Syrian refugees huddle in Lebanon: 30 people, one candle, and no food

On Wednesday, Valerie Amos, the UN humanitarian chief, visited the district along with relief agencies. The visit came a day ahead of a closed-door meeting in Geneva grouping relief agencies, including the Red Cross, to consider ways of accessing Syria to distribute humanitarian aid. Reports said that Ms. Amos and other visitors found Bab Amr deserted.

The Syrian Army is focusing its crackdown on the belt of cities and towns in the west, close to the Lebanese border. There are expectations that the next likely target will be the restive Idlib Province in the north, where much of the terrain lies outside the direct control of the state and is patrolled by units of the rebel Free Syrian Army.

Meanwhile, Abdo Hussameldin, Syria’s deputy oil minister, has become the highest ranking civilian official in the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to announce his defection.

“I join the revolution of this dignified people,” he said in a videotaped statement that was posted on YouTube.

“I have preferred to do what is right although I know that this regime will burn my house and persecute my family,” he said.

UN envoy Kofi Annan headed to Damascus

In Cairo, Kofi Annan, the UN special envoy to Syria, urged the bickering Syrian opposition to cooperate to resolve the crisis and warned that further militarization would worsen the yearlong conflict.

“I hope that no one is very seriously thinking of using force in this situation,” he told reporters after meeting with Nabil Elaraby, the Arab League secretary-general. “We have to be careful that we don’t introduce a medicine that is worse than the disease,” added the former UN chief who is scheduled to visit Damascus on Saturday.

The international community has been unable to halt the bloodshed in Syria and is undecided on what course of action to take. Some advocate military intervention such as establishing safe havens on Syrian territory or arming the Free Syrian Army. Others warn that such steps will only deepen the conflict and offer no guarantees of success.

That leaves Jaafar and other Syrian refugees in Lebanon mulling an uncertain future.

“We have reached a point where we cannot back down,” he says. “We will keep on fighting until Assad is gone or we are all killed.”

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