Scores reported killed in two Syrian cities

Women and children killed by "government thugs" in Homs, activists say, as the military assault on Idlib continues. Last Modified: 12 Mar 2012 11:09 nShare18

Dozens of people have been killed in two flashpoint cities in Syria, opposition activists say, hours after the UN special envoy to Syria met the country's president in an effort to reach a diplomatic solution to end the violence. The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), a network of opposition activists, said at least 45 women and children were killed on Monday morning in the Karm al-Zaytoun neighbourhood of Homs. ”[They] have been slaughtered in a massacre by the regime’s Shabiha [armed men],” the group said in a statement, adding that 25 other people were killed in other parts of the city. Syria's state news agency said "terrorist gangs" were responsible for killings in Karm al-Zaytoun, and that the bodies of those killed belonged to residents kidnapped by those armed groups. Separately, in the northwestern province of Idlib, Syrian government troops shelled several areas as part of a campaign to crush the opposition in its stronghold along the border with Turkey. Opposition activists said on Monday that 25 people were killed in Idlib. In a phone interview with Al Jazeera, Abu Hani, a city resident, described the conditions in local hospitals as shocking. "After shelling the city, security forces began a house-to-house search for activists and protesters," he said. "And soldiers have been granted complete freedom to loot everything from homes and shops." Crossing into Turkey A Turkish government official said that at least 189 Syrians had crossed into Turkey since Saturday, fleeing the assault on Idlib. The official in Ankara, the Turkish capital, told the AFP news agency that more were likely to continue to cross over. In other parts of the country, the LCC said on Monday that five people were killed in Damascus suburbs, five in Aleppo, one in Damascus city, one in Latakia and one in Deraa. IN VIDEO Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught was with her team in Idlib when the military assault on the city began The ongoing violence comes after two days of talks between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Kofi Annan, the joint envoy of the Arab League and UN to Syria. Annan left Damascus on Sunday with no deal to stop the bloodshed. "It's going to be tough. It's going to be difficult but we have to have hope," he said in Damascus on Sunday. Citing a general desire for peace in Syria, Annan said: "I am optimistic for several reasons." Annan said he had left "concrete proposals" with Assad, and called for an immediate halt to the killings in Syria, where the UN says Assad's forces have killed 7,500 people in a year-long crackdown on protests. "I have urged the president to heed the African proverb which says you cannot turn the wind, so turn the sail," Annan said. Syria needed to embrace change and reform, he said. "You have to start by stopping the killings and the misery and the abuses that [are] going on today and then give time [for a] political settlement," he said. Annan, who also met religious leaders in Damascus on Sunday, said the situation was "so bad and so dangerous" that all Syrians bore a responsibility to "help heal and reconcile this nation". Ground situation Speaking to Al Jazeera over phone, Mouna Ghanem, a Damascus-based opposition leader who met Annan, said activists used their meeting to propose an international mediation group. "We explained to [Annan] the situation on the ground and the necessity to work to stop the violence immediately, and also to find ways to solve the armed conflict on the ground," she said. Anan was due to hold talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday afternoon. Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, who met Annan in Cairo on Friday, told the Arab League his country was "not protecting any regime", but did not believe the Syrian crisis could be blamed on one side alone. He called for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid access, but Qatar and Saudi Arabia sharply criticised Moscow's stance. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, Qatari prime minister, who has led calls for Assad to be isolated and for Syrian rebels to be armed, said a ceasefire was not enough. Syrian leaders must be held to account and political prisoners freed, he declared. Saud Al Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, said shortcomings in the UN Security Council, where Russia and China have twice vetoed resolutions on Syria, had allowed the killing to go on. Their position, he said, "gave the Syrian regime a licence to extend its brutal practices against the Syrian people".

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies