Q&A: Where is Syria crisis heading?

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Q&A: Where is Syria crisis heading?

via CNN:

What’s the latest on the ground?

Syria’s humanitarian crisis is worsening as armed rebels and government forces battle for control of towns and cities across the country.

Much of Ghouta, in the eastern suburbs of Damascus, faces a “complete siege and closure” after days of sustained bombings that has killed dozens, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees.

Electricity, water, heating fuel and food are in short supply, and communications have been interrupted, the LCC said, as Syrian forces battle to take back neighborhoods located uncomfortably close to President Bashar al-Assad’s seat of power in the capital.

At least 100 people were killed across Syria on Monday, with deaths in Homs, Daraa, Damascus and Idlib, according to the LCC. A resident of Homs said six members of one family were found dead.

In one part of Homs, Syrian forces battled to take back a neighborhood from the rebel army and anti-government protesters, according to an opposition activist who asked that his identity be withheld over a fear of government reprisal.

The dead and wounded littered the streets of the neighborhood, which was under siege, the activist said.

More than 5,000 people have died since March, when the government launched a crackdown against demonstrators, according to the United Nations. Opposition groups estimate a higher death toll, with counts near or exceeding 7,000 people.