Syrian children ‘scarred for life’

The UN’s top human rights official urged nations yesterday to save Syria’s embattled and dying children. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says many Syrian children "will be scarred for life" at the hands of their government, army or neighbors. She called on the world to prevent another slaughter like that of 8,000 men in July 1995 by Serb forces who overran the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica, in what became Europe’s worst massacre since the Second World War. "It should not take something as drastic as Srebrenica to shake the world into taking serious action to stop this type of conflict," Pillay said in criticizing the lack of action by the international community because the UN Security Council is blocked by Syrian allies and permanent members Russia and China. She spoke at a news conference in Geneva as anti-regime activists said government airstrikes in northern Syria killed at least 43 people and leveled buildings, forcing residents to search mounds of rubble for bodies trapped underneath. The strikes hit at least five towns in Idlib and Aleppo provinces on Wednesday and yesterday. Also yesterday, Syrian fighters said they launched a "final assault" on Wadi Deif army base in northwestern Syria that is a key depot for tanks and fuel supplies. Opposition forces said three tanks were destroyed and at least six soldiers had surrendered. Joint UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has called on the Syrian government to take the first step in observing a truce during the four-day Eid Al-Adha holiday. In Amman, he said yesterday the temporary truce could be a first step in helping Syrians "to resolve their problems and to rebuild a new Syria as aspired for by its people." Arab News