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Hicham Hassan, ICRC: "Tens of thousands are in need of medical care because they were wounded"
Fresh attempts to bring two wounded Western journalists to safety from the Syrian city of Homs have failed, the Red Cross says.
Vehicles from the Syrian Red Crescent reached the besieged suburb of Baba Amr, but left without them.
Frenchwoman Edith Bouvier apparently would not board the vehicles and other evacuees stayed behind in solidarity.
Earlier, Syrian forces launched fresh attacks on a number of towns, reports say, with dozens more people killed.
The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), an activists' group which organises and documents protests, said a total of 125 people had died across Syria, many of them in a single incident at a checkpoint in Homs - although there has been no independent verification of this.
At the scene
The bombardment has started in Binnish, which for the past week has been under the control of the opposition. The Free Syrian Army and the Syrian Liberation Army are based in this town. We know that a government offensive has been taking place in the nearby city of Idlib. The townspeople have become increasingly concerned that the troops would then turn their attention to Binnish. That is what has happened this morning.
We were woken to the sound of artillery bombardment. There is gunfire in the distance. We believe they are using anti-aircraft weapons against the town, and also setting up mortar positions. This is a town of about 40,000 people and although there are militiamen belonging to the Free Syrian Army and other groups, this has not been a military situation. From what we can tell, the bombardment is entirely random and is not targeting specific individuals. This seems to be part of a wider government offensive that is taking place in the north of the country, to regain control of opposition areas.
The LCC also said 15 people died in the Idlib area, nine in the Aleppo area, and several in the suburbs of Damascus.
Several towns in Idlib came under army assault for the first time, reports said.
BBC correspondent Ian Pannell, who is in northern Syria, says troops fired artillery, mortars and anti-aircraft guns at Binnish and other towns on Monday.
Binnish has been under the control of the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian Liberation Army for the past week.
Our correspondent says the bombardment, which began in the early morning, appeared to be entirely random, hitting civilian areas rather than targeting rebel positions.
The towns of Sarmin, Maarat al-Numan and Binnish were also hit, reports said, along with the town of Qusayr, nine miles (15km) outside Homs.
As the crackdown intensified, the European Union imposed further sanctions on Syria.
They include:
- a freeze on the European-held assets of the Syrian central bank
- travel bans on seven close associates of President Bashar al-Assad
- a ban on cargo flights from Syria into the EU
- restrictions on the trade in gold and precious metals
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague welcomed the fresh sanctions.
"We will continue working closely with our EU partners to support the Arab League and its plan to end the violence in Syria and bring about a Syrian-led transition to a peaceful and more open political system," he said.
Qatar's Prime Minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, said the international community should do "whatever necessary" to help the Syrian opposition, "including giving them weapons to defend themselves".
"I think they're right to defend themselves with weapons and I think we should help these people by all means," he added.
Broken legThe International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has continued efforts to move injured people, including the two Western journalists, out of Baba Amr.
Reports on Monday evening said the Syrian Red Crescent had managed to regain access to the area but officials later confirmed they had left without the journalists. Three Syrians were moved to safety.
Abo Emad, a Syrian opposition activist: "We're running out of supplies. We will be without supplies in two days"
Ms Bouvier, who has a badly broken leg, and British photographer Paul Conroy were both wounded in an attack on Wednesday which claimed the lives of American journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.
It had been hoped that the bodies of the two dead journalists would be brought out during the same mission, but this also failed.
State television has meanwhile announced the results of a referendum on a new constitution, which was dismissed by opposition activists and the West as a sham.
The poll showed around 89% support for the proposal, the report said, on a turnout of just over 57%.
28 Feb, 2012
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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-17182279
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