Damascus: The head of the UN observer team for Syria has told the United Nations Security Council that they were repeatedly targeted by hostile crowds and gunfire before his decision to suspend the mission’s operations, UN diplomats said.
Major General Robert Mood said that 300 unarmed monitors were targeted at least ten times last week, UN diplomats present in the UNSC meeting said on conditions of anonymity. According to The BBC, Mood said that his move to suspend operations in Syria did not mean that its mission was abandoning civilians in the country.
Major General Mood had earlier admitted ``attempts to extract civilians`` from the besieged city of Homs over the past week had been unsuccessful and urged warring parties to let them leave. The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), a network of activists in Syria, said Rastan in Homs province had come under ``fierce and continuous bombing`` on Tuesday morning. The LCC also reported ``intense mortar shelling`` at Qudsiya in Damascus. Meanwhile, the Syrian Government has said that it was willing to facilitate the evacuation of hundreds of civilians trapped in Homs. ANI