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UN aid team to visit Syria

Xinhua, March 16, 2012

• As the political crisis in Syria saw its one-year anniversary on Thursday, the worsening humanitarian situation in the Middle East country attracted world attention.

  Government supporters attend a rally on Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, March 15, 2012. Tens of thousands of pro-government Syrians dashed through streets and main squares nationwide to stage rallies in support of embattled President Bashar al-Assad on March 15, 2012. [Xinhua]

  A joint team of Syrian, the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) technical staff will start visiting besieged Syrian towns this weekend, while neighboring Turkey is considering establishing a buffer zone along the border to shelter Syrian refugees.

  The Syrian authorities have now informed UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos that a government-led mission will visit the governorates of Homs, Hama, Tartous, Lattakia, Aleppo, Dayr Az Zor, Rural Damascus and Deraa, starting this weekend.

  A number of UN and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) technical staff will accompany the mission and take the opportunity to gather information on the overall humanitarian situation and observe first-hand the conditions in various towns and cities, Amos said in a statement on Thursday.

  "As intense fighting continues in Syria, and people are caught up in the violence, it is increasingly vital that humanitarian organizations have unhindered access to identify urgent needs and provide emergency care and basic supplies. There is no time to waste," said Amos, who is also UN emergency relief coordinator.

  Earlier on Thursday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for the international community as well as the parties in Syria to support the efforts of Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League joint special envoy to the troubled country.

  He urged the Syrian government and opposition to cooperate with the efforts of the joint special envoy, and appealed to the international community to offer its determined and unified support to stop the bloodshed and find a political solution "that responds to the will of the Syrian people and ensures respect for their fundamental rights."

  Annan, Ban's predecessor in the position of secretary-general, was appointed joint special envoy to Syria on Feb. 23, after a UN General Assembly resolution recommended the establishment of such a position to try and bring a peaceful end to the ongoing crisis.

  Annan is due to brief the UN Security Council on the situation in Syria via videoconference from Geneva on Friday.

  Also on Thursday, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) received humanitarian aid from Iran.

  The SARC director Marwan Abdullah was quoted by the state-run news agency SANA as saying that the organization's branches will distribute the aid supplies to all those in need, expressing appreciation to the Iranian Red Crescent Organization and the Iranian people.

  This is the first shipment of its kind sent from Iran and other shipments are to follow in the coming days, Abdulla added.

  Earlier this week, the Syrian Red Crescent and representatives from the International Red Cross received more than 78 tons of relief aid donated by Russia.

  The Syrian foreign ministry reiterated Wednesday that Syria is ready and open to any humanitarian effort so long as it is offered with complete coordination with the authorities.

  On Syrian refugees, Turkey said it may establish a buffer zone along the Turkish-Syrian border to cope with the exodus of Syrian refugees.

  "We are looking at what can be done in the future, including a buffer zone," Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said Thursday in a televised interview.

  "Turkey is studying its strategy with all dimensions," Atalay said.

  Around 1,000 Syrian refugees fled to Turkey in the last 24 hours, rising the total tally to 14,700, Turkey's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Selcuk Unal said at a press conference Thursday morning.

  About 14,200 of those Syrian refugees were staying in the camps of southeastern Turkey's Hatay city near the border with Syria, and 500 Syrians who were sheltered in Reyhanli town of Hatay are transferred to a new camp in Gaziantep province, Unal said.

  A defecting general was also among the latest wave of Syrian refugees, Unal said, "With the Syrian general arrived yesterday, (the number of) Syrian generals that stayed in Turkey increased to seven."

  "We are getting prepared for any scenario, with the expectation that the number (of Syrian refugees) will further rise," Unal added.

  Another development on Syria is that French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe warned Thursday the risk of a civil war if international community would provide the Syrian opposition with weapons.

  "The Syrian people are deeply divided and if we give weapons to a certain fraction of the opposition in Syria, we will organize a civil war between Christians, Alawites, Sunnis and Shiites. It could be a disaster even greater than what exists today," Juppe told France Culture radio.

  The Syrian government has accused some Arab and Western countries of providing weapons and financial support to the armed groups in Syria.

  On the same day, Bahrain joined the team of countries that have shut down embassies in Damascus as its foreign ministry announced the shut-down of its embassy in the Syrian capital.

  "Bahrain has decided to shut down its embassy in Damascus and withdraw all its diplomatic staff due to the worsening security condition", the ministry announced.

  In a statement, the ministry called upon Bahraini citizens in Syria to leave the unrest-torn country immediately.

  The announcement was regarded as part of the Gulf state's pressure against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries made the decision last month to withdraw their ambassadors in Damascus.

  The GCC currently consists of six member countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

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