Car bomb kills 16 in Syria

(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.

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