Positions:
Syrian Foreign
Minister Walid Moallem said on Monday during a televised interview that the US
is using the chemical weapons issue as an alibi to launch a “campaign” similar
to the one that led to the fall of President Saddam Hussein.
The news agency SANA mentioned that Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem said
in a televised speech that the key to the success of Ibrahimi's mission
lies in neighboring countries that harbor, arm and support financially
and media wise armed groups.
He also said that Akhdar Ibrahimi might
face the same problem as his predecessor Kofi Annan did in case he
didn't get a real commitment from those interfering countries,
especially from the USA which is leading the entire circumstances, as he
said.
As for the related information reported on the presence of
chemical weapons in Syria, Mouallem stressed that these are "US related
thoughts similar to the campaign launched against Iraq regarding the
presence of weapons of mass destruction there".
He also denied any dialogue with the American authorities.
During a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, Mouallem accused
the United States, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey of supporting
"terrorism" in Syria by providing arms and money.
The Syrian Foreign Minister also said that
calls for Assad to step down are
"blatant
interference" in Syria's internal affairs.
Moallem also called on all Syrian refugees to return to their villages.
For his part, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized the Syrian government on
Monday for killings, rights abuses, aerial and artillery attacks and
expressed frustration that the 18-month conflict was getting worse.
Ban "raised in the strongest terms the continued killings, massive
destruction, human rights abuses, and aerial and artillery attacks
committed by the government" during a meeting with Syrian Foreign
Minister Walid al-Mouallem on the sidelines of the U.N. General
Assembly, his spokesman said.
On the Field:
Violent clashes between Syrian forces
and opposition fighters
in the markets of Aleppo are currently underway as six people were reportedly killed earlier on Monday after regime forces shelled the provinces of Daraa and Homs, according to a statement
issued by the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which confirmed
that shelling and clashes continued in several streets of Syria’s second city
of Aleppo.
The Observatory noted that five people were killed following
shelling targeting the town of Tafas, Daraa, including one rebel fighter, a
woman and her father.
It expected that the death toll will increase given that several people were severely wounded, while there is a shortage in medical equipment and
materials.
In Homs, the region of Houla and the town of Talaf witnessed
heavy shelling from regime forces, killing one person.
However, in Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory reported shelling
over several streets, without mentioning any casualties.
Activists say Syrian troops have
bombed a northern town near the Turkish border, killing at least 18 people.
Footage posted online by
activists shows several mutilated bodies in a pickup truck as a man shouts that
his son was killed. The video's authenticity could not be independently
verified.
Salqin is in the northwestern
province of Idlib that has seen intense clashes between troops and rebels in
recent months.
For its part, Syria TV warned the citizens
in the area of Douma from falsely titled flyers distributed there allegedly under the name of the
Syrian Army asking the residents to leave. The TV stressed that the information
is not accurate.
Meanwhile,
Syrian refugees on the Turkish borders
attempt a life of normality in dire consequences.
LBCI/AP/REUTERS
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