The UN Security Council is split over whether to refer reports of war crimes in Syria to the International Criminal Court, with some members arguing that such a move would encourage President Bashar Assad’s regime to dig in and resist to the end in a conflict that has claimed at least 60,000 lives.
Killer of NY firefighters wanted to burn neighborhood
The ex-convict who lured two firefighters to their deaths in a blaze of gunfire left a typewritten note saying he wanted to burn down his New York state neighbourhood and “do what I like doing best, killing people,” police said on Tuesday.
Charbel: Syrian refugees committing crimes in Lebanon
Lebanon Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told Al-Jadeed television on Friday that a number of Syrian refugees were committing robberies and muggings to provide for their livelihood.
Liberia’s Charles Taylor, 64 gets 50 years in jail
Liberia’s former president, Charles Taylor, has been sentenced to 50 years in jail for being “in a class of his own” when committing war crimes during the long-running civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone.
West pessimistic over U.N. Syria peace plan, no “Plan B”
As corpses pile up in Syrian morgues, U.S. and European diplomats are growing increasingly skeptical that a U.N.-backed peace plan has a chance of ending more than a year of violence that has brought Syria to the brink of civil war.
Syrian expats fear infiltration by Assad agents
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia- Amid mixed feelings of worry, anxiety and sadness, members of the Syrian community in the Kingdom are closely following news from home about their relatives who take part in the revolution against President Bashar Assad and those who have deserted the regular army to join the Syria Free Army (SFA).
Syrians questioning whether armed revolt works
BEIRUT – The woman wearing a blood-red dress stood in the middle of a busy intersection outside Syria’s parliament holding up a red banner: “Stop the killing, we want to build a homeland for all Syrians.” Drivers tooted their horns and supporters clapped.
Syrian forces executing and burning residents of Idlib, report
Syrian forces are executing scores of suspected opposition sympathisers in the northern city of Idlib, often burning their bodies in piles or torching them in their homes then sending family members to find them, witnesses say.
Calls for investigation of Gaddafi war crimes in Libya
On Saturday, Sky’s chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay uncovered evidence of a mass killing, which witnesses said had been carried out days before by pro-Gaddafi forces. “Their skeletons were still smouldering. One of the bodies appeared to be lying on a chair; he or she had died while resting.”