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February 8th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda “It is the genocide card,” he said.
Mr Hassan said bombardment intensified in the early morning, concentrating on
Bab Amro, al Bayada, al Khalidiya and Wadi al-Arab.
They are all Sunni Muslim neighbourhoods in the mixed city that have risen up
against the 11-year rule of Mr Assad, from Syria’s minority Alawite
community, which has dominated the majority Sunni country for the last five
decades.
“Mortar and rocket fires have subsided, but heavy machineguns and
anti-aircraft guns are still strong…tanks are in main thoroughfares in the
city and appear poised to push deep into residential areas,” he added.
Mr Hassan also said a doctor tried to get through the barrage to Baba Amr but
was wounded.
The official state news agency said “armed terrorist groups”
attacked police roadblocks in Homs and fired mortar bombs at the city, with
three falling on the Homs oil refinery, one of two in the country. It gave
no details of any damage.
“Assad is seeing the civilised world turn against him and he thinks he
will win if he uses more brutal force before the world could act,” said
Catherine al Talli, senior member of the opposition National Council.
Yesterday he Syrian interior ministry pledged to press on with the offensive
against the “terrorist gangs” in Homs.
“Operations to hunt down terrorist groups will continue until security
and order are re-established in all neighbourhoods of Homs and its environs
and until we overcome all armed persons terrorising citizens,” said a
statement.
As Mr Lavrov met the president in Damascus, where he was greeted by friendly
crowds waving the Syrian and Russian national flags yesterday, more shells
and mortars were fired into Homs. “There are about four blasts every
five minutes,” said Abu Rami, an opposition activist in the city. “The
humanitarian situation is dire. No one can move around.”
Mr Lavrov met the president in Damascus, where he was greeted by friendly
crowds waving the Syrian and Russian national flags[Photo: EPA]
Mr Lavrov arrived in Damascus buoyed by Russia’s decision to join China in
vetoing a proposed United Nations resolution that would have urged Mr Assad
to step down.
The Kremlin believes this move will aid the cause of peace by maximising
Russian influence in Syria. After meeting the president, Mr Lavrov said: “We
confirm our readiness to fully support an early exit from the crisis on the
basis of the position set out in the Arab League initiative. In particular,
the Syrian president assured us that he is fully committed to the cessation
of violence.”
At the start of their meeting Mr Lavrov turned towards Mr Assad and said: “Every
leader of every country must be aware of his share of responsibility. You
are aware of yours.” RIA Novosti, a state news agency, reported that Mr
Assad replied that Syria “does not want to be a burden” on a
friendly Russia.
However, Mr Lavrov gave no sign that Mr Assad had offered any new and specific
commitments. The promise to end the bloodshed has been made before, even as
the death toll has climbed towards 6,000 since the conflict began 11 months
ago.
Mr Assad has previously offered a new constitution that could pave the way for
national elections, which he restated yesterday. Last month, he said that a
referendum on this document could be held in March. But the president’s
opponents do not trust him to deliver, nor do they expect him to jeopardise
his position by allowing free elections.
The foreign minister was accompanied to Damascus by Mikhail Fradkov, head of
the SVR, the Russian foreign intelligence service. His presence was probably
an act of protocol, said Andrei Soldatov, an expert on Russian intelligence,
noting that Moscow has sent spy chiefs to allies in trouble as a sign of
moral support in the past.
Russia is the biggest supplier of weapons to Mr Assad’s armed forces, while
its warships also use the Syrian port of Tartous. This facility gives the
Kremlin its only naval presence in the Mediterranean and its sole military
base outside the former Soviet Union.
A Downing Street spokesman said that William Hague, the Foreign Secretary,
would soon be in touch with Mr Lavrov. “We have seen the reports of
Lavrov’s visit. Our position hasn’t changed. We will continue to judge the
Syrian regime by its actions, not its words,” she said. Mr Assad’s
pledges “stand in stark contrast” to the “savage attempt to
crush the peaceful protest in Homs”, she added.
The violence has caused worldwide revulsion against the Syrian regime. But
evidence has emerged showing the president was given detailed advice on how
to handle an interview with ABC, the US television station, in December.
Emails released by the international hacker group Anonymous shows that a press
attaché from the Syrian delegation to the United Nations told Mr Assad that
the “American psyche can be easily manipulated when they hear that
there are ‘mistakes’ done and now we are ‘fixing it’.”
She urged the president to mention American anti-capitalist protests on Wall
Street “and the way the demonstrations have been suppressed by
policemen, police dogs and beatings”. In the event, Mr Assad gave the
interview and then complained afterwards that the footage had been edited to
misrepresent his views.
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