UN Observer In Idlib Shown Fleeing Gunfire In Footage Uploaded By Activist

New footage uploaded to YouTube purportedly shows a UN observer under attack in Idlib, Syria.

The convoy of a team of UN observers came under attack on May 15, 2012, in the province of Khan Sheikhoun. While none of the observers were injured, they were stranded and forced to spend the night with rebel forces, Reuters reports.

The footage below allegedly shows a member of the UN observer team during the attack in Khan Sheikhoun. The videos, tweeted on Thursday by user @HamaEcho, could not be independently verified.

In the first, a man wearing a blue UN observer vest army-crawls away from the fire before being pulled from the street by two men.

In the second, longer video, a white truck marked 'UN' is visible through the shaky camerawork.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that 12,000 people have been killed since the uprising in Syria began in March of last year.

Click here to read more and follow the latest updates on Syria.

Comments

[Farmers Market]

05:13 PM on 05/18/2012

Whose purpose does Al Qaeda serve?

1. Al Qaeda attacked Ghaddafi whose downfall was the stated aim of the West
2. Al Qaeda is now attacking Assad whose downfall is the stated aim of the United States and Israel.

Is Al Qaeda a creation of the West? If the West set out to create a shadowy terrorist group to serve their imperial purposes, it could not have done a better job.

[Leon Engelun]

08:39 AM on 05/18/2012

it says that 12000 have died in the past year since the fighting began. More than that have died in Mexico.

[oceanwalker100]

08:15 AM on 05/18/2012

Close the UN they are a waste.if they were any good there would not be war or make them the police force of the world and not the USA The USA is in debt it does not need to keep going to war and costing other countries money to join us in war.War cannot be won under the UN flag time for the USA to pull out of the UN.

[Eugene Pool]

10:25 AM on 05/18/2012

Good riddence. Pay your dues and be gone.

[Thalin Lea]

11:53 PM on 05/17/2012

The only ones how are wining this endless war is the arms manufacturers, They are becoming richer every time every time a bullet is fired.

when they have no one else to kill, then they will invent a way to procreate more lives again. it is a string that does not end

[Matt Owens]

08:45 PM on 05/17/2012

I don't understand why Muslims yell "Allahu Akbar" during the most inopportune moments. Why yell "God is great" during a firefight? I would probably feel the opposite about god if I were there. But hey, I'm just a white, Anglo crusader. What do I know?

[TavernAle]

09:40 PM on 05/17/2012

I like 'damn the torpedoes full speed ahead'. When you know that you are going into a hail of fire that is the time to say something that would remain in people's minds and maybe be said in the history books. What would you say?

[Eugene Pool]

10:21 AM on 05/18/2012

I dunno, it makes sense to me. The Crusaders yelled "the Cross will conqour' or, agian, 'God is great' back in the day too.

I think in modern times it's ment more of a prayer or ment as triumpant defiance.
*shrug* I usally just scream obsenities myself.

[Liban CZ]

08:30 PM on 05/17/2012

UN observer? Is that Suzane?

[TavernAle]

09:42 PM on 05/17/2012

At least the UN observer can report back to the UN that he observed being shot at and that they need to pay him hazard pay.

[wom122]

07:44 PM on 05/17/2012

Cui bono?

[britamer1]

06:25 PM on 05/17/2012

What a farce! Just what did those useless UN diplomats think they were going to accomplish sending UNARMED personnel to Syira? The UN is as useless as you know what on a bull. Costs the American tax payer a bomb to keep 99% of them in a manner only one persent of their countrymen have at home. All talk and no do. Might just as well teach them the WWII French salute for all their worth.

[alhorvath]

04:11 PM on 05/17/2012

The UN is pathetic.

[TavernAle]

09:45 PM on 05/17/2012

Why do the UN patriots have to wear those blue uniforms. They stick out like a sour thumb. Why not have camouflaged uniforms? They are less likely to be shot at by the Syrians and they would be more suited to observe from their concealed clothing.

[Leon Engelun]

08:36 AM on 05/18/2012

I was thinking of blaze orange.

[Eugene Pool]

10:24 AM on 05/18/2012

Thats the problem, they look like enemy soldiers at that point and would be more likey to be shot at by accident.
I'd just as soon have ir and if&f becons to flash when entering a free fire zone- putting them on top of ambulences would be super too :/

[escholar]

03:52 PM on 05/17/2012

What Happened? -
The UN observers may have come under attack, but what were the circumstances? Were the Syrian forces receiving fire from or near the location of the UN observers? Did Syrian forces have the right to respond? Were the UN observers fired on by Syrian forces or fighters posing as Syrian forces? And has the video been independently verified?
There have been many fabricated videos in the Syrian conflict and so before anyone can draw any conclusions, a number of important questions need to be answered.
Who will benefit and who will look bad, if UN observers are harmed in Syria? Will Syria gain or will the Syrian rebels gain? Who would want the UN observers harmed?

- http://www.infowars.com/al-qaeda-rebel-pictured-with-un-observers-in-syria/

[Justin McClure]

07:45 PM on 05/17/2012

So the dude wearing a shirt has been "independently verified" as al-Qaeda?

Propaganda is part of this theater, as well as every theater. I am however very sure Assad has played a significant and well involved role in not only the civil war that he brought to his country by being the Authoritarian leader he is, but his family (father specifically) and close aids created the bath of blood this country is going through right now.

Tell me if you would sit by idle if the same thing was happening here? Never mind the fact that you are getting your information from a legitimate conspiracy theorist (literal definition).

[escholar]

05:50 AM on 05/18/2012

You are right, we do not know if the man in the link has been independently verified as Al Qaeda, but also, so far no one has denied that he is not.
Without a doubt there is propaganda from both sides. How would any government, democratic or dictatorship react to an armed rebellion on it's soil? The Syrian government does bare some responsibilty, but so do the rebels and their supporters. The Syrian rebels took up arms, because there were people outside Syria willing and eager to arm them.
Without foreign arms going to the rebels, you wouldn't have a civil war and the rebels might have persued their cause on the Egyptian model, throught protests, strikes and boycotts, with fewer deaths.
Abscent foreign backing the Syrian rebels, will have no option but seek peaceful means, while taking lesser casualties, like in Egypt.
No is suggesting the Syrian people do nothing, but would there be as much blooshed in Syria, if someone wasn't supplying the Syrian opposition with arms.
There are many examples where a peoples movement achieved freedom, without a civil war. The price of removing a ditatorship militarily is always high.

[Jan Harper]

03:37 PM on 05/17/2012

I told you the FSA would try to grease some blue helmets to blame it on the Assad regime.

[Bradley Greig Smith]

03:31 PM on 05/17/2012

So someone, we don't know who, was shooting around UN observers.

Let me ask one simple question. Why would Assad want to tick off the observers and possible end up with an invasion? He has no motive to do this, but the "rebels" do.

I see people saying that he has to go. Really? Who is the alternative? Who is going to step into this power vacuum?

What nation on Earth had the power and the motive to get rid of him? Only the US does so calling for regime change really means another US war, is that what you want?

[terroristmd]

05:54 PM on 05/17/2012

I completely agree Bradley...the most we should be doing is sealing the borders so the mess doesn't spill back into Iraq.

[scole77777]

03:09 PM on 05/17/2012

And who is shooting at them? Assad's peeps or terrorists?

[arachnenetworker]

03:42 PM on 05/17/2012

Assad's goons ARE the terrorists. Since the UN observers were pulled out of the line of fire by resistance forces and spent the night with them, it seems pretty obvious who was doing the shooting.

[scole77777]

04:31 PM on 05/17/2012

I ask bc Assad claims it is terrorists, yet everyone else claims it is Assad's goons...

[terroristmd]

05:53 PM on 05/17/2012

So it couldn't have possibly been rebels firing at the UN and having their other rebel buddies pull them out of the fire? Think about what Syria has to gain by killing the unarmed UN members compared to the rebels gains...to me this is the rebel/Al Qaida or whatever flavor of the month resistance group playing the only card they have left in their deck, get UN on their side.

[Jan Harper]

03:56 PM on 05/17/2012

The only people who gain from shooting at them. The rebels.

Afterall, the UN are invited guests of the Syrian government and are protected by the Syrian government. Syria's government doesn't use IED's.

[scole77777]

04:33 PM on 05/17/2012

So it is terrorists...like Assad is claiming. I would assume Syria's military (ie. Assad's goons) were the ones pulling the UN peeps out of the line of fire. Thanks for clarifying!

[cornel]

03:05 PM on 05/17/2012

Lost cause

[Jasper Neville]

02:57 PM on 05/17/2012

Could it be that the UN is the problem?

[DRock067]

03:46 PM on 05/17/2012

of course!!! i would start shooting if I had seen unarmed, blue vest wearing, observers getting out of a Toyota Land Cruiser with big UN letters on the side

[Jasper Neville]

04:29 PM on 05/17/2012

I guess you saw them, you were there... or did you let the 'news' dictate your contrived perspective? One of the unquestioning believers barking about something they heard on TV- so americaKan