Syria airforce bombs cities, truce "practically over"

[Gerald]

(Reuters) - Syrian jets bombarded Sunni Muslim regions in Damascus and across the country on Sunday, activists said, as President Bashar al-Assad kept up air strikes against rebels despite a U.N.-brokered truce that now appears to be in tatters.

"The ceasefire is practically over. Damascus has been under brutal air raids since day one and hundreds of people have been arrested," said veteran opposition campaigner Fawaz Tello.

"Assad has been trying to use the truce to seize back control of areas of Damascus," said Tello, who is well connected with rebels.

Speaking from Berlin, Tello said Sunni districts in the city of Homs, 140 km (90 miles) north of Damascus, and surrounding countryside came under Syrian army shelling on Sunday.

Both sides in the 19-month-old conflict have violated the ceasefire intended to mark the Muslim religious holiday of Eid al-Adha. The truce, brokered by international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, was supposed to come into effect on Friday, the first day of the four-day holiday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...88J0X720121028


Note: Sun Oct 28, 2012 12:49pm EDT