The group of boys, consisting of boys aged 12-16 stared at the school walls blankly for years. Wondering why it was never renovated. Why it looked the same as it did more than 40 years ago. Did they not have the right to redecorate their school? They decided it was time to change the way the wall looked. With their graffiti and markers they wrote slogans they had learnt from children in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. They demanded change.

With that they all laughed nervously at their bravery and returned home feeling somehow liberated; a feeling children only dreamed they had in Syria. Little did they know they had to pay for that sensation. When the sun went down and sleep paralyzed all sensations, heavy footsteps were heard near the old school walls. Every single boy who saw, drew or even supported the slogans on the wall was awoken violently that night. The boys were dragged out of their homes by large armed men wearing uniforms. Their parents screamed and shoved the armed men helplessly. They were paying the price for years of silence.

Unable to understand their crime the boys cried as they were put together in small pickups and jeeps. They were dragged to small humid cells and beaten by large men. A kick in the rib for contemplating change; a blow in the face for asking for change; and a crack in the spine for feeling liberated. They sat in their cells for weeks, beaten and humiliated on a daily basis. As a final warning, their nails were yanked out of their fingers to teach them to never draw on the old wall.

Whoever survived the torture was later returned home, swollen and crushed. The dead were lucky to have never lived life to see the fate of the Syrian children in the future.

Family members and friends of the young boys swarmed the streets of the town of Daraa demanding justice be brought to those who tortured and killed their children. No one listened to them. Friends of friends and passerby’s later joined the angry group, forming a small demonstration. No one listened to their demands. The demonstration grew as more people were familiar with the recent events. There was finally a response. Live bullets and tear gas forced the crowds to split up the demonstrations temporarily. The demonstrations grew larger as angry crowds demanded for nothing but change and were not receiving it. The response was once again bullets and tear gas, however this time the bullets hit flesh. As more blood was spilt, the crowds grew more furious and larger.

The word about the demonstrations reached other provinces like Homs, Douma, Idlib and Damascus suburbs. Touched by the bravery of the little boys in Daraa, more little boys followed their example and drew on old walls. Demonstrations grew larger, demands progressed. People no longer wanted change and reformations; they wanted the complete removal of the old. They wanted Bashar Al Assad and his government to resign. While his grip tightened on his throne, more blood was spilt in demonstrations and more people grew aware of the situation.

The question is, what happened to the children? Did the government learn from their mistakes? Did they stop child torture and imprisonment? On the contrary, after the boys in Daraa, Hamza alkhateeb fell victim to their torture. His genitals mutilated, his body bruised from blows, arms dented with bullet holes and burns from cigarettes, and bones crushed. Him and thousands of children in Syria are paying the price for desiring what the boys in Daraa desired.

This revolution was ignited by the children, carried out by the children, and will be extinguished by the children.

On Saturday, blankets, mattresses and household items supplied by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) were distributed to 200 families displaced from the suburb of Al Wa’er to Homs. Yesterday, a UNHCR truck carrying relief items for 10,000 people arrived in Al Wa’er itself.

UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards told reporters in Geneva that Al Wa’er is home to an estimated 400,000 people, half of whom have been displaced from other areas of Homs governorate – mainly Baba Amer and the old city of Homs.

“Heavy clashes between Government and opposition forces in Al Wa’er broke out on May 16th and were interrupted by a two-day lull that started on Saturday,” he stated. “Conflict has since resumed. In the course of the recent fighting, at least five buildings hosting hundreds of internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been seriously damaged.”

Edwards said that in one, Alarabaeen Tower, seven members of a single family were killed during mortar attacks. At least seven other people were killed in separate incidents, and UNHCR knows of 32 people having been injured.

The fighting has displaced around 5,000 people, with 250 families having fled to other parts of the city of Homs, where they are staying with relatives. Many of these people have been displaced multiple times. Other displaced people crossed into Lebanon last week.

In addition to trying to deliver additional humanitarian relief to the affected population in and around Al Wa’er, UNHCR is also prepositioning relief items in other areas of Homs itself as a contingency measure for the area.

“UNHCR once again calls on all parties to safeguard the safety and security of the civilian population affected by the conflict. We also reiterate our call for all parties to the conflict to guarantee unhindered access for all humanitarian actors, UNHCR included,” said Edwards.

Since March 2011, fighting between the Syrian Government and opposition forces seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad has killed more than 70,000 people, and left 6.8 million people in need. In addition, the UN estimates that some 1.5 million Syrians have fled their country to escape conflict.

UNHCR continues to be concerned about reported impediments in the way of people seeking to cross borders as refugees. Andrew Harper, the UN representative in Jordan, reported today that some 230 refugees had arrived at Za’atari camp on Monday, with similar numbers at the weekend.

However, crossings are still significantly down from the levels of two weeks ago, according to the agency, which added that recent problems with border crossings have also been reported along the Syria-Iraq border.

Edwards stressed that it remains essential that civilians seeking to flee insecurity, whether they are IDPs or refugees, have safe passage to areas that are outside of harm’s way.

Citing the escalating bloodshed and suffering in Syria, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, yesterday urged the international community to put an end to what has become “an intolerable affront to the human conscience.”

Addressing the 23rd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Ms. Pillay emphasized that countries cannot continue to ignore the plea of civilians who are in dire need of protection and assistance.

“A humanitarian, political and social disaster is already upon us, and what looms is truly a nightmare,” she said. “Civilians bear the brunt of this crisis in which human rights violations have reached horrific dimensions. Confronted with the flagrant disregard of international law and human life on every side, I feel utter dismay.”

The Council is scheduled to discuss the situation in Syria tomorrow and consider a related draft resolution.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is distributing ready-to-eat food rations and high-energy biscuits to families who were forced to flee Baniyas and surrounding villages on Syria’s Mediterranean coast to Tartous city.

WFP aims to distribute supplied to more than 10,000 people – mainly women and children – in gathering points and shelters in communities such as Zamrin, Breej and Mrah, near Tartous city. Following the emergency ration, families will be given WFP’s regular food basket which includes rice, bulgur, sugar, pasta, vegetable oil and lentils.

According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), images of piles of bloodied and burned bodies, including of small children and babies, have been emerging – allegedly taken after Government forces and militia overran al-Baida and other parts of Banias last week.

WFP warned that ongoing classes on the main route between Tartous and the capital, Damascus, would significantly disrupt the movement of WFP cargo to the agency’s warehouse in the capital city. This poses a great risk as more than 60 per cent of all food stored in that warehouse – enough for one million people – arrived from Tartous Port through the Damascus-Homs highway, which was witnessing heavy fighting.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is supplying hygiene and children’s clothing to the displaced families through the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. In a briefing to reporters in Geneva, UNICEF spokesperson Marixie Mercado said three trucks were also heading from Damascus to Tartous to distribute hygiene kits, clothing and high energy biscuits.

Ms. Mercado also drew attention an increasing number of damaged or destroyed schools in the country. According to the ministry of education, there are now over 2,960 damaged and destroyed schools out of a total of over 22,000 schools in Syria. Some 1,400 schools are being used as shelters, and 222 education staff had been killed.

She added that next week UNICEF will deliver 10 prefabricated schools to Adra in rural Damascus and one school in Damascus, the first installment of a total of 104 pre-fabricated schools provided to meet the huge demand for safe placed to learn across the country.

With the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and other UN agencies, UNICEF brought to Aleppo four trucks filled with 89 medical kits, 2,000 family hygiene kits and 2 resuscitation kits along with 1,000 towels, 48 boxes of soap, summer clothing and school supplies.

“The situation is extremely difficult because of the conflict,” said Ettie Higgins, Deputy Representative, UNICEF Syria, after returning to Damascus from Aleppo on Thursday. “But UNICEF continues to work around the clock and with partners to ensure that children, no matter where they are, and who live in the most difficult and horrendous circumstances, are reached with life-saving support.”

In a separate mission, nine trucks filled with emergency medical supplies, food, 1,000 family hygiene and 500 baby kits, along with some 160 school-in-a box supplies and 900 bottles of shampoo arrived in Talbiseh, benefiting over 55,000 people.

“I will never forget how happy children were when they saw the trucks of supplies arriving, and especially when they first saw the educational materials for them,” said Abdul Kadir Musse, Chief of the UNICEF Homs Field Office, noting that mothers had been particularly pleased to see the medicine for their children.

Living conditions inside Syria, especially in the hardest hit areas, have become increasingly desperate. Children continue to bear the brunt of the crisis, as violence and the level of destruction escalate. Many hospitals, schools and homes have been destroyed, more than 4 million people have been internally displaced, half of them children, with many living in over-crowded and unsanitary conditions.

Despite obstacles on the ground and funding shortages, UNICEF and partners continue to deliver assistance for the children inside Syria and the over 600,000 more who have fled to neighbouring countries.

The UNHCR team, visited Homs (Syria) this week and said many people were staying in unheated communal shelters, and they also reported that half of the city’s hospitals were not functional and there were severe shortages of basic supplies ranging from medicine to blankets, winter clothes and children’s shoes.

The team, led by UNHCR Representative in Syria Tarik Kurdi, also said the agency’s partner, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), had registered 250,000 displaced people in and around the city.

“During their mission, the team met SARC counterparts and briefed local officials on UNHCR’s operations in the area, including the provision of non-food aid supplies,” UNHCR spokesperson, Melissa Fleming, told journalists in Geneva on Friday. The team included UNHCR Syria’s shelter coordinator to assess the feasibility to engage in shelter rehabilitation.

UNHCR, which has more than 350 staff in five locations across Syria, has been present since mid-November in the city, but has been providing assistance there through SARC since June. The team visited two communal buildings, one housing 70 families (400 individuals) and another one with more than 400 families, the largest such shelter in Homs.

“Local solidarity networks have been formed and are providing very organized help to local residents, but the needs are acute,” said Fleming. “Many children have not been to school for the last 18 months. Some city hospitals have been converted into communal shelters and 60 per cent of Homs doctors have left, along with other medical personnel. There are serious shortages of medicine and medical equipment,” she added.

During the mission, nine UNHCR trucks carrying urgent winter assistance arrived in Homs with 6,000 quilts, 12,000 sleeping mats, 13,000 winter blankets, 1,000 mattresses and 6,000 boxes of sanitary napkins. More aid supplies are scheduled for delivery in the coming days to complete relief shipment for some 15,000 people.

“We intend to further scale up our winter response with more deliveries of heavy blankets, quilts and mattresses. We are also identifying new humanitarian partners to expand our local distribution network,” Fleming said.

The spokesperson added that UNHCR continued to work flat out to help Syrians who have fled to neighbouring countries. “In Lebanon, we are working with a recently formed inter-ministerial committee to better coordinate efforts to help Syrian refugees and affected Lebanese communities,” she said.

UNHCR registered close to 7,000 refugees last week in Beirut, northern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, bringing the total number of those receiving assistance from UNHCR and partner agencies in the country to 133,349.

“Preparations for winter remain a priority,” Fleming said. So far in November, UNHCR, the World Food Programme and other partners have distributed food vouchers, blankets, mattresses, carpets, heaters and, most recently, valuable fuel coupons to some 50,000 refugees.

In Jordan, arriving Syrian refugees continue to tell UNHCR they were targeted en route to the border. “UNHCR calls on all sides to ensure that civilians have access to safe passage,” Fleming stressed. Refugees are citing generalized violence, targeted threats against individuals and their families, and a breakdown of basic services as the reasons they fled their country. Jordanian hospitals receive injured refugees on a daily basis.

This perilous journey is particularly tough for women and children, whom UNHCR staff report are often visibly traumatized. On Thursday, a Syrian woman crossed into Jordan with a 12-day-old baby. “Many families are opting to sedate their children during the journey, they say, to keep them calm and quiet,” the UNHCR spokesperson noted.

Also in Jordan, UNHCR has seen media reports of under-age marriages involving Syrian refugee girls. The refugee agency has been working with partners to increase awareness among refugee families, religious leaders and others about this. Jordanian law prohibits marriage for those who are 18 or younger. An inter-agency assessment is being undertaken to determine the extent of the problem and identify future interventions.

Across the region, the number of Syrian refugees registered or awaiting registration in the region is now more than 465,000. Authorities estimate there are tens of thousands more Syrians across the region who have not come forward yet to register for assistance.

Maliki’s two-day official visit came in response to an invitation by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two countries have continuously called for a political solution to the conflict, and have avoided pushing Assad openly to give up power and put an end to a conflict that has left 31,000 dead as Western and Arab powers have argued for.

Maliki’s visit comes amid intensified shelling of rebel-held areas of the city Homs by Syrian military, activists say, with reports of aerial and ground bombardment elsewhere in the country.

Aircraft and artillery targeted the neighbourhood of Khaldiya, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as videos posted online appeared to show barrels of TNT explosives being dropped on the besieged areas, according to Al Jazeera.

Opposition strongholds in Homs have been under siege for at least 120 days, reports Al Jazeera, with humanitarian conditions continuing to deteriorate.

Syrian government troops had subjected Homs to months of heavy bombardment until April, after which the focus of the violence shifted to other cities.

The northern province of Aleppo, eastern Deir Ezzor province and northwestern Idlib province also witnessed clashes between President Bashar al-Assad’s troops and opposition fighters on Monday, activists reported.

The latest reports of the violence in the country came as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned Monday of a “dangerous’ fallout from spiralling violence along the Syrian-Turkish border at the opening of the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg, France, AFP reports.

The armed Syrian conflict has increasingly sparked violence on the Syria’s border with Turkey, with the Turkish military returning fire on Sunday after a shell launched from Syria struck the border village of Akcakale.

“Conflict has disrupted health services across Syria so most refugee children and their families have not had access to routine immunizations or other basic health services,” the Middle East Regional Health Advisor for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Mahendra Sheth, said in a news release.

“This work is vital because during a crisis children are most vulnerable to disease outbreaks and malnutrition, especially children living in camp settings like Za’atari,” he added.

Nutrition screening in Za’atari refugee camp, in northern Jordan, is taking place in parallel to a weekly immunization clinic in the camp, according to UNICEF.

The agency, along with the Jordanian Ministry of Health, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners, are also launching a large-scale polio and measles vaccination campaign targeting more than 100,000 children in Za’atari, nearby transit centres, and communities hosting refugees in northern Jordan.

More than 18,000 people, mostly civilians, have died since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began nearly 18 months ago, according to the UN while activists put the death toll to more than 26,000. Amidst reports of an escalation in violence in recent weeks in many towns and villages, as well as the country’s two biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo, UN agencies now estimate that some 2.5 million Syrians are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

UN officials have been calling for enhanced international support to respond to the growing crisis, in particular for the $180 million Humanitarian Response Plan, which is only half-funded, with some critical sectors having received almost no funding at all.

UNICEF is also calling on the international community for increased funding of its emergency water, sanitation, education, health and nutrition programmes, which are reaching tens of thousands of Syrian children and their families in Syria and neighbouring countries.

The agency noted that amid extremely difficult working conditions, it, along with local partners in Syria, is reaching families sheltering in schools across Damascus with life-saving health care.

Eight mobile medical teams are to be dispatched to reach 175,000 people in many areas hardest hit by the ongoing conflict, including Aleppo, Damascus, Dara’a, Hama and Homs, while rapid assessments to monitor the nutritional situation of children will also be scaled up.

Immunizations are also being provided in Lebanon and Iraq, where more than 40,000 and 15,000 Syrian refugees are sheltering respectively, and the nutritional status of children five years of age and under is being monitored closely.

Foreign minister of Russia Segei Lavrov has confirmed  in an interview with the Russian radio station Echo Moskvy for the first time that the cargo ship MV Alaed, which is now headed back to Russia, was carrying repaired Russian attack helicopters and said it would continue to carry out arms contracts with Assad’s government despite widespread condemnation.

The ship is scheduled to arrive Saturday in the Russian port of Murmansk, which is near its northern border with Finland, where it will drop its Curacao flag and re-register as a Russian ship.

Meanwhile, Aid workers hoping to evacuate trapped civilians and wounded were unable to enter hard-hit areas of the Syrian city of Homs on Thursday due to an “unclear” security situation and have returned to Damascus, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said, according to Reuters. 

“After having attempted to go into the old city of Homs this morning, the team decided to turn back to Homs city due to shooting…Later on the team concluded that the security situation was too unclear for us to go in,” ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan told Reuters in Geneva.

Homs is the center of the 15-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad with forces increasing efforts to crush the uprising.

 

The United Nations says more than 10,000 people have been killed by Assad’s forces during the conflict while opposition groups say more than 15000 have been killed.

“The parties must reconsider their position and allow women, children, the elderly and the injured to leave conflict zones, without any preconditions and ensure their safety,” General Robert Mood, head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), said in a statement issued on Sunday.

“This requires willingness on both sides to respect and protect the human life of the Syrian people,” he added.

Yesterday Gen. Mood announced that UN observers had suspended their monitoring activities owing to an intensification of armed violence across the country in recent days.

He said in today’s statement that attempts to extract civilians from the line of fire over the past week in the city of Homs have been unsuccessful.

“I call on the parties to take immediate action to ease the pain of Syrians trapped in the violence and the UN Supervision Mission in Syria stands ready to monitor their release, once the decision is taken by the parties,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Syrian forces have increased their shelling of rebel-held neighbourhoods in the central city of Homs as living conditions there deteriorate further, according to opposition activists, Al Jazeera reported.

Activist Abu Bilal in the Old City said on Sunday that the regime’s siege of several parts of Homs was “suffocating”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has urged the UN to intervene and evacuate more than 1,000 Homs families, including women and children, according to Al Jazeera.

About 300 observers are deployed in Syria, entrusted with monitoring a ceasefire and supporting the full implementation of a six-point peace plan drafted by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, which was supposed to

The UN estimates that more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria and tens of thousands displaced since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 16 months ago.

“He is particularly worried about the recent shelling in Homs as well as reports of the use of mortar, helicopters and tanks in the town of Al-Haffa, Lattakia,” Mr. Annan’s spokesperson added in a news release. “There are indications that a large number of civilians are trapped in these towns.”

The spokesperson also said that Mr. Annan “demands that the parties take all steps to ensure that civilians are not harmed, and further demands that entry of the UN military observers be allowed to the town of Al-Haffa immediately.”

The UN estimates that more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria and tens of thousands displaced since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 15 months ago.

Military observers serving with the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) have been charged with monitoring the cessation of violence in Syria, as well as monitoring and supporting the full implementation of a six-point peace plan put forward by Joint Special Envoy Annan in March.

The plan calls for an end to violence, access for humanitarian agencies to provide relief to those in need, the release of detainees, the start of inclusive political dialogue that takes into account the aspirations of the Syrian people, and unrestricted access to the country for the international media.

Late last week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that, at the request of the Security Council, he will soon put forward a range of options for resolving the crisis in Syria. He noted that the six-point peace plan – which was endorsed by the Council – remains at the centre of efforts of resolve the crisis – but “at the same time, in view of the deteriorating situation, I would welcome further international discussions.”

The UN chief added that, along with Joint Special Envoy Annan and the League of Arab States’ Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby, he had seen little evidence of the Syrian Government complying with its commitments under the six-point peace plan, while at the same time, the opposition was hardening and turning increasingly to arms.