Syrian FM says Syria to grant Red Cross access to Qusair when fighting over

A Syrian government official said on Sunday a car bomb exploded in a suburb of the capital Damascus, killing eight persons and wounding several others.   
                              
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the Sunday explosion in Jouber, which it said has seen heavy clashes recently between rebels and the Syrian army. It did not have any immediate word on casualties.                    

It said the blast targeted a police station and was carried out by the al-Nusra Front; a militant group linked to al-Qaida.                

On another note, the state-run TV channel reported that Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday that Syria will allow the Red Cross to enter the besieged town of Qusair after military operations are over.    

UN humanitarian officials have called for an immediate ceasefire in Qusair, where President Bashar al-Assad's forces and Hezbollah fighters are battling to drive out rebels, saying 1,500 wounded people are in need of emergency medical treatment.    

Moualem expressed surprise at the international concern over the fighting around Qusair, saying the world had been silent when rebels took over the town 18 months ago and that Syria was now clearing it of "terrorism".

For his part, an Iraqi official said that more than 7,000 Syrian refugees in Iraq have crossed back to the rebel-held Syrian border town of Albu Kamal in recent weeks due to better security there.    

The mayor of the Iraqi border town of al-Qaim said 7,000 out of 11,000 Syrian refugees hosted there had returned home.    

Around 152,000 Syrian refugees have been registered in Iraq, according to the UN refugee agency, most of them Kurds and Sunni Muslims who fled to Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and the Sunni-dominated western province of Anbar.

In turn, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius suggested that an international peace conference aimed at ending the Syrian civil war could take place in July.            

The United States, Russia and others have been pressing for the conference to take place this month. But details of how it could be organized have yet to be agreed and there is still no firm agreement on the date.                 

"The Geneva II conference is the last chance. I hope it will take place. I think it could take place in July," Fabius said in an interview with Europe 1 radio and i-tele television.     

Fabius said the Syrian government and the opposition must attend.            

"It's not just about getting round the table and then asking what are we going to talk about. It needs to be prepared. That is why I say that the July date would be suitable," he said.      


REUTERS/AP


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