UN-ARAB LEAGUE envoy Kofi Annan is “gravely concerned” about an escalation in fighting between the Syrian army and rebels, his spokesman said yesterday.
Ahmad Fawzi said Mr Annan, who laid down a six-point plan to end the conflict, cited shelling in Homs and the reported use of helicopters, tanks and mortars in the mountain town of al-Haffa in Latakia province.
Mr Fawzi said there were “indications that a large number of civilians” were trapped in these towns.
He said Mr Annan demanded that civilians were not harmed and called for immediate access for UN monitors to al-Haffa.
Mr Annan’s concerns were expressed as UN monitors watched from the roof of their headquarters in Homs as the Syrian army directed mortar fire at targets in the old city identified by surveillance drones flying overhead.
BBC correspondent Paul Danahar, also on the roof, said mortars were landing “every couple of minutes” over a period of half an hour. Earlier there had been occasional mortars and sporadic gunfire directed at a specific location.
In Danahar’s view, the attack was a “strictly military operation” in contrast to the recent assaults on the hamlet of Qubair and Houleh-area villages by progovernment shabbiha militiamen.
Helicopters were also reported over the rebel-held town of Rastan, near Homs.
