To The Center

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has accused Russia of “propping up” the Syrian regime and also lying about weapons deliveries to the Assad government.

Syria is now in a state of ‘civil war’, with the government having lost control of “large chunks” of cities, according to a BBC story quoting UN official Herve Ladsous. Al Jazeera states that witnesses on the ground described fresh shelling on Homs and heavy fighting in other cities.

Kieran Dwyer, a UN spokesman, also told Al Jazeera that Landous’ description captures the conflict’s last five days. “What we’ve seen… is a huge up-scaling of the military confrontation,” Dwyer said. The escalation of the strife seems to be caused by both sides.

The violence has been taking a significant toll on children, according to Business Week. They cite a UN report stating that children have been killed, injured, tortured and used as human shields, primarily by Syrian security forces and pro-government militias, while some of the opposition forces are recruiting child soldiers.

Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin is denying the accusations made by Clinton, according to NPR. Putin told reporters in Berlin: “We don’t supply weapons that can be used in civil conflicts,” and recently met with media after talking with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. According to another NPR story, Clinton accused Putin of sending attack helicopters to Syria for President Assad’s regime to use in its campaign to stamp out opposition.

Clinton said Moscow is lying about weapons deliveries, reports the Guardian. “We have confronted the Russians about stopping their continued arms shipments to Syria,” she stated, adding “…we are concerned about the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria which will escalate the conflict quite dramatically.”

The U.N. states that more than 10,000 people have been killed since March 2011, most of which were civilians.