Nearly 5,000 people have died in Syria in the three-week period since the first round of peace talks
started.
Fighting rages in Syria despite peace talks
Warplanes pound rebel-held town amid reports of death toll peaking on the ground as Geneva talks continue.
Syrian warplanes have pounded a rebel-held town near the Lebanese border, as peace talks between the government and opposition continued in Geneva.
The talks have been accompanied by a sharp rise in violence on the ground in Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday that at least 4,959 people had died in Syria in the three-week period since January 22, when the first round of talks began in Switzerland.
The group, which documents the fighting on the ground through a wide network of activists, say the period has seen the highest death toll since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad started in March 2011.
The Observatory reported at least 10 air strikes on Yabroud, the last rebel stronghold in Syria's mountainous Qalamoun region, on Wednesday. Backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, the Syrian army has been on a crushing offensive there since early December.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/02/fighting-rages-syria-despite-peace-talks-201421215161928169.html
With the temporary ceasefire in Homs I had the impression that the killing had abated a little in the past few weeks with the negotiations going on. I guess that is not the case.
Diplomats always want to 'negotiate from a position of strength' which means the military guys have to step up attacks to try to obtain that 'position of strength' on the ground. Ironic, how peace negotiations can increase the level of violence and killing in the short run.