At least 3,500 killed in Syria since start of protests, says UN

AT LEAST 3,500 people have been killed since protests began in Syria in mid-March, the UN reported yesterday.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the figure was provided by “credible [Syrian] sources on the ground” since the agency has no staff in the country. The toll includes 60 said to have died since November 2nd, when Syria agreed to an Arab League peace plan.

“While the Syrian government announced the release of 553 detainees on Saturday . . . tens of thousands remain in detention and dozens continue to be arbitrarily arrested every day,” Ms Shamdasani said.

She added: “According to information the UN human rights office has received, the neighbourhood [of Bab Amr in Homs] has remained under siege for seven days, with residents deprived of food, water and medical supplies.”

Three civilians were reported to have been killed as troops fanned out in Bab Amr, where the military has been battling army defectors belonging the “Free Syrian Army”.

Video was posted on the internet purporting to show small groups of armed defectors driving through the district. But residents said most defectors had been killed, captured or forced to flee during the army offensive.

An independent source in Damascus said the government intended to consolidate control before Saturday, when an emergency meeting of Arab League foreign ministers is set to discuss “the continuation of violence” and the Syrian government’s failure to “implement its commitments”.

The Arab plan calls for an end to violence by all sides, the withdrawal of troops from residential areas, the release of political prisoners, and dialogue between the government and opposition.

The Syrian National Council, an umbrella grouping of opposition factions, has proclaimed Homs a “disaster area” and appealed for international protection of civilians and the deployment of foreign monitors.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported there had been clashes between loyalist forces and army defectors near Hama, 45km (28 miles) north of Homs, and that eight soldiers and security men had been killed in an ambush near the city of Maarat al-Numaan north of Hama.

The government holds that 1,100 members of the security forces have been killed during nearly seven months of unrest while opposition activists put civilian deaths at 4,200.