Syria confirms kidnapping of Iranian pilgrims by a 'terrorist group'

The Syrian government confirmed Saturday the kidnapping of 48 Iranian pilgrims in Damascus by an "armed terrorist group", official sources told Efe, who claimed that the authorities "have launched an investigation." Witnesses said the kidnapping Efe that a tour bus with Iranian pilgrims on board was hijacked on the fifth ring road of the capital, up to the Damascus international airport. No group has so far assumed responsibility for the capture of the hostages. According to Iranian news agency Fars, the pilgrims, who finished a tour of Syria's Shiite religious centers, were abducted at 11:00 local time (08:00 GMT) when the bus was heading to airport, where the pilgrims had to take a flight back to Iran. Some Iranian Shiite pilgrims 700 000 each year to the temple dedicated to Damascus Sayida Zeinab, the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad. The seven remaining hostages are an Iranian company technicians working at a power plant near the central city of Homs Syria, and they have been released five, the last on July 29, so we have two held their captors. In addition, eleven others are still detained Lebanese Shiite pilgrims, who were kidnapped on 22 May in the Syrian province of Aleppo when returning from a pilgrimage in Iran, the largest international ally of the regime in Damascus.

TV presenter killed

Meanwhile, an armed group announced that it executed a Syrian television presenter after being kidnapped on day 19 in a village in the suburbs of Damascus, said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Centre identified the journalist as Mohamed al Said, adding he was kidnapped in the city of Yedida Artuz. Moreover, the opposition group Local Coordination Committees reported that forces loyal to the Syrian regime today continued its bombing the neighborhood of Al Tadamun, south of Damascus. "I myself, with two companions, was injured slightly by the bursting of a shell fired by troops. Attacks are launched with helicopters and artillery," he told activist Abu Qais the Shami. It also revealed that the neighborhood is almost empty because of about 300 thousand inhabitants there are only a thousand, who have remained to protect homes. "Most fled to Lebanon and the Syrian provinces of Idleb and Deraa. Who is going to live under this constant bombardment? Attacks At last Tadamun and 18 days," he said.

The bombing of Aleppo only a prelude

For its part, Agence France Press reports that the battle of Aleppo has not started yet and bombings are merely preparations, said on Saturday a major AFP responsible for security in the region. "The battle of Aleppo has not started, what is happening now is just the entrance," he said. "The main course will come later," he added. He said that military reinforcements would arrive and there were at least 20,000 soldiers in the field. "On the other side are also sending reinforcements," he said. According to the same source, about 300 rebel fighters left in Friday night Salahedin neighborhood, for the attempted takeover of the local headquarters of state television. "The battle lasted several hours and then the helicopters went into action and the rebels fled, leaving behind many dead bodies," said the Syrian official quoted by AFP. Meanwhile, Colonel Abdel Jabar Oqaidi, the military command of the Syrian Army Free (ESL, formed by defectors from the army), told AFP that government troops on Saturday underwent several districts of Aleppo to intense bombing. "It's the most violent bombing Salahedin since the beginning of this battle, but government troops have made progress," said rebel commander. The armed rebels opened on July 20 a new front in the Syrian conflict to take place in Aleppo, northern Syria metropolis and economic heart of that claim now control half.

Red Cross calls for respect for civilians

Meanwhile, alarmed by the escalation of civil war in Syria, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called on government forces and rebels careful in choosing their goals and methods of warfare in densely populated as Aleppo, Homs and Damascus. "The attacks must be directed only against military objectives and civilians or never civil structures such as houses, schools or places of worship," the agency said in a statement issued from its headquarters in Geneva. The note cites these three cities as places where you should pay particular attention to methods of warfare chosen the least possible impact to the public and allow residents to move freely to safe areas. The ICRC said that despite the intensity of the battles that pit government forces and other groups loyal to the regime of Bashar al-Asad with the rebels, is determined to continue their work in the field to address the growing humanitarian needs. The organization urged the warring parties to respect the "rules and principles of international humanitarian law, commonly known as the laws of war." Also reported that its delegates have already submitted their concerns directly to the Syrian Government and representatives of rebel groups. "Now we are making this request publicly to get the message without delay to the parties that face on the ground," he said. The ICRC acts as custodian and guarantor of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and its additional protocols, which contain the main international standards aimed at limiting the barbarity of war. It also protects people who do not participate in hostilities (civilians, medical personnel, aid workers) and those who can no longer participating in combat (wounded, sick, shipwrecked and prisoners of war). It is estimated that seventeen months of conflict, more than 12 000 people have died in Syria, while civilians who need humanitarian aid are more than 1.5 million.