UN’s Ban slams Syria over killings

VIENNA / DAMASCUS

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Syrian authorities to stop killing civilians and said potential crimes against humanity were taking place in the country, as more killings and arrests of civilians reported yesterday.

“We see neighborhoods shelled indiscriminately, hospitals used as torture centers, children as young as 10 years old killed and abused. We see almost a certain crimes against humanity,” Ban told reporters yesterday. Syrian forces attacked the southern Syrian city of Daraa yesterday, carrying out arrests and shooting randomly in the city, activists said.

Four people were killed yesterday in clashes in Daraa, a monitoring group said. The push into Daraa follows sieges on the rebellious cities of Homs and Hama. “The neighborhood of Baba Amr is once again being shelled this morning,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. “The shelling also targeted the neighborhoods of Inshaat and Khaldiyeh,” it added. Three security force members were also killed. In Damascus, security forces deployed in Qabun, on the northeastern outskirts of the capital, and were conducting search operations, the Observatory said. Also, Syrian forces arrested leading human rights activist Mazen Darwich and several other activists yesterday after breaking into Darwich’s office in central Damascus.