Syria President Bashar al-Assad told the United Nations Wednesday that the military offensive has "stopped." U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Assad's comments came after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded all military operations and mass arrests cease. Syrian government forces held hundreds in a stadium in Latakia, residents said—part of mass arrests from raids of houses in the Sunni district of the besieged city. Latakia, a port city in the southeast, is of particular importance to Assad, since his family is from the area, and they control the city’s port and its finances. Meanwhile, the United Nations is expected to propose that the tribunal at The Hague investigate Assad and his forces for possible war crimes.
Read it at Agence France-Presse
