Rebels try to evacuate residents of Syria's Haffeh

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels in Syria's besieged town of Haffeh say they are trying to smuggle out trapped civilians after the United States warned of a potential massacre in the opposition stronghold.

Speaking by phone from the Sunni Muslim town, two fighters said hundreds of rebels were facing a tank and helicopter-backed assault by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

The rebels had sent civilians to the outskirts of Haffeh when the 8-day siege began, but now those areas were also under fire, they said, adding the army and militia men loyal to Assad had surrounded the area.

"Every few days we manage to open a route to get the wounded out, so some families were able to escape yesterday," said one rebel who called himself Abdulwudud.

The fighting in Haffeh, in the foothills of the coastal mountains which form the heartland of the ruling minority Alawite sect, comes after activists said Assad's forces committed two mass killings of women, men and children in the last three weeks.

Elsewhere in Syria, violence persisted overnight in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, where activists said troops fired mortar bombs at an anti-Assad demonstration, killing at least 10 protesters.

Many hundreds of people, including civilians, rebels and members of Assad's army and security forces, have been killed since a ceasefire deal brokered by international mediator Kofi Annan exactly two months ago was supposed to halt the bloodshed.

Annan's spokesman said on Tuesday he hoped to convene a meeting of an international contact group on Syria soon, saying he was encouraged by broad support for the idea.

But he gave no date for the meeting and said no venue or list of participants has yet been set. The United States and some Western allies have resisted proposals for Iran to take part, accusing Tehran of "stage-managing" Assad's crackdown on the 15-month-old uprising.

The revolt against Assad erupted in March last year as popular demands for greater freedom, inspired by Arab revolts which have toppled four veteran leaders. But the protests have become overshadowed by an increasingly well-armed insurgency, fuelled by weapons brought by smugglers and defecting troops.

Reports of two massacres in Houla and Mazraat al-Qubeir, which activists and Western powers say were carried out by pro-Assad forces but authorities blame on Islamist "terrorists" have hardened sectarian divides.

On Tuesday, state television channel Syria TV reported that "terrorist groups" had seized two buses in Homs province and kidnapped all the passengers. It gave no other details.

HAFFEH FEARS

Annan said on Monday that unarmed U.N. observers monitoring violations of his April 12 ceasefire agreement should be granted immediate access to Haffeh. The United States warned of a "potential massacre" and said perpetrators would be held to account.

But United Nations monitors who had travelled to Haffeh to investigate decided it was too dangerous to enter, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

"The security situation is not safe for them to enter. They were at the last checkpoint and the government said 'you can go through', but we deemed it unsafe," Sausan Ghosheh told Reuters by phone from Damascus.

The fighting in Haffeh started last Tuesday when rebels clashed with security forces setting up checkpoints to tighten their grip on the town, which lies close to the Mediterranean port city of Latakia as well as the Turkish border.

"The situation is dire. Forget the weapons, people need medicine and food. As you know, we're in a state of war in Syria. The army could enter Haffeh in minutes if it wanted but it is trying to crush it instead," a rebel commander speaking from Turkey said.

State television said security forces were continuing "their pursuit of remnants of the terrorists who attacked residents".

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists across Syria, said 29 civilians, 23 rebels and 68 soldiers were killed in the fighting since June 5.

The Observatory's director Rami Abdulrahman said state forces were intent on seizing control of the rebel-held town. "The question is, at what price?", he said.

The army has suffered heavy losses, activists say. The mountainous terrain makes it difficult to move tanks and heavy weapons, which opens them up to rebel attack.

Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said the planned contact group on Syria would "give teeth" to a peace plan, which aims to stop the violence and start a process of political transition.

The contact group meeting has been in doubt because of U.S. opposition to involvement by Iran which, along with U.N. veto powers Russia and China, backs Syria's government.

Annan "is encouraged by signs that member states are taking it very seriously, in fact we have heard that the Russians are calling on (U.N.) member states with influence to get together," Fawzi said. "It is coming together. Diplomacy has intensified."

Fawzi also elaborated on Monday's reports by U.N. monitors that helicopters had fired on the rebel strongholds of Rastan and Talbiseh, north of the city of Homs. Syria's government is the only force in the conflict equipped with helicopters.

"Our observers have videotaped helicopters in the skies with fire coming out of them. So whether they are helicopters with machine guns on them or helicopter gunships, we have not been able to make that distinction yet, but yes they are being used and we have observed them being used," Fawzi said.

He declined to discuss the possibility of a "no fly zone" in response to the use of air power. "Declaring a non-fly zone is the prerogative of the Security Council and that hasn't happened yet," he told a news briefing in Geneva.

A United Nations report into children in armed conflict said on Tuesday that children as young as nine had been victims of killing, maiming, arbitrary arrest, torture, sexual violence and use as human shields.

"In almost all recorded cases, children were among the victims of military operations by government forces, including the Syrian Armed Forces, the intelligence forces and the Shabbiha militia," it said.

There were also credible reports of children being recruited by the rebel Free Syrian Army, it said, and in one incident in March the army and shabbiha placed children aged 8 to 13 in front of the windows of buses carrying military personnel raiding a village.

(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans in Beirut, Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles in Geneva; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

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