Al-Qaeda slaughters on Syria's killing fields

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What barbaric people!!! It isn't enough to just murder the opposing group, but having to behead these men and putting their heads on spikes is really going too far.

Al-Qaeda slaughters on Syria's killing fields


More than 1,000 Syrians flee al-Qaeda-linked group as they mow down children and behead prisoners in cold blood.

Isabel Hunter Last updated: 21 Jan 2014 15:31

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Karkamis, Turkey - Al-Qaeda fighters have struck a bloody blow in scenes of medieval violence in Syria's northern border-town of Jarabulus. Fighting came to a head on January 17, between rebel groups Liwa al-Tawhid Brigade and the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the town, when reinforcements arrived from Raqqa and reclaimed the city in a brutal four-hour battle.

By nightfall, at least 10 men had been beheaded, their heads mounted on spikes, and more than 1,000 refugees fled the 3kms across the border to Turkey.

It's a shocking turn of events for residents and Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters alike, who just a week ago believed they were hours away from expelling the al-Qaeda group from their city altogether after surrounding the last 40 fighters in the city's cultural centre.

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Al-Qaeda slaughters on Syria's killing fields - Features - Al Jazeera English

 

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Syrian kids gettin' caught in the middle...

UN: 'UNSPEAKABLE SUFFERING' FOR SYRIA'S CHILDREN
Feb 5,`14 -- Children in Syria have been tortured, sexually abused and subjected to "indiscriminate" attacks by President Bashar Assad's forces, and recruited for combat and terror operations by the rebels fighting to topple him during the country's nearly 3-year-old conflict, a new United Nations report said.

The report to the U.N. Security Council by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon highlights the plight of children in the conflict from the beginning of the uprising against Assad in March 2011 until Nov. 15, 2013. It was given to the council this week and posted on the U.N. website Tuesday. Ban said Syrian children have been subjected to "unspeakable and unacceptable" suffering during that time. "Violations must come to an end now," he said. Meanwhile, the Syrian government missed another deadline for destroying its chemical weapons Wednesday, but pledged to complete the process by June 30 as promised.

Under a timetable set up by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Syria was to have given up its entire stockpile of chemical weapons by Wednesday. Last week, a U.S. diplomat said Syria had only removed 4 percent of its most deadly chemicals so far. All should have been removed by Dec. 31 under the framework. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mikdad said the U.S. is fully committed to the process. "Difficulties facing Syria, particularly in the framework of the country's war on terrorism, could hinder the implementation of some commitments from time to time," he said Wednesday, according to SANA.

A day earlier, he rejected U.S. criticism for its slow pace in moving the chemicals out of the country, calling the accusations "baseless and unfair." The uprising against Assad's rule began with largely peaceful protests in 2011 but evolved in time into a bloody civil war that has killed more than 10,000 children according to U.N. estimates and more than 130,000 people, according to activists. Millions of Syrians have been driven from their homes, seeking shelter in neighboring countries or in safer parts of their homeland.

The conflict has hit the country's children hard. In the early stages, Ban said, violations against children were committed largely by Syria's armed forces, intelligence forces and allied Shabiha militia but as the conflict intensified and the opposition became more organized, an increasing number of violations committed by Free Syrian Army-affiliated groups were documented. The report said the "disproportionate and indiscriminate" use of weapons and military tactics by government forces and associated militias "has resulted in countless killings and the maiming of children, and has obstructed children's access to education and health services." Military forces have pounded rebel-held areas with airstrikes and artillery and also subjected them to blockades of food and medicine.

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RUSSIA OPPOSES A HUMANITARIAN RESOLUTION ON SYRIA
Feb 5,`14 -- Russia said Wednesday it opposes a new U.N. Security Council resolution on the humanitarian plight in Syria, an announcement that is likely to torpedo a Western and Arab-backed draft that would pressure the government and opposition to allow desperately needed aid into the country.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told a press briefing that "hard, pragmatic and purposeful work is necessary" to resolve specific humanitarian issues - not a council resolution which will almost certainly aim "to politicize the problem." Council diplomats said they expect to circulate a draft humanitarian resolution this week, following the failure of peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition to achieve any concrete results, especially on possible humanitarian aid convoys to besieged parts of the city of Homs. "We are against moving to a resolution now in the Security Council," Churkin told reporters at Russia's U.N. Mission. "We believe that it's a wrong move. It's not a good time to have any resolution discussed in the Security Council."

Russia and China, which support the Syrian government, have vetoed three previous Western-backed resolutions that would have pressured President Bashar Assad to end the violence. The deeply divided council did come together in October to approve a weaker presidential statement appealing for immediate access to all areas of the country to deliver aid to millions of civilians. But Churkin made clear Wednesday that Moscow is not prepared to go further, saying what is needed is for both sides - and countries with influence on them - to address and resolve specific humanitarian situations. He said the latest information he saw on Tuesday was that an agreement on who would be allowed to leave Homs, and when and how humanitarian assistance would be supplied to the city, "is about to happen."

Churkin called the first meeting between the government and opposition in Geneva "a good start of talks" after three years of bloody civil war that has killed more than 130,000 people, according to activists. The talks are supposed to focus on implementing a plan adopted in Geneva in June 2012 calling for the establishment of a transitional governing body in Syria vested with full executive powers. But the Syrian government has rejected a transitional government and has pressed for the talks to focus on the terrorist threat in the country. Churkin said terrorists "are to a large extent behind this tragic humanitarian situation" and fighting terrorism "should be one of the priorities in the discussions in Geneva."

But he said both sides also need to discuss what happens in the future, including elections and how to form a transitional body. Churkin said Ahmad al-Jarba, head of the opposition delegation, held four hours of talks in Moscow Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Al-Jarba assured the Russians "that they mean business, so we hope that is going to transpire during the second round of talks" scheduled to start on Feb. 10. "But this is definitely something which requires a lot of patience and perserverance," Churkin said.

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