Roundup: Syrians demand end of rebels' siege on two Shiite towns

Many Syrians took part in sit-ins held Tuesday in several Syrian cities, calling for the break of the siege imposed by the rebels on two Shiite towns in northwestern Syria, a monitor group reported.

The sit-ins were held in several areas in the northern city of Aleppo and the central Homs province, to protest against the siege the jihadi groups imposed on the Shiite towns of Kafraya and Foa, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In Homs, the protesters blocked several roads in the city, saying they will keep their sit-in until the siege break.

Similar protest took place also in the capital Damascus a day earlier, when protesters, who are largely Shiite Syrians, held their sit-in on the road between Damascus and its international airport, urging the Syrian forces to break the siege and help the civilians.

The UK-based watchdog group, which has wide contacts inside Syria, said the jihadi groups have fired improvised rockets and heavy missiles into both towns over the past few weeks.

The al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and like-minded groups also unleashed a wide-scale offensive against the towns, managing Monday to capture parts of terrain in the southern outskirts of Foa.

Both Shiite towns were part of recent negotiations between an Iranian delegation and the Turkey-backed Ahrar al-Sham Movement rebel group.

The Iranians were negotiating on behalf of the Syrian government to protect the Shiite population in both towns, where 40,000 people live.

The Ahrar al-Sham movement was negotiating with the Iranians under the patronage of Turkey in the hope of fixing a deal to secure the withdrawal of rebels from the town of Zabadani, west of Damascus, toward rebel-held areas in Idlib, after the Syrian army and Hezbollah almost captured 90 percent of that town near Lebanon.

The negotiations failed and two short truces in Zabadani and the two Shiite towns collapsed, the latest of which ended earlier this week.

After the failing truce, the Syrian army backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah fighters escalated their offensive in Zabadani and the rebels surrounding Kafraya and Foa ramped up their shelling on the towns.

On Monday, an array of jihadi groups mainly Nusra Front advanced toward Foa amid relentless shelling, according to the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV and the Observatory.

The jihadi militants captured parts of terrain known as Sawaghiyeh south of Foa.

The Syrian air force heavily struck the positions of the rebels near Foa, killing 64 rebels over the past 24 hours, state news agency SANA said Tuesday.

The air force also dropped 12 crude barrel bombs against Zabadani amid the progress of the Syrian army and Hezbollah in that town.

The provincial capital of Idlib was the main supply line to the two towns, whose residents have been subject to killing and kidnapping. The image there got dimmer when the jihadist militants fully captured Idlib last April.

A couple of months ago, rockets fired from the town of Bennish in Idlib countryside hit the main water tanker in Foa, causing great damages and a loss in large quantities of drinking water that feeds the two towns' 40,000 inhabitants.

Tens of civilians and fighters there have been wounded and killed and the prices of all commodities have skyrocketed due to the suffocating siege.

The towns' men fan out on checkpoints around the two adjacent towns to defend their homes against the reparative threats by the rebels, who kept shelling the towns with assorted rockets and shells.

Locals in the towns say they have a severe shortage in medicine and foodstuffs, warning of a humanitarian catastrophe there.

The Syrian helicopters often airdrop food packs on the towns, but they are not enough, the locals said.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that it holds the Turkish government responsible for any crime the rebels might commit against the Shiite towns. Endit