• Moaz al-Khatib says he is prepared to negotiate
• UN exceeds record $1.5bn fundraising drive for Syria
• Brahimi urges security council to help stop the destruction
• Israeli warplane strike target on Syria-Lebanon border
Syria
• UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has appealed to all combatants in Syria’s civil war to stop fighting “in the name of humanity”. Speaking at an aid donor conference in Kuwait, Ban said: “I appeal to all sides and particularly the Syrian government, to stop the killing … in the name of humanity, stop the killing, stop the violence.”
• The international envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi warned that Syria is being destroyed and urged the security council to settle its differences over the crisis and get behind a plan for a political transition. Speaking to reporters after briefing the council he said:
Syria is being destroyed bit by bit. And in destroying Syria, the region is being pushed into a situation that is extremely bad and extremely important for the entire world. That is why I believe the security council simply cannot continue to say ‘we are disagreement, therefore, let’s wait for better times’. I think they have got to grapple with this problem no.
The Geneva declaration that contains, indeed, a lot of elements that would provide for a reasonable solution to the conflict cannot be implemented as it is. It needs action from the council and I have suggested a few ideas to them.
• Rebel groups in Aleppo say they have recovered more than 100 bodies from a small river in the south of the city after what appears to be one of the biggest massacres to have taken place in the war-ravaged city. A video posted online today showed rows of bodies, most of them men in their 20s and 30s, with their hands tied behind their backs and evident bullet wounds to their heads. The graphic footage showed blood seeping from the corpses across silt left on the watercourse’s concrete bank by floodwaters that have recently receded.
• The Telegraph’s Ruth Sherlock, who is in Aleppo, counted 79 bodies at the scene. She described how a father of two of the victims reacted.
“These are my sons,” said Abu Mohammed, 73, as he shuffled towards the corpses laid out in rows in a schoolyard. A relative held his arm, as he stared at the exposed faces of the victims.
His legs buckled as he recognised the two young men, no older than 30 as his sons. They had travelled to central Aleppo, which is still in the hands of the Syrian government 20 days before.
“They thought they had nothing to fear from the government, so they went to renew their identity cards. But they didn’t come back. Now I have found them here.”
• Barack Obama has announced an extra $155m (£98m) in humanitarian aid for Syria ahead of Wednesday’s UN donor conference in Kuwait aimed at boosting the UN’s record $1.5bn appeal for Syrians caught in the war. The US president urged the international community to do more to help.
• The BBC has filmed Syrian rebels making homemade bombs close to the Syrian border. One of the bomb makers claimed civilians were warned to stay away from bomb attacks with warning signs
Categories: Arab World, Asia, Syria, United Nations