Assad forces in control of Baba Amro; Arab League says fuelling violence will not help

Arab League chief Nabil al-Araby said on Thursday he was opposed to violence as a way to end the Syrian crisis after Gulf states called for arming the rebels seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad, as government forces seized full control of the Baba Amro district in Homs after rebels pulled out “tactically.”

As many as 42 people have been killed on Thursday by the fire of Syrian security forces, Al Arabiya reported citing activists at the Syrian Local Coordination Committees.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have led the Arab charge to isolate Syria, although other leading Arab states outside the Gulf such as Egypt, Algeria and Iraq have taken a more cautious approach.

Kuwait’s parliament on Thursday joined calls for arms to be sent to Syrian rebels.

“I am against using violence and the Arab League has no link to arming,” Secretary-General Nabil al-Araby told a news conference at the League headquarters in Cairo, according to Reuters.

The League passed a resolution in February calling for Arabs to “provide all kinds of political and material support” to the opposition, a statement that Arab diplomats confirmed at the time could be interpreted as permitting arms shipments.

However, they said some Arab states who backed the resolution opposed the idea of sending weapons, a move they saw as pushing Syria closer to civil war.

Araby said he hoped for a ceasefire that would allow humanitarian aid to enter Syria, where protests flared up almost a year ago and were confronted by troops and heavy weaponry.

“What is happening in Syria, the abuses, killings and sometimes starvation, is a very bad situation,” he said. “We hope that this stops so that it doesn't turn into a civil war.”

Conference for Syrian opposition in Cairo

The League will host a conference in Cairo for the Syrian opposition within two weeks to help them unify their ranks, Aaraby said. Arab diplomats say divisions in the opposition are preventing Arabs from any move to formally recognize it.

“What is demanded now from the (Syrian) National Council (SNC) and all the opposition is to unite their ranks and this is something that the League is asked to do,” he said.

The United Nations says Assad’s security forces have killed more than 7,500 civilians since the revolt began last March. Syria’s government said in December that “armed terrorists” had killed more than 2,000 soldiers and police during the unrest.

Meanwhile, Syrian regime forces on Thursday seized full control of the Baba Amro district of powder-keg Homs after rebels pulled out “tactically” in the face of relentless shelling and a deadly ground assault, according to AFP.

With the rebel fighters in retreat, the opposition Syrian National Council said in Paris that its newly-created “military bureau” would from now on coordinate the armed resistance against Assad’s regime.

The all-out assault on Homs’s defiant neighborhood came as international envoy Kofi Annan said he hopes to go to Damascus with a clear message that the “violence must stop,” and the U.N. Human Rights Council called on Damascus to allow relief supplies in to besieged protest cities.

Britain announced that it was following the United States in closing its embassy and pulling out its remaining diplomats in response to the “deterioration of the security situation in Damascus.’

Pulling out of Baba Amro

Rebel fighters said on Thursday they had pulled out from Baba Amro after nearly two days of an all-out assault by the dreaded Fourth Armored Division, led by a younger brother of President Assad, Maher.

Rebels “have pulled out tactically in order to protect the remaining civilians,” said Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad, the leader of the free Syrian Army, which is made up mostly of deserters.

A Syrian security official said in Damascus that the army was in total command of the rebel bastion.

“The Syrian army controls all of Baba Amro. The last pockets of resistance have fallen,” the official told AFP on the 27th day of bombardment targeting the defiant neighborhood.

State television aired footage it said was filmed inside Baba Amro, including interviews with people it said were residents angry with the rebels.

Syrian activists said 29 people were killed in Homs on Thursday, including 17 civilians caught up in the battle for control of Baba Amro.

The opposition SNC said the military bureau, announced on Wednesday, would coordinate the flow of weapons to the rebels following mounting calls from Gulf Arab states for arms to be delivered despite U.S. fears that al-Qaeda may exploit any further militarization of the crisis.

“The SNC will be this link between those who want to help and the revolutionaries,” its leader Burhan Ghalioun told reporters in Paris.

“It is out of the question that arms go into Syria in confusion,” he added.

Human rights violations

A resolution adopted by the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday condemned the “continued widespread and systematic violations of human rights” and called on Damascus allow aid organizations and U.N. agencies to deliver desperately needed supplies.

Russia, Cuba and China voted against the resolution while India, the Philippines and Ecuador abstained.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, lambasted Russia for its failure to produce an aid plan for Syria, despite Moscow’s great influence with Assad.

“We are doing everything we can think of to influence the Russians and the Chinese, particularly the Russians: they're the ones with the very deep, long-standing relationship with the Assad family,” Clinton told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington.

The Syrian foreign ministry said it was willing to discuss a date for a visit by U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, after her announcement on Wednesday that she had been turned away prompted an outcry.

Amos had “requested to come to Syria at a time that was not suitable for us. We are willing to continue discussions with her about a time suitable for both sides,” a ministry statement said.

Russia on Thursday strongly urged Damascus to allow Amos into the country to assess the situation in Homs.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, had said it was “shameful that Assad has denied access” to the U.N. humanitarian chief at a time when his troops were intensifying their attacks on protest cities such as Homs.