(Vatican Radio) Russia today said Syrian rebels are gaining ground and might win,
on a day which saw a car bomb kill at least 16 people in Qatana, a town 25 kilometres
southwest of Damascus.
"One must look the facts in the face," Russia's state-run
RIA quoted Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia’s special envoy for Middle East affairs as saying.
"Unfortunately, the victory of the Syrian opposition cannot be ruled out."
State
media is reporting the car bomb killed seven children and two women in a town which
is home to many members of the military.
The fighting is also causing a humanitarian
crisis, with tens of thousands of people reported to have been killed and hundreds
of thousands of people having fled their homes since March of last year.
The
Syrian crisis is profound because it is affecting a very large number of people in
a very dramatic way,” said Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International
Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. “Also it is causing huge pressure
on the neighbouring countries – on Jordan, on Lebanon, on Turkey, on Iraq – risking
to destabilize these countries and create a wave of new suffering.”
She told
Vatican Radio humanitarian efforts are being thwarted by the fighting.
“The
big problem we face is that with every day less and less help can get to people who
need it inside Syria because of intensifying fighting and worsening security conditions
for humanitarian workers,” she said.