EU sanctions Venezuelan VP, 10 others over election abuses
AFP/File / Federico PARRAVenezuela's new vice-president Delcy Rodriguez speaks during a meeting with members of the new cabinet at the Foreign Ministry in Caracas on June 15, 2018
The EU on Monday hit the Venezuelan vice-president and 10 other officials with sanctions over rights abuses and irregularities in the re-election of President Nicolas Maduro, which the bloc condemned as "neither free nor fair".
Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez is the most senior member of Maduro's government targeted by the travel bans and asset freezes, while other top cadres are sanctioned for grave human rights transgressions including torture.
The 28 EU states pledged last month to "swiftly" punish Caracas with sanctions over the May reelection of Maduro, which returned him to office until 2025. The poll was boycotted by the main opposition and denounced as a sham by the United States and many of Venezuela's Latin American neighbours.
"The persons listed are responsible for human rights violations and for undermining democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela," the European Union said after its 28 foreign ministers backed the move at a meeting in Luxembourg.
"The elections held in Venezuela on 20 May 2018 were neither free nor fair and their outcome lacked any credibility as the electoral process did not ensure the necessary guarantees for them to be inclusive and democratic."
The EU also called for fresh presidential elections in Venezuela in line with international standards and for the release of political prisoners.
Venezuela reacted angrily, condemning the EU for "meddling".
The foreign ministry in Caracas said it "categorically rejects the continued aggression and meddling of the European Union, which constitutes clear interference in the sovereign affairs of our country."
In January, Europe added seven senior Venezuelan officials including the interior minister to its sanctions blacklist, after earlier enforcing an embargo on weapons and equipment that could be used for political repression.
Alongside Rodriguez, former vice-president Tareck El Aissami is also sanctioned for his role overseeing the Venezuelan intelligence service, where the EU said he was responsible for "serious human rights violations... including arbitrary detention, politically motivated investigations, inhumane and degrading treatment and torture".
The UN rights chief on Friday called for an international investigation of atrocities in Venezuela, condemning the government's refusal to investigate security officers over the killing of civilians.
Venezuela's economy has collapsed into chaos under Maduro since 2013, with falling oil prices leading to chronic shortages of food and medicine and hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the country.
Families flee as regime, Russia pummel Syria's south
AFP / Mohamad ABAZEEDSmoke rises above an opposition-held area of Daraa following an airstrike by Syrian regime forces on June 25, 2018
Syria's government ramped up its bombardment of the southern city of Daraa on Monday, forcing dozens of families to flee an expected assault on the cradle of a seven-year uprising.
After a string of wins elsewhere, President Bashar al-Assad has set his sights on recapturing the country's strategic south, which borders Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
His forces have been battering rebel-held towns in Daraa province for nearly a week, leaving at least 29 civilians dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
They then turned to the provincial capital of the same name, launching air strikes and barrel bombs on opposition-held districts early Monday.
More than 55 surface-to-surface missiles slammed into those neighbourhoods after midnight, followed by four barrel bombs, the Britain-based Observatory said.
"It is the first time they drop barrel bombs on Daraa city in more than a year," said monitor chief Rami Abdel Rahman.
AFP / Mohamad ABAZEEDCivilians flee during airstrikes by Syrian regime forces in the southern Syrian province of Daraa on June 24, 2018
The Observatory said the city was struck again around noon, this time with air strikes by Syria's ally Russia, which has helped Assad's troops recapture swathes of territory since 2015.
The attacks prompted dozens of terrified families to stream out of Daraa city.
Many set out in the dead of night to seek shelter in olive groves on the city limits, AFP's correspondent there said.
Leaving on foot or by motorbike, they took refuge in small shacks or tents among the trees.
"We don't know what happened. We were sleeping with the children when all of a sudden, we heard heavy shelling," said Ahmad al-Musalima, 31.
"The kids started shaking in fear," he said.
He and his family fled overnight, joining an estimated 20,000 people displaced by the past week's escalating violence, according to the Observatory.
- Divide and conquer -
"We left the house and didn't know where to go. We headed towards the plain with the kids crying and heavy shelling overhead," Musalima told AFP.
Syrian rebels hold the western half of Daraa city and most of the surrounding province, as well most of the adjacent governorate of Quneitra to the west.
That territory roughly forms a horseshoe, whose bottom curve borders Jordan and includes a military base held by rebels since 2014.
Syrian troops meanwhile hold Daraa city's eastern half and nearly all the adjacent province of Sweida.
Those areas have come under opposition fire too, with rebels launching rockets on Sweida city Monday, state news agency SANA said.
AFP / Mohamad ABAZEEDCivilians flee during airstrikes by Syrian regime forces in the southern Syrian province of Daraa on June 24, 2018
Front lines had been relatively quiet for nearly a year under a "de-escalation" deal agreed in July 2017 by Russia, the US, and Jordan.
But now, the regime and its Russian allies are pursuing a divide-and-conquer strategy against rebels.
On Monday, Russian bombing raids hit the military base near the border with Jordan, said the Observatory.
Ousting rebels from it would divide the opposition horseshoe into a western and eastern section.
Russian strikes and 20 regime barrel bombs on Monday also hit the key town of Basr al-Harir in Daraa's eastern countryside, rocked by clashes for nearly a week.
"Capturing the town would allow troops to divide rebel territory to smaller pockets," Abdel Rahman said.
Heavy strikes on Daraa's eastern countryside forced rescue workers to stop operations in the town of Al-Laja.
"The civil defence teams have not been able to reach targeted areas because of the intense bombing," the local civil defence centre said in an online statement.
- US holds back -
AFP / Mohamad ABAZEEDSmoke rises above buildings after an airstrike by Syrian regime forces on the town of Busra al-Harir, in the east of the southern Syrian province of Daraa on June 24, 2018
A military source quoted by SANA said the army was pressing its operations in Daraa's east.
The renewed hostilities could put 750,000 lives at risk, the United Nations said.
"Any humanitarian crisis in south Syria must be averted first by sparing civilians the pains of fighting, and second, be responded to swiftly from inside and outside Syria," said Ali al-Zaatari, UN humanitarian coordinator in Syria.
Jordan said on Sunday it could not absorb a new wave of refugees across its border.
To avoid a bloody onslaught, Russia is leading negotiations with Syria, Jordan, Israel, and the US on a settlement.
The uptick in violence could be tied to those talks, said Sam Heller of the International Crisis Group.
AFP / Mohamad ABAZEEDA woman walks with a cane past a destroyed car on a street in Al-Hirak in the eastern Daraa province countryside in southern Syria on June 21, 2018
"It seems the air strikes have two aims: exerting pressure in order to get negotiations, either international or local, and paving the way for a wider attack in case the negotiations don't make progress," he told AFP.
But "the Americans haven't gotten seriously involved in the talks over the south, and they're not expected to intervene militarily," Heller said.
International efforts have so far failed to stem seven years of bloodshed in Syria.
On Monday, the UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura met with senior officials from France, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Britain and the US.
They expressed "grave concern" at the escalation in southern Syria, de Mistura's office said.
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