UN finds Syrian town of Haffa smouldering and deserted

The interior of a burnt out government office in Haffa town near Latakia city Syrian activists have reported that 78 persons were killed by the pro-Assad militias and security troops. Meanwhile, Syrian newspapers have reported that President Bashar al-Assad has told the UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan that he had offered 24 hours to what he called "the militant groups" to give up their arms and surrender.
According to the General Board of the Syrian revolution, and the Syrian Network for Human Rights, the death toll is distributed as; 28 in Damascus, 19 in Homs, 13 in Daraa, 5 in Lattakia, 4 in Deir Ezzor, 2 in each of Aleppo, Idlib, Hama and Hassakeh, and 1 in Raqqah.
9 of the dead in Damascus were executed in the town of Hammourieh by pro-Assad militias. Some were shot, others had their throats slit.
Commander of the rebel military council in Rustin, Major Ahmed Bahbouh, was killed during the shelling of the state army, along with a high school professor called Khaled al-Mubarak, several buildings were partially or totally destroyed. The state troops used helicopters, tanks and military trucks in the attack.
The Syrian town of Haffa was smoldering and nearly deserted on Thursday after days of clashes between government forces and rebels, while activists reported more army assaults on pro-opposition areas across the country. United Nations monitors had been trying to enter the town of Haffa, amid fears that a massacre was taking place but were forced to turn back on Tuesday when a crowd attacked them and fired on their vehicles.
They finally gained access on Thursday to find state buildings burnt down, shops abandoned and a body lying in the street. Smoke rose from destroyed buildings and burnt-out cars littered the streets. There were signs of a heavy bombardment.
A Reuters photographer travelling with the UN convoy described the town as nearly deserted, with burnt-down buildings and abandoned shops.  Only a handful of residents could be seen and one man said 26,000 people had fled, the photographer reported.
Some of the buildings burnt down were state offices, and the photographer said at least one body had been left on the street.
The photographer added that the small number of people they had seen in Haffa would not speak about what had gone on there.
According to the UN Supervisory Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), observers reported finding the town deserted but with a strong stench of dead bodies.
An AFP reporter who also travelled with the UN convoy said most of the anti-regime graffiti in the town had been painted over, although in one area part of a verse from the Koran was still visible.
The reporter also noted writing seemed to be written by rebels stating: "If you return, so too shall we."
Rebels pulled out of the town this week saying that the thousands of remaining citizens risked being killed in cold blood, a warning echoed by the United States.
Earlier a car bomb was detonated near the capital, Damascus.
The blast killed the bomber and injured 14 people in the suburb of Sayyida Zainab.
The area is known for housing one of Shia Islam's holiest sites, the tomb of Zaynab bint Ali, the Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter.
Violence also took place in other parts of Syria, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting a number of deaths in Douma.
In Duma, about 15 km (10 miles) from Damascus, activists said tanks had entered the city outskirts and government forces were battling rebel fighters.  At least two people were killed and 15 wounded, they said.
“It is a war today,” said an activist who called himself Ziad, speaking on Skype over the thump of shelling and the rattle of machine-gun fire. “There are 10 tanks on the outskirts, but the rebels have destroyed one of them.”
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists across the country, said rebellious villages in the Aleppo countryside have been pounded by security forces, with troops trying to surround and raid rebel-held areas.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US had held "constructive" talks with Russia on Syria.
She said her deputy, Bill Burns, had met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during a visit to Kabul.
Moscow, which supplies arms to Damascus, is under mounting pressure from the US and other countries to take a tougher stance on Syria.
The US also clarified an earlier statement on the issue, saying that its claim that Russia was sending attack helicopters to Syria actually referred to refurbished machines already owned by Damascus.
The Russians had angrily denied the American claim.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that Washington had information Russia was in the process of supplying Syria with helicopters, which have been used in government assaults on towns and cities.
Mrs Clinton said US President Barack Obama would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at next week's Group of 20 summit in Mexico.
Violence has surged in recent weeks after rebels abandoned a ceasefire negotiated by international envoy Kofi Annan in his efforts to ease the conflict between President Bashar al-Assad and the movement fighting to end his family's four decade rule. In another development, the US Thursday, acknowledged providing communications equipment and other forms of assistance to members of the "peaceful opposition" in Syria.State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, said the aid is part of a "non-lethal" assistance to Syrians living under President Bashar al-Assad's regime, and part of a global effort to support Internet freedom.
Nuland declined to elaborate on the aid, but a source familiar with the effort said it includes things such as anonymising software, and satellite phones with GPS capabilities "to document the location of atrocities."
Nuland said the Internet freedom initiatives are part of "programmes that we do around the world that we've been doing with Syrians and many, many other countries for quite a long time."
These are programmes "that help citizens in countries where the Internet is restricted or unavailable to find ways to have access to the Internet so that they can know their fundamental freedom to expression and access to information is respected," she told a press briefing.
The uprising against Assad’s autocratic rule began as a peaceful pro-democracy movement in March 2011 but in the face of a crackdown by his forces has turned into an armed insurgency.
The United Nations says more than 10,000 people have been killed by government forces, while Syria says at least 2,600 members of the military and security forces have been killed by what it calls foreign-backed “Islamist terrorists.”
World powers are divided over the next move.
Russia and China, both permanent members of the UN Security Council with veto power, have blocked efforts by Western powers to condemn Assad or call for his removal.
Diplomats said world powers were working towards holding a crisis meeting on Syria in Geneva on June 30 to try to get the Annan plan back on track.
Annan, who represents the United Nations and the Arab League mediator, has called for a Contact Group to be convened as soon as possible, but the United States is opposed to the involvement of Iran, Syria’s main ally in the region.
Two diplomats told Reuters they were hoping to have a meeting on the 30th, but a third said Iran’s participation was still a sticking point.Annan’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said the envoy was having urgent meetings to reach consensus on the shape and formula for the meeting. If one was held, it would aim to “give teeth” to the Annan plan, not to create a new one, he said.
The United Nations says more than 10,000 people have been killed by government forces, while Syria says at least 2,600 members of the military and security forces have been killed by what it calls foreign-backed “Islamist terrorists.”
World powers are divided over the next move.