Security sources told AFP that 17 Lebanese Islamists were reported dead in a regime ambush in Syria’s Homs.
Earlier, clashes continued on Friday, on Damascus airport
road, leading to the suspension of flights, according the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights and activists. However, the Syrian authorities had declared on
Thursday night that “the airport road is safe.”
Local committees reported
that clashes erupted on the vicinity
of the western runway
of the airport, pointing that the rebels shelled a
military barracks in charge of protecting the airport.
For
its part, the Observatory said that two citizens were killed in shootings at a
bus carrying a number of the airport’s employees, adding that the Syrian forces
shelled the towns of al-Abbade, al-Qaysa, Harran al-Awamid, Darayya, Douma and
other villages.
Earlier, the United Nations said that Syrian refugees are being shot at as they flee to neighboring Jordan and many have to be treated in hospital on arrival.
In its latest briefing on the Syria crisis, the UN refugee agency also said 250,000 people were living in temporary shelters in the flashpoint city of Homs, without adequate food, clothing or medicine as winter added to the misery of civil war.
"We have received very disturbing reports from Syrian refugees in Jordan who say they were targeted as they were fleeing.
UNHCR calls on all sides to ensure that at least civilians have access to safe passage outside the country," spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a news briefing in Geneva.
Positions
UN Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said on Friday during a UN general assembly that there is no mutual trust between Syrian parties.
Earlier, delegates
from more than 60 countries gathered on Friday in Tokyo, seeking to increase
pressure on Bashar al-Assad's regime as the US moved towards recognizing the
newly-unified opposition as true leaders of Syria.
Japanese
Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, told the "Friends of Syria" group that
the international community have to act together where the divided United Nations Security Council
had failed.
The
fifth "sanctions working group" meeting in Tokyo saw the first
participation from four countries -- Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Indonesia and
Bangladesh, a foreign ministry official said.
On
the other hand, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
said Washington was weighing what further help it could give the Syrian
opposition rebels.
"We
are going to carefully consider what more we can do," Clinton told a
Washington forum, saying the United
States was constantly
evaluating the situation and adding: "I'm sure we will do more in the
weeks ahead."