As Talks Flop, Violence Heats Up in Syria
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creisinger/Thinkstock(LONDON) — While delegations from Syria and opposition groups make little progress in Geneva, a human rights group says the killing in the ongoing war is reaching record levels.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which sides with the rebels, claimed Wednesday that refugees are flooding into Lebanon to escape the onslaught of government war planes while so-called “barrel bombs” are being dropped on population centers in the northern city of Aleppo.
It’s estimated that up to 130,000 people have died since President Bashar al-Assad’s military began cracking down on opposition groups in March 2011 while millions more have been uprooted by the violence.
As the third day of the second round of peace talks wrapped up, there was no sign that either side was willing to give in to each other’s demands.
The opposition wants a transitional government in place without Assad in charge while Damascus harps on combating what it views as terrorism before agreeing to any other concessions.
Sensing that nothing is getting done, United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has asked that Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman from the U.S. and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov join in the talks Thursday.
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