Syrian warplanes pounded rebel bastions yesterday after a day of fighting that left more than 180 dead, as UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi urged China to help end the violence.
In a week that has seen unprecedented air strikes, regime fighter jets yesterday again pummeled rebel-controlled areas east of Damascus where fighting has raged for months.
At least five raids were carried out early yesterday in the capital’s eastern suburbs, where 30 civilians, including five children, were killed in air raids and fighting on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Photo: EPA
The violence killed 182 people across Syria on Tuesday, the Britain-based Observatory said.
Analysts say the regime has boosted air strikes in recent days in a bid to reverse opposition gains on the ground, especially in Syria’s north, and to prevent the rebels from taking control of further territory around the capital.
Fierce clashes also erupted yesterday in the northwestern province of Idlib, where rebels attacked highway military checkpoints and battles raged over the rebel-held village of Maaret al-Numan and the regime-controlled Wadi Daif army base.
Rebels also claimed responsibility for the killing of a senior air force general, Abdullah Mahmud al-Khalidi, whom state television said had been assassinated by “terrorists.”
Visiting Beijing, Brahimi yesterday said he hoped China would play an active role in helping end the violence in Syria as he met Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) for talks.
Greeting Yang at the foreign ministry in front of reporters, Brahimi said he hoped “China can play an active role in solving the events in Syria,” but did not elaborate.
China is generally suspicious of intervention in the internal affairs of other nations.
Both China and Russia have exercised their veto in the UN Security Council to block resolutions aimed at putting more pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Yang thanked Brahimi for his work and said he hoped their discussions — their third in two months — would promote “mutual understanding” and “the appropriate handling of the Syrian issue.” China’s foreign ministry did not reveal the content of the talks, but reiterated that Beijing would push for a “political resolution in Syria.”
“China has been playing an important and positive role in pushing for the political resolution to the Syrian issue and will continue to work with the international community,” ministry spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) said.
Yang also met the Syrian president’s envoy in August and an opposition delegation the next month, both times stressing the need for dialogue, according to the foreign ministry’s Web site.
He warned the opposition about outside forces directing any political transition, while he told the president’s envoy that both sides in the conflict should work with international mediation efforts.
Michael Stephens, a Royal United Services Institute analyst based in Qatar, said China has eased its backing of al-Assad during the course of the conflict.
“There was a more overt support for Assad which has now changed to trying to find a solution,” he said. “They’ve condemned violence on both sides and as a result ... it doesn’t allow them leverage on either side.”
Brahimi is due to present new proposals for resolving the Syria conflict to the UN Security Council next month.
His two-day visit to China, which ended yesterday, came after he met Russia’s foreign minister in Moscow on Monday.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia