"Yarmouk under Siege"

Many thanks for forwarding me a copy  and every best wish for success with your work to end the siege of Yarmouk and hold the perpetrators–on all sides- responsible under international law.
 

FYI, yesterday (1/14/13) it was possible to enter ( for a while!!) from the south side in front of the Zakerin Mosque in Al-Buweida, maybe 300 yards from the  Az-Zain neighborhood. A few glares but nothing more. Both sides are still saying that they will allow in food and medical aid to the nearly 18,000 still trapped  (a few are making their way out of Yarmouk from the south side thru sewer and water mains –and a very few buy their way out by giving some gun-kid some cash etc) and both sides claim that they are the good guys but so far both sides renege when aid arrives and some of them start shooting.

Yet pressure is mounting on both sides to pull back and one expects the Russians to acheive more serious government cooperation to lift the seige.  Guys from the ‘rebels’ claim they are ready but that they do not trust the government.  Maybe  what is needed is a UN specail envoy or two to show up and squeeze both sides….send over some unifil fellows from south Lebanon?

 Franklin Lamb
Damascus

Franklin P. Lamb, JD, LLM,PhD
Legal Adviser, The Sabra-Shatila Scholarship Program, Shatila Camp  (SSSP-lb.com)
Board Member,  The Palestine Civil Rights Campaign, Beirut-Washington DC
Office: +961-01-551-798

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