly shows newly-dug graves in Syria

"It is no secret that our Western colleagues believe that Damascus and the Syrian government are to blame for everything..." he said on Russian TV.
"There are a number of other members of the Security Council, Russia among them, who see the situation as more complicated."
Moscow, he said, believed the Security Council should "do its utmost to encourage all sides in Syria to hold a dialogue" on ending the crisis.
Along with China, Brazil, India and South Africa also oppose action by the council on Syria, suggesting it may lead to a new international military involvement as in Libya.
But the UK, France, Germany, Portugal and the US have been trying to get a resolution passed for two months, believing a formal UN resolution is the best way to send a strong signal to Mr Assad.
Meanwhile, a number of US senators, both Democrat and Republican, are calling for new American sanctions that would punish companies which invest in Syria's energy sector.
And US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received Syrian opposition activists for the first time on Tuesday, in a strong signal that the Obama administration had decided to forge ahead with isolating President Assad, the BBC's Kim Ghattas reports from Washington.
'Heavy shelling' Reuters news agency quoted residents of Hama as saying tanks had entered the city on Wednesday morning, reaching Orontes Square in the centre.

Unnamed Hama resident

They advanced after heavy shelling, according to the same report.

The square has been the venue for some of the biggest rallies against President Assad, the agency notes.
It quoted an unnamed resident, who spoke by satellite phone, as saying: "The regime is using the media focus on the Hosni Mubarak trial [which opened in Egypt on Wednesday] to finish off Hama."
The Associated Press news agency quoted Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as saying columns of tanks could be seen snaking towards the city of 800,000.
It also reported the sound of explosions coming from the city.
Communication with the city is all but cut off completely, as are water and electricity, correspondents say.
Reports this week speak of shells hitting residential areas where no demonstrations took place, and families have reportedly been fleeing through side roads amid the heavy gunfire.
Some families who left described the situation as worse than the 1980s, when President Hafez Assad, father of the current leader, crushed an uprising, leaving tens of thousands dead and the city flattened.
The continuing violence drew a strong response from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday.
Mr Assad "must be aware that under international humanitarian law, this is accountable," he said.
"I believe that he lost all sense of humanity," he added.

Posted in: news