Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Aerospace & Defense
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Campaign Polling
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
David Cay Johnston
Bethany McLean
Anatole Kaletsky
Reihan Salam
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Jack & Suzy Welch
Frederick Kempe
Christopher Papagianis
Mark Leonard
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (0)
Slideshow
Full Focus
Editor's choice
Our best photos from the last 24 hours. Full Article
Images of August
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Exclusive: Western report - Iran ships arms, personnel to Syria via Iraq
19 Sep 2012
Samsung to add iPhone 5 to U.S. lawsuits vs Apple
9:27am EDT
Madoff victims to receive $2.48 billion payout
10:15am EDT
Factory, jobless claims reports signal weakness
12:50pm EDT
Pawlenty to leave Romney campaign, head bank lobbying group
12:39pm EDT
Discussed
270
New video shows Romney saying Palestinians don’t want peace
119
Romney derides Obama supporters in hidden camera speech
98
Ryan, taking hard line, vows to repeal Obama healthcare law
Sponsored Links
Pictures
Reuters Photojournalism
Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption
World Record attempts
A look at the Guinness World Record attempts that have been made. Slideshow
Battle for Syria
The battle for Syria's biggest city, Aleppo. Slideshow
Syrian air strike kills at least 54: activists
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Iraq denies airspace used by Iran to ship arms to Syria
9:27am EDT
Exclusive: Western report - Iran ships arms, personnel to Syria via Iraq
6:35am EDT
Syrian rebels extend grip on Turkish border
Wed, Sep 19 2012
Kurdish violence undermines Turkey's stance on Syria
Wed, Sep 19 2012
Syrian rebels battle Assad forces near Turkish border
Wed, Sep 19 2012
Analysis & Opinion
Guestview – Prophet Mohammad endured personal insults without retaliating – grand mufti
Syrian women face growing abuses, says opposition activist
Related Topics
World »
Syria »
Middle East Turmoil »
1 of 8. Smoke rises above Aleppo after a heavy jet strike on the city September 19,2012.
Credit: Reuters/Zain Karam
By Erika Solomon and Oliver Holmes
BEIRUT |
Thu Sep 20, 2012 12:11pm EDT
BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 54 people were killed when a Syrian air strike hit a fuel station in the northern province of al-Raqqa on Thursday, a British-based violence watchdog said, an area of heavy fighting between government and rebel forces.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists across Syria reporting on government violence during the 18-month-old revolt, cited an activist in the region saying that more than 110 people were dead or wounded.
A video published by activists, said to be from al-Raqqa, showed black clouds of smoke rising from the wreckage of the petrol station as bewildered residents examined the scene following the attack by a Syrian air force jet.
It came a day after insurgents seized a border crossing with Turkey some 30 km (18 miles) away on the northern fringes of al-Raqqa province, consolidating their grip on a frontier through which they ferry arms for battle.
It was impossible to verify the authenticity of the video, and most foreign journalists are barred entry into Syria, making varying accounts of events difficult to confirm.
President Bashar al-Assad has used helicopters and fighter jets to fire at and bomb parts of the country where insurgents have been operating, including residential districts of the capital and Syria's main cities.
Assad's forces have targeted petrol stations in rural towns and villages and along main roads to deprive rebels of fuel. Civilians have set up smaller, discreet fuel outlets.
Activists say more than 27,000 people have been killed in a conflict that began with peaceful street protests and mushroomed into civil war after Assad tried military force to stamp out the unrest. Last month was the bloodiest yet.
Earlier on Thursday, Syria's information ministry said that a Syrian military helicopter that crashed near the capital had clipped the tail of a Syrian Arab Airlines passenger plane, but the 200 people on board escaped unharmed.
"The helicopter struck the tail of the plane ... The control tower at Damascus airport confirmed that the plane landed safely at Damascus airport and all 200 passengers are in good health," a statement published on the state news channel Syria TV said.
REBELLIOUS DAMASCUS DISTRICT RAIDED
On the ground, security forces surrounded and raided a rebellious southern district of Damascus, arresting more than 100 people, and activists said several others were shot dead.
An opposition activist called Abu Salam, who lives in the Yarmouk district where rebels have been hiding out in recent days, told Reuters that many residents were trapped.
He said tanks and soldiers had sealed all the entrances and hundreds of soldiers were searching the area on foot and on trucks mounted with heavy machineguns.
"We are hiding in our homes. I am afraid to leave the house so I am sitting here waiting to see if they reach my street, if I will be arrested or shot dead," he said, adding that at least three people, two men and a young women, were shot dead when soldiers saw them running out of a park on Thursday morning.
He said another five rebels found hiding were executed.
A resident who toured Yarmouk a day earlier said rebel fighters, who have been flushed out of many surrounding districts, had moved into a southern section of the district and come under intense army bombardment overnight.
Assad has long maintained that foreign-backed militants have been leading the revolt, which started with peaceful protests but turned violent as the army fired on demonstrations and rounded up thousands.
State media said on Thursday that soldiers had killed 100 Afghan "terrorists" in the northern city of Aleppo. Rebels in the area said that report was government propaganda, saying that the district of Bustan al-Qasr -- where the attack supposedly took place -- has not been entered by Assad's troops.
DIVIDED WORLD CANNOT HALT VIOLENCE
Global and regional powers have failed to halt the violence. Iran and Russia have backed Assad while the United States and European allies want him toppled but shrunk from intervening in a conflict steeped in ethnic and sectarian rivalries that could spill over Syria's borders and inflame the wider Middle East.
Iraq denied on Thursday a Western intelligence report that said Iranian aircraft and trucks had transported weapons and military personnel through Iraq to Syria to help Assad corral the uprising and Belarus denied trying to sell weapons to Syria.
"Iraq has confirmed that it will never be involved or helping or allowing any shipment via its air space or land to Syria," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters.
The allegation, reported by Reuters on Wednesday, said arms transfers were organized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.
Syria's upheaval is a political headache for Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim-led government. Close to Assad's ally, Shi'ite Iran, Baghdad has resisted joining Western and Gulf Arab calls for the authoritarian leader, whose family has ruled for 42 years, to bow out while also calling for a reform process in Syria.
Baghdad's core concern is that a precipitous fall of Assad would fracture Syria along sectarian lines and yield a hostile, hardline Sunni Muslim regime that could stir up Iraq's combustible Sunni-Shi'ite communal mix.
Belarus denied trying to sell weapons to Syria and violating a U.N. Security Council resolution after the United States imposed sanctions on a Belarusian state-owned firm.
"All the accusations of the American side... have no basis and are untrue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Savinykh said after the United States imposed sanctions on a Belarusian state-owned firm.
The Syrian rebels are being armed by Sunni Muslim states like Saudi Arabia and receive other supplies and diplomatic support from the Western powers and Turkey.
(Additional reporting by Ayat Basma and Dominic Evans in Beirut, Aseel Kami in Baghdad and Andrei Makhovsky in Minsk; Writing by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
World
Syria
Middle East Turmoil
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.