1073

THE WEEKLY WORLD EDITION OF The Daily Telegraph AND The Sunday Telegraph

February 15 - 21 2012 No. 1073

telegraph.co.uk/expat

The Telegraph

DIAMONDDAYTheQueenenjoysthe60thanniversaryofheraccessiontothethrone

:: NEWS PAGE 9 :: FEATURES PAGE 26

Verdict on the ‘sauna thrashing’ case of Lord Mandelson, his billionaire friend and an oligarch

Capello resigns Italian quits and Redknapp could be shoo-in :: SPORT P42, 44, 48

By Richard Spencer near Homs GUNMEN shot dead an army general as he left his home in Damascus, Syria, last Saturday in a dramatic sign of the dangers facing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, even in its main centre of power.

Brig Gen Issa al-Khouli’s death came a day after suicide bombers had killed at least 28 in an attack targeting the security forces in Aleppo.

Elsewhere, government troops continued to assault rebel cities with tanks and artillery. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, writing inside, announced an initiative to help to gather evidence of atrocities.

A further 25 people were killed in Syria last Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 10 of them in a rebel-held neighbourhood of Homs. Yet, not far from the city, around 100,000 people have carved themselves a zone controlled by the rebel Free Syria Army.

As we report in this exclusive dispatch, they are desperate for help, but hopeful that they can hold on against the odds. Calls from inside Homs said that only Bab al-Amr remained as a pocket of Free Syrian Army resistance, but that army tanks were approaching.

Satellite images showed them on the ground near the Al Baath University housing complex and the Baba Amr neighbourhood in the southwest section of the city,

Other formerly free areas such as Inshaíat were under regime control, a Free Syrian Army soldier said.

In these places, there is no longer any visible life. People who were among the last to leave the city as the army moved in, following up on days of artillery assault, say that no one can go out for fear of the shelling and the snipers, who take aim at men, women and children. One hospital contacted by telephone last Saturday said it had only three patients and five nurses. Most of the population was sheltering in lower floors and basements of houses, 30 to a room.

Despite the obvious threat of retribution when the regime turns to face him,

Continued on page 15

Nathaniel Rothschild, the billionaire financier, pictured left, brought the public office and personal integrity of Lord Mandelson, right, into disrepute by inviting him on a business trip with the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, centre, a High Court judge ruled last Friday Report: Page 3

Qatada verdict Preacher will be released and free to remain in Britain :: NEWS P11

Elvedon latest Police arrest five ‘Sun’ journalists andArmyofficer :: NEWS P2

‘Of course we can’t extradite Abu Qatada – we don’t have an airport that’s open’ Osama bin Laden’s ‘right-hand man in Europe’ is granted bail by judge Report: Page 11