UN chief says over 100,000 people killed in Syrian war

5^min

Syria lashed out Thursday at the US decision to send arms to rebels fighting President Bashar Assad's troops, saying Washington is unsuitable to act as a broker at any peace negotiations in Geneva.

"The American intensions seek to continue the cycle of violence and terrorism in Syria in order to destabilize security and stability in the region," the Foreign Ministry said in
a statement.

The Obama administration opposed providing any lethal assistance to Syria's rebels until last month, but is now moving ahead with sending weapons to vetted rebels after securing the approval of the House and Senate Intelligence committees.

At the same time, the United States and Russia have been working to set up a peace conference in Geneva to try end Syria's civil war, now in its third year.

No official date has been set for the Geneva conference as the opposition refuses to attend any talks that are not about Assad's departure. Government officials say participation in the conference should be without preconditions.

The Syrian National Coalition said in a statement Thursday that it was committed to ensuring the arms reach only those loyal to the Coalition and its affiliated military councils indicating it would try to prevent U.S. weapons from reaching al-Qaeda fighters in Syria.

This as French President Francois Hollande met in Paris with a delegation of the opposition Syrian National Coalition and said France is working on "corridors that will possibly be opened to give necessary aid to the population." Such corridors, presumably guarded by international forces, would need the approval of a resolution of the Security Council.

On the Field:

The Syrian State TV declared that 7 people were killed and 62 others were injured when a car bomb exploded in the Syouf Square in Jaramena in Reef Damascus.

This as Syrian government troops bombarded the central city of Homs and, backed by Hezbollah fighters, tried to storm a rebel-held neighborhood in the area, according to activist groups.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime forces bombarded the northern neighborhood of Khaldiyeh in preparation for a ground assault. It had no immediate word on casualties.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said troops were hitting Khaldiyeh with mortars.

In late June, government forces launched a major offensive on Homs, a strategic city of about 1 million residents located on the road between the capital Damascus and regime strongholds on the Mediterranean coast.

The Observatory, which has a network of activists on the ground, said government forces captured the central town of Sukhna in Homs province.

The fighting there killed several rebels, including the local commander of an al-Qaida-linked group, the Observatory said. It did not name the commander of Jabhat al-Nusra group, also known as the Nusra Front in English, but said he was an Iraqi citizen.

The fighting in Syria has increasingly taken on sectarian undertones as Assad enjoys support from many in his Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, while the rebels are mainly Sunnis.

In this context, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said more than 100,000 people have been killed in the escalating conflict in Syria, stressing that it is imperative to find a political solution and end the conflict.

Skirmishes on Turkish border:

A 15-year-old Turkish boy died late on Wednesday from injuries sustained last week when he was hit by stray bullets from Syria during clashes between Kurdish fighters and Islamist rebels near the Turkish border, hospital sources said.

Fighting in the border area has fueled fears in Ankara about violence spilling from Syria's civil war into Turkey, and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called a meeting with his military and intelligence chiefs and senior cabinet ministers on Wednesday to discuss the unrest.

Meanwhile Egypt has been detaining Syrian refugees without charge and threatening to deport them in a climate of growing hostility since the army seized power last month, the rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.

REUTERS/AP