In Syria, airstrikes ahead of Iranian foreign minister visit to tout peace plan
Fighting between government forces and rebels has killed more than two dozen people in and near Damascus.
Fighting between government forces and rebels has killed more than two dozen people in and near Damascus.
More than two dozen people were killed in airstrikes in and around the Syrian capital Damascus early Wednesday, casting doubt on an already shaky premise of an Iranian-led peace initiative.聽
The attacks 鈥� a combination of rebel shelling and government airstrikes 鈥� came just hours before the scheduled arrival of聽Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif. He was expected to speak about Iran鈥檚 prospective four-point peace plan for ending Syria鈥檚 grinding four-year civil war, which is said to include a cease-fire and 鈥渘ational unity government,鈥� the Associated Press reports.聽
Iran has funneled troops, weapons, and billions of dollars to prop up Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Anti-Assad forces have been supplied by regional Sunni powers such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The US and other Western governments have Assad must go under any peace deal in Syria, and all previous efforts by the UN to broke peace talks have gone nowhere.聽
鈥淭he Islamic Republic of聽Iran, from the beginning of the crisis, has believed that the Syrian crisis has no military solution and that it should be resolved through political and diplomatic solutions based on dialogue and agreement,鈥� said Marzieh Afkham, an Iranian spokesman told official media, according to Reuters.聽
The latest clashes began during rush hour Wednesday morning, with dozens of rockets fired by rebels hitting targets across central Damascus. At least four people were killed and nearly 60 wounded, according to state television and the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reports Agence France-Presse.
Government forces responded by bombarding several towns in Eastern Ghouta, a rebel stronghold close to the capital, killing at least 27 people and injuring more than 100 more, according to Voice of America.聽
Both sides have been repeatedly condemned by human rights monitors for indiscriminately firing into civilian populations. On Wednesday Amnesty International published a report arguing the Syrian government was carrying out war crimes in Eastern Ghouta, saying聽that the bombardments were compounding the suffering created by government blockades.
Even as the fighting raged around Damascus, a 48-hour cease-fire between rebels and pro-government Shiite militias went into effect in the Syrian border town of Zabadani and in two Shiite villages, the Associated Press quoted Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as saying.
Recent negotiations aimed at achieving the cease-fire in Zabadani, which lies northwest of Damascus, and in the northern villages of Foua and Kfarya were seen as consistent with an evolving Iran-backed plan to contract the territory controlled by Assad to manageable dimensions, 海角大神 has reported.
Zarif鈥檚 visit to Syria comes one day after he met in Beirut with Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters in support of Syrian government.聽At that meeting, Mr. Nasrallah stressed his support for Iran and what he claimed was Hezbollah鈥檚 commitment to promoting security in the region.
鈥淭he Resistance seeks to protect Lebanon and the region against the threats imposed by the main enemies who are after dismantling solidarity, security and the infrastructure of human life and peaceful coexistence,鈥� he said, according to the Mehr News Agency in Iran.