Report: Syrian forces overrun rebel stronghold
Syrian government troops appear to have overrun the rebel-held city of Idlib in an offensive that apparently began while UN special envoy Kofi Annan was still in the country.
Syrian government troops appear to have overrun the rebel-held city of Idlib in an offensive that apparently began while UN special envoy Kofi Annan was still in the country.
鈥� A daily summary of global reports on security issues.
A Syrian pro-government newspaper reported today that government forces have recaptured the northern town of Idlib, which rebels held for months.聽
Government troops聽laid siege to the city three days ago, according to the Associated Press, raising fears of a repeat of the brutal, multi-week assault on the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs that left hundreds 鈥� by some estimates thousands 鈥� dead.聽The offensive on Idlib began while former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, who was appointed UN special envoy to Syria, was still in the country attempting to secure an agreement with President Bashar al-Assad.
But Mr. Annan left the country on March 11 without an agreement to end the violence or let humanitarian groups into the country.
An Associated Press analysis argues that both sides believe they are 鈥渕aking gains, making a negotiated solution all but out of the question.鈥� The Syrian opposition seems to be 鈥渉olding out鈥� for foreign intervention, with the Syrian National Council openly requesting it.
A senior US military official said last week that the Obama administration is examining its options for a military intervention, according to Ms. Kennedy.
However, The New York Times reports that senior military officials have ratcheted up their warnings that an intervention would be a 鈥渄aunting and protracted operation, requiring at least weeks of exclusively US airstrikes, with the potential for killing vast numbers of civilians and plunging the country closer to civil war.鈥�
Officials say that Syria is a far more complicated situation than Libya, where the US staged a military intervention last year.
At a UN Security Council meeting yesterday, the US and Russia were once again at loggerheads over next steps to address the crisis. The Russian representative at the meeting 鈥渏oked with reporters that he wished Russia has as much influence in Syria to resolve the crisis as some people believe,鈥� according to The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Lavrov said that while the Syrian government bears some of the responsibility for the violence, it has been fighting more than unarmed men; it has been fighting combat groups that include Al Qaeda, WSJ reports.
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said today that Russia will fulfill the terms of its existing arms contracts with Syria, telling reporters that Russia has 鈥済ood, strong military technical cooperation with Syria, and we see no reason to reconsider it,鈥� the Associated Press reports.