Protests in Syria

[High_Gravity]

Syria Protests Descend Into War Of Attrition

BEIRUT -- Despite five months of blistering attacks on dissent, the Syrian regime has yet to score a decisive victory against a pro-democracy uprising determined to bring down the country's brutal dictatorship.

President Bashar Assad still has the military muscle to level pockets of resistance, but the conflict has robbed him of almost all international support.

Even Saudi Arabia this week called for an end to the bloodshed in Syria, the first of several Arab nations to join the growing chorus against Assad.

The Syrian leader is being watched carefully at home and abroad to see how long his iron regime – which is still strong but wobbling – will continue to use tanks, snipers and security forces on hundreds of thousands of fervent, overwhelmingly young protesters who keep coming back for more.

"Syria is not burying the revolution," said Nabil Bou Monsef, a senior analyst at the Arabic-language An-Nahar newspaper. "Protests are resuming everywhere, even in areas that were subject to crackdowns."

He added: "It is difficult for one of the sides to win. Syria has entered a war of attrition between the regime and the opposition."

There is little to stop Assad from calling upon the scorched-earth tactics that have kept his family in power for more than 40 years. A longtime pariah, Syria grew accustomed to shrugging off the world's reproach long before the regime started shooting unarmed protesters five months ago.

A military intervention has been all but ruled out, given the quagmire in Libya and the lack of any strong opposition leader in Syria to rally behind. The U.S. and other nations have little power to threaten further isolation or economic punishment of Assad's pro-Iranian regime – unlike in Egypt, where President Barack Obama was able to help usher longtime ally Hosni Mubarak out of power.

International sanctions, some of which target Assad personally, have failed to persuade him to ease his crackdown. There had been hopes, since dashed, that European Union sanctions would prove a humiliating personal blow to Assad, a 45-year-old eye doctor who trained in Britain.

Until the uprising began, Assad had cultivated an image as a modern leader in a region dominated by aging dictators. He was seen around Damascus with his glamorous wife, Asma, who grew up in London and was the subject of a glowing profile in Vogue just before the protests erupted. The couple's three small children added to their luster as youthful and energetic.

But the relentless military assaults on rebellious towns have only grown more deadly. The latest wave of bloodshed started a week ago, on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan, when tanks and snipers laid siege to Hama, a city in central Syria that had largely freed itself from government control earlier this year.

Residents were left cowering in their homes, too terrified to peek through the windows. The city is haunted by memories of the regime's tactics: In 1982, Assad's father and predecessor, Hafez, ordered the military to quell a rebellion by Syrian members of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood movement there, sealing off the city in an assault that killed between 10,000 and 25,000 people.

Since the start of Ramadan, more than 300 people have been killed in cities including Hama and Deir el-Zour, an oil-rich but largely impoverished region known for its well-armed clans and tribes whose ties extend across eastern Syria and into Iraq.

Syria Protests Descend Into War Of Attrition

 

[rhodescholar]

NATO is already coming up short in Libya and has a stalemate going on there, do you think they would fair any better in Syria? NATO could barely even admit they want Gaddafi gone.

And you think their effort in Libya is serious? Obama backed out of it as fast as that spineless toad could.

Had the US kept the major bombing campaign up, ghadafi would have been gone in a few days, if that.

The regime in syria needs to be removed, asap. The only thing propping it up is iranian loaned murderous thugs, russian cynicism for its soviet-era client and russia's desire to keep the few remaining friends it has, with access to its submarine base intact.

 

[High_Gravity]

NATO is already coming up short in Libya and has a stalemate going on there, do you think they would fair any better in Syria? NATO could barely even admit they want Gaddafi gone.

And you think their effort in Libya is serious? Obama backed out of it as fast as that spineless toad could.

Had the US kept the major bombing campaign up, ghadafi would have been gone in a few days, if that.

The regime in syria needs to be removed, asap. The only thing propping it up is iranian loaned murderous thugs, russian cynicism for its soviet-era client and russia's desire to keep the few remaining friends it has, with access to its submarine base intact.

Assad is an asshole and the regime definently needs to be removed but who will take his place? Syria is a country teeming with Islamic Militants just waiting for their day in the sun, like I said Assad is a fuckin toad but with him we know what we are getting and he has kept the peace with Israel for the most part, if the Syrian regime collapses god knows what will rise up and take control of that country, if we learned anything from Iraq its better the devil you know than the devil you don't.

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Protests: Turkey Talks To Assad Regime About Ending Violence

BEIRUT — Turkey's foreign minister said he met President Bashar Assad for more than six hours on Tuesday to discuss "concrete steps" Syria should take to stop its violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army launched a series of new raids around the country, which activists said killed 22 people.

Ahmet Davutoglu, speaking to reporters on his return to Turkey from Damascus, said the talks were cordial but did not say what steps they had discussed or whether Assad had agreed to consider them.

"We discussed ways to prevent confrontation between the army and the people in the most open and clear way," the Turkish foreign minister said.

Assad is facing growing international condemnation over the regime's deadly crackdown on a 5-month-old uprising. Envoys from India, Brazil and South Africa are also headed to Damascus to press for an end to the violence.

The visit by Davutoglu is significant because Ankara until recently had close ties to Damascus. But Turkey has become increasingly critical of its neighbor over the bloodshed.

Syria's state-run SANA news agency said Assad told Davutoglu the Syrian government will be relentless in its pursuit of "terrorist groups" to safeguard stability and security in the country. Syrian authorities blame the unrest on extremist and terrorist groups seeking to destabilize the country, as opposed to true-reform seekers. But the protesters being killed are mostly unarmed and peaceful.

SANA said Assad also pledged to press ahead with reforms. But promises reform have rung hollow, especially since they have been coupled with a bloody campaign against civilians.

Human rights groups said Tuesday that at least 22 people, including several children, were killed across Syria Tuesday.

Tanks stormed villages outside the besieged city of Hama and two towns in Idlib province, which borders Turkey, activists said.

A rights activist near Hama said military operations in the town of Tibet el-Imam just north of the city killed at least five children, four of them from the same family.

"They were playing in the fields when they were struck by gunfire," the activist said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

There was heavy machine-gun fire and reports of at least three deaths in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, which also has been a flashpoint in recent days. Four people were also killed in the town of Binnish in the north, and several others in the central city of Homs.

The reports were confirmed by the activist network the Local Coordination Committees and the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The LCC said a total of eight children were killed across the country Tuesday.

Syria has blocked nearly all outside witnesses to the violence by banning foreign media and restricting local coverage that strays from the party line that the regime is fighting thugs and religious extremists who are acting out a foreign conspiracy.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner lauded Davutoglu's visit and said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had spoken with the Turkish foreign minister.

"They did talk about the situation in Syria, you know, and we believe it's another opportunity to send yet another strong message to Assad that this crackdown on peaceful protesters cannot stand," Toner said Monday.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr joined Arab countries in warning Damascus, saying: "The situation in Syria is heading to the point of no return." In a news conference in Cairo Tuesday, Amr urged Syrian government to carry out nationwide reforms and ending the crackdown.

Syria Protests: Turkey Talks To Assad Regime About Ending Violence

 

[logical4u]

Looks like the "Arab Spring" is turning into the world-wide summer.

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Protests: Saraqeb Stormed By Army, Activists Say

BEIRUT — The Syrian army stormed a northwestern town near Turkey's border on Thursday, a day after authorities declared the military pulled out of the region, activists said.

The early morning assault on Saraqeb reflected the determination of President Bashar Assad to crush the five-month old uprising despite mounting international condemnation. The U.S. imposed new sanctions on Wednesday, and a flurry of foreign diplomats have rolled through Damascus urging Assad to end a campaign of killing that rights groups say has left about 1,700 dead since mid-March.

The attack on the town is particularly noteworthy because it sits in a province bordering Turkey. The area has witnessed intense protests against Assad's regime, forcing hundreds of Syrians to flee across the border. Turkey's foreign minister on Wednesday, a day after meeting with Assad, renewed his condemnation of the attacks.

In the latest incursion, troops stormed Saraqeb and detained at least 100 people, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Explosions and gunfire reverberated through the area after the army rolled in, said the Local Coordination Committees, an activist group that helps organize and document the protests.

The military action came a day after the information ministry ferried local journalists to Idlib, the province in which Saraqeb sits. A senior army officer told reporters that troops were withdrawing to their barracks, leaving residential districts in the province's cities.

On the same day, Syrian security forces shot dead at least 15 people in the central flashpoint city of Homs, according to the LCC.

The government justified its attacks on various cities by saying it was dealing with terrorist gangs and criminals who were fomenting unrest.

The uprising was inspired by the revolutions and calls for reform sweeping the Arab world, and activists and rights groups say most of those killed have been unarmed civilians. An aggressive new military offensive that began with the Ramadan at the start of the month killed several hundred people in just one week.

The London-based observatory said authorities on Wednesday night detained opposition figure Hassan Zahra during a raid in a Damascus suburb. Zahra, a 67-year-old member of the Communist Action Front, was detained at least once since the uprising began, it said.

International condemnation over the crackdown has been strong, and growing more forceful.

Syria Protests: Saraqeb Stormed By Army, Activists Say

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Protests: Troops Reportedly Open Fire On Thousands Of Protesters In Deir El-Zour

BEIRUT — Syrian soldiers opened fire on protesters in at least one flashpoint city and deployed across the country Friday as President Bashar Assad's embattled regime tries to crush a 5-month-old uprising despite broad international condemnation.

Activists said military raids earlier in the day killed two people.

Friday has become the main day for demonstrations in Syria, despite the near-certainty of a government crackdown with bullets and tear gas.

Syrian troops opened fire on thousands of protesters in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour after Friday prayers in two mosques, according to two main activist groups.

There was no immediate word on casualties in Deir el-Zour. But activists said Syrian troops killed two people during raids in the northern Idlib province and the suburbs of the capital, Damascus.

The protest in Deir el-Zour was significant because government forces took control of the city, along with Hama in central Syria, during deadly military assaults this week. Both cities had seen some of the largest protests in recent weeks before the government unleashed tanks and sniper to put down the revolts.

In Hama, Syrian troops surrounded mosques and set up checkpoints to head off any protests.

"There are security checkpoints every 200 meters (655 feet), they have lists and they're searching people... the mosques are surrounded by soldiers," a Hama-based activist told The Associated Press by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

He said tens of soldiers were stationed in the Assi square in Hama, which had been the main converging point for hundreds of thousands of protesters in recent weeks. Snipers were stationed on rooftops.

Syria has banned most foreign media and restricted local coverage, making it impossible to get independent confirmation of the events on the ground. The government has justified its crackdown by saying it was dealing with terrorist gangs and criminals who were fomenting unrest.

The military offensive reflects Assad's determination to crush the uprising against his rule despite mounting international condemnation, including U.S. and European sanctions.

In Washington, presidential spokesman Jay Carney stopped just short of calling for Assad's ouster, saying that Syria "would be a much better place without him."

"We believe that President Assad's opportunity to lead the transition has passed," Carney told reporters traveling on Air Force One with President Barack Obama to Michigan.

On Friday, Syrian activists said troops and tanks stormed the town of Khan Sheikhon in the northern province of Idlib amid heavy gunfire that killed one woman.

The raid is part of a military operation in the restive area near the Turkish border in the past few days. Intense protests in the region triggered a harsh government response in June and forced thousands of Syrians to flee across the border to Turkey.

Many of those who fled are still living in several refugee camps across the border.

A flurry of foreign diplomats have rolled through Damascus urging Assad to end a campaign of killing that rights groups say has left about 1,700 civilians dead since mid-March.

But Assad has brushed off the reproach. In a continuing nationwide campaign of arrests, Syrian activists said security forces detained Abdul-Karim Rihawi, the Damascus-based head of the Syrian Human Rights League. A longtime rights activist, Rihawi had been tracking government violations and documenting deaths in Syria.

Syria Protests: Troops Reportedly Open Fire On Thousands Of Protesters In Deir El-Zour

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Protests: Troops Reportedly Fire At Fleeing Families In Latakia

BEIRUT — Syrian troops besieged residential areas of two key cities Monday, firing on residents as they fled for safety and killing at least two people during broad military assaults to root out dissent against President Bashar Assad's autocratic regime, witnesses said.

Assad has dramatically escalated the crackdown on a 5-month-old uprising since the start of the holy month of Ramadan, a time of piety and reflection when many Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. Despite blistering international outrage, the regime is trying to establish firm control in rebellious areas by unleashing tanks, snipers and – in a new tactic – gunboats that fire from the sea.

The military assault in the port city of Latakia was in its third day Monday after gunboats joined ground troops Sunday for the first time in the uprising. Nearly 30 people, and possibly more, have been killed in the city since Saturday, activists say.

Soldiers also stormed the area of Houla in the central city of Homs, which has seen massive protests in recent months. A sniper killed an elderly man, according to the London-based Observatory for human rights, which has a network of activists on the ground in Syria.

The group said more than 700 people have been arrested in and around Homs since the beginning of August.

The regime has banned foreign media and restricted local coverage, making it difficult to verify accounts on the ground.

The attacks in Latakia, which started Saturday, were the latest wave of a brutal offensive that show Assad has no intention of scaling back despite international outrage and new U.S. and European sanctions.

As the gunships blasted waterfront districts Sunday, ground troops and security forces backed by tanks and armored vehicles stormed several neighborhoods, sending terrified women and children fleeing.

The Observatory said troops opened fire Monday as a group of fleeing residents approached a checkpoint in the Ein Tamra district of Latakia. One person was shot dead and five were wounded.

A Latakia resident confirmed the account, saying troops fired as scores of people, many of them women and children, were fleeing. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The Local Coordination Committees, an activist group that helps organize protests in Syria, also confirmed troops fired at fleeing families. It said random gunfire erupted Monday in addition to a campaign of raids and house-to-house arrests.

Troops later entered small neighborhoods in the al-Ramel Palestinian refugee camp, warning people to leave or risk their houses being destroyed, the LCC said. A witness said security forces were rounding up young men in the area and detaining them in a sports stadium nearby.

Amateur videos posted online by activists showed smoke rising from the al-Ramel district, the sound of heavy gunfire and people shouting, "God is Great!"

A Syrian military official on Monday denied as "absolutely baseless" reports that gunboats had fired on Latakia. The official, whose comments were carried by state-run news agency SANA, said the gunboats were patrolling the coast "on a routine mission to prevent weapons smuggling into the country."

On Sunday, SANA said troops were pursuing "gunmen using machine guns, hand grenades and bombs who have been terrorizing residents in the al-Ramel district."

The regime blames the unrest on a foreign conspiracy and often issues reports on its state-run media that contradict widespread witness accounts and video footage provided by witnesses.

The security forces appear to be intent on crushing dissent in Latakia, which has seen large anti-Assad protests since the Syrian uprising began in mid-March. On Friday, as many as 10,000 marched there, calling for the president's ouster.

Syria Protests: Troops Reportedly Fire At Fleeing Families In Latakia

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria: Dozens Detained In Overnight Raids

BEIRUT — Syrian troops detained dozens of people in a Damascus neighborhood and the coastal city of Latakia in overnight raids as President Bashar Assad's regime tried to forcefully end a five-month uprising, activists said Wednesday.

The latest arrests came as Syrian neighbors Jordan and Turkey urged Damascus to stop the crackdown and pull out army troops from cities.

In the northwestern Idlib province, a bullet killed a man as he stood on his balcony, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of people on the ground. Troops were carrying out raids in the area at the time.

Earlier Wednesday, a woman died of her wounds two days after she was injured in Latakia, according to the observatory and The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group. The LCC said a man was killed in the city late Tuesday.

The Damascus raids concentrated in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhood of Rukneddine where dozens were detained after electricity was cut in the area, the observatory said. The area has witnessed intense anti-regime protests in the past weeks.

In Latakia, hundreds of security agents conducted house-to-house raids in the al-Ramel neighborhood, the observatory and LCC said. Al-Ramel is home to a crowded Palestinian refugee camp where many low-income Syrians also live.

The Mediterranean city had been subjected to a four-day military assault that left at least 37 people dead and forced thousands to flee their homes.

Amateur videos posted online showed Syrian soldiers in SUVs and pick-up trucks as they drove in a street apparently in Latakia. The troop were greeted in al-Ramel by Assad supporters chanting "our souls and our blood we sacrifice for you Bashar."

Another video showed a military helicopter flying over the coast.

The Associated Press could not verify the videos. Syria has banned most foreign media and restricted local coverage, making it impossible to get independent confirmation of the events on the ground.

Assad has dramatically escalated the crackdown on the uprising in August at the start of the holy month of Ramadan. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands detained. Despite broad international condemnation, the regime has unleashed tanks, ground troops and snipers in an attempt to retake control in rebellious areas.

The military operations have targeted Latakia, the opposition stronghold of Hama, the central city of Homs, and the eastern city of Deir el-Zour.

The regime insists its crackdown is aimed at rooting out terrorists fomenting unrest in the country. But various human rights groups have accused Syrian troops of firing on largely unarmed protesters and say more than 1,800 civilians have been killed since the uprising erupted in mid-March.

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Jordan renewed their call on Damascus to immediately end its crackdown.

In a joint news conference held on the sidelines of an Islamic nations' meeting to discuss famine in Somalia, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: "The bloodshed must stop, all soldiers must be withdrawn from the cities and life in these cities must return to normal."

Syria: Dozens Detained In Overnight Raids

 

[High_Gravity]

Obama: Syrian President Assad Must Step Down

After months of stepping gingerly around calls that he firmly reject the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad, President Obama today joined other world leaders in demanding that Assad step down.

"The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way," Obama said in a statement this morning. "His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing and slaughtering his own people. We have consistently said that President Assad must lead a democratic transition or get out of the way. He has not led. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside."

For the past several months, the Assad regime has launched military strikes against civilian protesters in a number of cities around the country as part of an effort to crush an anti-regime uprising. Thousands of civilians have been reportedly killed in the process.

Obama was joined by half a dozen other world leaders who released simultaneous statements condemning Assad and calling for him to leave office.

A statement from the leaders of the UK, France and Germany said:

Our three countries believe that President Assad, who is resorting to brutal military force against his own people and who is responsible for the situation, has lost all legitimacy and can no longer claim to lead the country. We call on him to face the reality of the complete rejection of his regime by the Syrian people and to step aside in the best interests of Syria and the unity of its people.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper also put out a call for Assad to leave office:

Canada reiterates its strong condemnation of the ongoing violent military assault by the Assad regime against the Syrian people. This campaign of terror must stop.
The Assad regime has lost all legitimacy by killing its own people to stay in power.

I join with President Obama and other members of the international community in calling on President Assad to vacate his position, relinquish power and step down immediately. The Syrian people have a right to decide for themselves the next steps for Syria's future.

Obama: Syrian President Assad Must Step Down

 

[High_Gravity]

U.N. Syria Mission Finds Systematic Human Rights Violations

GENEVA — Government forces in Syria may have committed crimes against humanity by conducting summary executions, torturing prisoners and targeting children in their crackdown against opposition protesters, a high-level U.N. human rights team said Thursday.

Their report recommends that the U.N. Security Council refer Syria to the International Criminal Court for prosecution of alleged atrocities, a move that is likely to be discussed by the council at a closed-door session in New York later Thursday.

"The mission found a pattern of human rights violations that constitutes widespread or systematic attacks against the civilian population, which may amount to crimes against humanity," the U.N. investigators said in their 22-page report.

Crimes against humanity are considered the most serious of all international human rights violations after genocide.

The report's findings comes as President Barack Obama and a slate of European leaders called on Syria's President Bashar Assad to step down, saying his brutal suppression of his people had made him unfit to lead.

Among the specific atrocities mentioned in the report are the alleged execution of 26 blindfolded men at a football stadium in the southern city of Daraa on May 1; indiscriminate firing of live ammunition at peaceful demonstrators using snipers and helicopters, resulting in the death of hundreds of people including women and children; and the killing of injured protesters in hospitals – including by locking people in morgue refrigerators alive.

"Children have not only been targeted by security forces, but they have been repeatedly subject to the same human rights and criminal violations as adults, including torture," the report found. It cited the case of 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib from the southern village of Jiza, whose mutilated body, with his penis severed, was delivered to his family weeks after he disappeared April 29.

Eyewitnesses provided the investigators with names of 353 people who were summarily executed, and corroborated accounts of Syrian security forces posing as civilians who acted as 'agents provocateurs,' causing unrest during demonstrations, the report said.

The U.N. team, led by Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang, was denied access to Syria itself, but conducted interviews March 15 to July 15 with witnesses in the region, including protesters and former members of the security forces who had deserted and fled the country.

The investigators also examined video evidence and photographs of alleged abuses, and invited comment from the Syrian government on the allegations.

They concluded that at least 1,900 people had been killed in the unrest by mid-July, a figure the Syrian government confirmed but said included at least 260 members of the security forces.

The Syrian government told the U.N. team that it had instituted several political reforms in response to protesters' demands, and set up investigations into alleged abuses. But the government of President Bashar Assad claimed media organizations had distorted facts about the events in Syria, and accused the U.N. team of bias for referring to the Alawite sect – of which Assad is a member – as a "repressive minority."

The authors of the report said they have compiled a confidential list of 50 alleged perpetrators at "various levels" of Assad's government, who could face prosecution before the International Criminal Court. Syria hasn't ratified the Rome Statutes, which would give the ICC automatic power to prosecute alleged abuses. But the U.N. Security Council can also refer countries to the Hague, Netherlands-based tribunal.

U.N. Syria Mission Finds Systematic Human Rights Violations

 

[logical4u]

U.N. Syria Mission Finds Systematic Human Rights Violations

GENEVA — Government forces in Syria may have committed crimes against humanity by conducting summary executions, torturing prisoners and targeting children in their crackdown against opposition protesters, a high-level U.N. human rights team said Thursday.

Their report recommends that the U.N. Security Council refer Syria to the International Criminal Court for prosecution of alleged atrocities, a move that is likely to be discussed by the council at a closed-door session in New York later Thursday.

"The mission found a pattern of human rights violations that constitutes widespread or systematic attacks against the civilian population, which may amount to crimes against humanity," the U.N. investigators said in their 22-page report.

Crimes against humanity are considered the most serious of all international human rights violations after genocide.

The report's findings comes as President Barack Obama and a slate of European leaders called on Syria's President Bashar Assad to step down, saying his brutal suppression of his people had made him unfit to lead.

Among the specific atrocities mentioned in the report are the alleged execution of 26 blindfolded men at a football stadium in the southern city of Daraa on May 1; indiscriminate firing of live ammunition at peaceful demonstrators using snipers and helicopters, resulting in the death of hundreds of people including women and children; and the killing of injured protesters in hospitals – including by locking people in morgue refrigerators alive.

"Children have not only been targeted by security forces, but they have been repeatedly subject to the same human rights and criminal violations as adults, including torture," the report found. It cited the case of 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib from the southern village of Jiza, whose mutilated body, with his penis severed, was delivered to his family weeks after he disappeared April 29.

Eyewitnesses provided the investigators with names of 353 people who were summarily executed, and corroborated accounts of Syrian security forces posing as civilians who acted as 'agents provocateurs,' causing unrest during demonstrations, the report said.

The U.N. team, led by Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang, was denied access to Syria itself, but conducted interviews March 15 to July 15 with witnesses in the region, including protesters and former members of the security forces who had deserted and fled the country.

The investigators also examined video evidence and photographs of alleged abuses, and invited comment from the Syrian government on the allegations.

They concluded that at least 1,900 people had been killed in the unrest by mid-July, a figure the Syrian government confirmed but said included at least 260 members of the security forces.

The Syrian government told the U.N. team that it had instituted several political reforms in response to protesters' demands, and set up investigations into alleged abuses. But the government of President Bashar Assad claimed media organizations had distorted facts about the events in Syria, and accused the U.N. team of bias for referring to the Alawite sect – of which Assad is a member – as a "repressive minority."

The authors of the report said they have compiled a confidential list of 50 alleged perpetrators at "various levels" of Assad's government, who could face prosecution before the International Criminal Court. Syria hasn't ratified the Rome Statutes, which would give the ICC automatic power to prosecute alleged abuses. But the U.N. Security Council can also refer countries to the Hague, Netherlands-based tribunal.

U.N. Syria Mission Finds Systematic Human Rights Violations

Hold onto your hats, here goes another islamic dictatorship biting the dust to be replaced with something just as bad, if not worse.

 

[High_Gravity]

U.N. Syria Mission Finds Systematic Human Rights Violations

GENEVA — Government forces in Syria may have committed crimes against humanity by conducting summary executions, torturing prisoners and targeting children in their crackdown against opposition protesters, a high-level U.N. human rights team said Thursday.

Their report recommends that the U.N. Security Council refer Syria to the International Criminal Court for prosecution of alleged atrocities, a move that is likely to be discussed by the council at a closed-door session in New York later Thursday.

"The mission found a pattern of human rights violations that constitutes widespread or systematic attacks against the civilian population, which may amount to crimes against humanity," the U.N. investigators said in their 22-page report.

Crimes against humanity are considered the most serious of all international human rights violations after genocide.

The report's findings comes as President Barack Obama and a slate of European leaders called on Syria's President Bashar Assad to step down, saying his brutal suppression of his people had made him unfit to lead.

Among the specific atrocities mentioned in the report are the alleged execution of 26 blindfolded men at a football stadium in the southern city of Daraa on May 1; indiscriminate firing of live ammunition at peaceful demonstrators using snipers and helicopters, resulting in the death of hundreds of people including women and children; and the killing of injured protesters in hospitals – including by locking people in morgue refrigerators alive.

"Children have not only been targeted by security forces, but they have been repeatedly subject to the same human rights and criminal violations as adults, including torture," the report found. It cited the case of 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib from the southern village of Jiza, whose mutilated body, with his penis severed, was delivered to his family weeks after he disappeared April 29.

Eyewitnesses provided the investigators with names of 353 people who were summarily executed, and corroborated accounts of Syrian security forces posing as civilians who acted as 'agents provocateurs,' causing unrest during demonstrations, the report said.

The U.N. team, led by Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang, was denied access to Syria itself, but conducted interviews March 15 to July 15 with witnesses in the region, including protesters and former members of the security forces who had deserted and fled the country.

The investigators also examined video evidence and photographs of alleged abuses, and invited comment from the Syrian government on the allegations.

They concluded that at least 1,900 people had been killed in the unrest by mid-July, a figure the Syrian government confirmed but said included at least 260 members of the security forces.

The Syrian government told the U.N. team that it had instituted several political reforms in response to protesters' demands, and set up investigations into alleged abuses. But the government of President Bashar Assad claimed media organizations had distorted facts about the events in Syria, and accused the U.N. team of bias for referring to the Alawite sect – of which Assad is a member – as a "repressive minority."

The authors of the report said they have compiled a confidential list of 50 alleged perpetrators at "various levels" of Assad's government, who could face prosecution before the International Criminal Court. Syria hasn't ratified the Rome Statutes, which would give the ICC automatic power to prosecute alleged abuses. But the U.N. Security Council can also refer countries to the Hague, Netherlands-based tribunal.

U.N. Syria Mission Finds Systematic Human Rights Violations

Hold onto your hats, here goes another islamic dictatorship biting the dust to be replaced with something just as bad, if not worse.

The sad thing is the Assad regime was not that religious, women didn't have to cover up, they sell alcohol and have night clubs in Damascus. My money is on a religious dictatorship rising up and covering up the women, pouring all the booze down the drain and shutting down the club.

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria: Security Forces Shoot At Thousands Of Protesters

BEIRUT — Syrian security forces fired at thousands of protesters who poured into the streets throughout the country Friday, killing at least 10 people one day after the United States and its European allies demanded that President Bashar Assad step down, activists said.

Soldiers, tanks and armored personnel carriers were deployed in restive cities, despite Assad's assurances to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that military and police operations had stopped. The harsh statements by President Barack Obama and European leaders also appeared to have no immediate effect.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and The Local Coordination Committees, a group that documents anti-regime protests, said demonstrations took place in the capital Damascus, the central city of Homs, the southern province of Daraa, the coastal city of Latakia, the eastern city of Deir el-Zour and other areas.

The observatory said five people were killed in the southern village of Ghabagheb, three in the nearby village of Hirak and one each in Homs and the southern village of Inkhil. LCC said that 12 people were killed in different areas, mostly south of the country.

It was impossible to independently verify the death toll because Syria has banned foreign reporters and restricted coverage by local media.

There also was a wave of arrests Friday.

Protests also erupted Thursday night – part of a growing trend of evening protests when security forces tend to thin out. The observatory and The LCC said shootings on Thursday killed one person in a Damascus suburb and another died of his wounds early Friday in the central city of Homs.

Syrian state TV said gunmen shot dead one policeman and wounded four in the Damascus suburb of Harasta while four policemen were wounded in Inkhil on Friday.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the observatory, said there was wide security deployment including armored personnel carriers.

"I've seen soldiers walking through the streets of the city," said an activist in Homs who asked that her name not be mentioned for fear of government reprisals. "But I can't hear gunfire, and I don't believe they are shooting."

Assad is coming under mounting criticism for his crackdown on a 5-month uprising. Human rights groups and witnesses accuse Syrian troops of firing on largely unarmed protesters and say more than 1,800 civilians have been killed since mid-March.

Activists posted an amateur video online Friday showing two soldiers in uniform slapping and kicking about a dozen detainees inside a bus and forcing them to chant "our souls, our blood we sacrifice for you Bashar," and "God, Syria and Bashar only."

The Associated Press could not verify the videos.

On Thursday, Obama said Assad has overseen a vicious onslaught of his people as they protest for freedom. It was Obama's first explicit call for Assad to step down.

Syria: Security Forces Shoot At Thousands Of Protesters

 

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Russia Against Western Calls For Assad To Resign

MOSCOW — Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday cautioned the West against encouraging the Syrian opposition, and said it doesn't support Western calls for President Bashar Assad to resign.

Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement that Russia believes Assad must be given sufficient time to fulfill promises of reform as he has already made "some significant steps" – including lifting the state of emergency and issuing a decree allowing peaceful demonstrations.

He added that Russia disagrees with the United States and the European Union, who have urged Assad to step down.

Lukashevich said Russia is concerned about the situation in Syria, and reports of "people dying there."

He described Syria as "one of the fulcrums of the Middle East," adding that "its destabilization would have the gravest consequences for the entire region," and called for the international community to give Syrians a "clear and unequivocal signal about the need to end all kind of violence."

His call for an end to the violence, however, was not just aimed at Assad.The opposition, he said, must be encouraged to "enter a dialogue with authorities and disassociate itself from the extremists."

"Our deep belief is that radical forces that are stirring up tensions in Syria mustn't be encouraged from the outside," Lukashevich said.

Russia, which had close political and military ties with Syria during Soviet times, has opposed a Western push for sanctions against Assad's regime.

Moscow also has continued to provide Syria with weapons despite U.S. and Israeli protests. On Thursday, the chief of Russia's state arms trader Rosoboronexport, Anatoly Isaikin, said Moscow will keep supplying combat jets and other military gear to Syria under contracts totaling about $3.5 billion (euro2.43 billion).

Russia Against Western Calls For Assad To Resign

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Protesters: Gaddafi Is Gone, Assad Will Follow

BEIRUT — Taking inspiration from the rapid unraveling of the regime in Libya, thousands of Syrians poured into the streets Monday and taunted President Bashar Assad with shouts that his family's 40-year dynasty will be the next dictatorship to crumble.

Assad, who has tried in vain to crush the 5-month-old revolt, appears increasingly out of touch as he refuses to acknowledge the hundreds of thousands of people demanding his ouster, analysts say. Instead, he blames the unrest on Islamic extremists and thugs.

But many observers say Assad should heed the lessons of Libya.

"Gadhafi is gone; now it's your turn, Bashar!" protesters shouted in several cities across the country hours after Assad dismissed calls to step down during an interview on state TV. Security forces opened fire in the central city of Homs, killing at least one person.

"Leaders should know that they will be able to remain in power as long as they remain sensitive to the demands of the people," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, according to Turkey's Anatolia news agency.

Turkey, a former close ally of Syria and an important trade partner, has grown increasingly frustrated with Damascus over its deadly crackdown. The violence has left Syria facing the most serious international isolation in decades, with widespread calls for Assad to step down.

Human rights groups say more than 2,000 people – most of them unarmed protesters – have been killed in the government's crackdown on the uprising.

Britain's Defense Secretary Liam Fox told BBC radio that Assad would "be thinking again in light of what has happened in Tripoli overnight."

"There is an unavoidable change in the area – and I think the message to those in that region is that if you do not allow change to be a process it can become an event," he said.

Syria presented a different case than other Arab nations swept by unrest this year.

A military intervention has been all but ruled out, given the quagmire in Libya and the lack of any strong opposition leader in Syria to rally behind. The U.S. and other nations have little leverage to threaten further isolation or economic punishment of Assad's pro-Iranian regime.

With neither side in the conflict showing any signs of backing down, many fear a drawn-out and bloody stalemate.

"What is so shocking is that the Syrian people have been really resilient, determined to continue to fight the regime for almost half a year and this is something, I believe, (Assad) did not count on," said Labib Kamhawi, a political analyst in Jordan.

Assad has had four public appearances since the uprising began in March, the latest one on Sunday night. His remarks have stayed remarkably similar even as the uprising gained momentum, with the president trying to convey a sense of confidence while insisting his security forces were fighting a foreign conspiracy to stir up sectarian strife.

He has also pledged reforms, but the opposition says the promises are empty.

Assad told state-run TV Sunday that he was not worried about security in his country and warned against any Libya-style foreign military intervention.

On Monday, the state news agency said Assad formed a committee to pave the way for the formation of political groups other than his Baath party, which has held a monopoly in Syria for decades. The opposition rejected Assad's remarks, saying they have lost confidence in his promises of reform while his forces open fire on peaceful protesters.

Also Monday, a witness said several thousand people converged on the main square in Homs known as Clock Square after they heard that a U.N. humanitarian team was to visit the city. He said security forces opened fire on the protesters, killing one and wounding several others.

"Simply, without any introductions, they started shooting at them," he said, asking that his name not be used for fear of government reprisals.

Syria granted a U.N. team permission to visit some of the centers of the protests and crackdown to assess humanitarian needs, but activists and a Western diplomat have accused the regime of trying to scrub away signs of the crackdown.

Syria Protesters: Gaddafi Is Gone, Assad Will Follow

 

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Syria: Tanks Reportedly Storm Deir El-Zour

BEIRUT — Syrian activists said tanks stormed an eastern city and made sweeping arrests there Wednesday as the regime faced international threats of an arms embargo and new sanctions.

Citing witnesses, the activist group called the Local Coordination Committees said tanks rolled into Deir el-Zour early Wednesday. Deir el-Zour is an oil-rich but impoverished region known for its well-armed clans and tribes whose ties extend across eastern Syria and into Iraq.

The uprising in Syria has lasted for more than five months and shows no signs of stopping. With President Bashar Assad's forces cracking down on the protests, the overall death toll has reached 2,200 since March, the United Nations said this week.

On Tuesday, European nations and the U.S. circulated a draft U.N. Security Council resolution seeking an arms embargo and other sanctions aimed at stopping the crackdown. Syria already is under broad sanctions from the U.S. and European countries, but there are calls for stricter measures now.

Assad has shrugged off broad international condemnation and calls for him to step down, insisting that armed gang and thugs are driving the violence, not true reform-seekers.

Syria has banned foreign media and restricted local coverage, making it impossible to independently confirm events on the ground. While widespread witness accounts and amateur video footage describe a brutal crackdown by security forces, Syria's state-run news agency says security forces are the real victims of well-armed gunmen and religious extremists.

On Wednesday, the official news agency, SANA, released gruesome pictures of 14 decomposing corpses, saying "armed terrorist groups" kidnapped and tortured them in recent days and dumped their bodies around Homs, a city in central Syria that has been a hotbed of protests.

Syria: Tanks Reportedly Storm Deir El-Zour

 

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Syria: Crackdown Continues Despite International Pressure

BEIRUT — Syrian gunmen attacked a renowned anti-regime cartoonist early Thursday in Damascus and left him bleeding along the side of a road, human rights activists said.

Ali Ferzat, who is in his 60s, was hospitalized after passers-by found him "heavily beaten and physically abused," said Omar Idilbi, a spokesman for the Local Coordination Committees, an activist group that helps organize and track the 5-month-old uprising in Syria.

Idilbi said security forces carried out the attack, although Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the identity of the attackers could not immediately be confirmed.

Syria has banned foreign journalists and restricted local coverage, making it difficult to confirm events on the ground during a time of great upheaval in the country.

Ferzat has said he had great hopes for President Bashar Assad when he became president in 2000, but in recent years he has become a vehement critic of the regime, particularly as the military launches a brutal crackdown on the country's protest movement.

Human rights groups said Assad's forces have killed more than 2,000 people since the uprising against his autocratic rule erupted in mid-March, touched off by the wave of revolutions sweeping the Arab world.

Activists said at least 11 people were killed on Wednesday, most of them in the central city of Homs.

Assad has shrugged off international condemnation and calls for him to step down, insisting that armed gang and thugs are driving the violence, not true reform-seekers.

The crackdown has led to broad international condemnation and sanctions, although French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday ruled out intervening in Syria without international backing.

"As for Syria, the conditions for a military intervention are not in place ... France will not intervene without an international resolution. That's the basis," Sarkozy said during a news conference in Paris with Mahmoud Jibril, the head of Libya's opposition government.

"That doesn't mean that we can let the Syrian people get massacred by a regime that disqualifies itself from one day to the next," he said.

Also Wednesday, the European Union imposed sanctions against an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, saying the Quds Force is providing equipment and other support to help Assad crush the revolt.

The sanctions broadened the international pressure against Syria by directly targeting its key ally Iran, which the U.S. and other nations have accused of aiding the crackdown.

The EU's official journal, which published the statement, said the Quds Force "has provided technical assistance, equipment and support to the Syrian security services to repress civilian protest movements."

Other new targets of the sanctions include several Syrian generals and close associates of Assad's younger brother, Maher, who is believed to be in command of much of the crackdown. Hassan Turkmani, a former defense minister and special envoy for Bashar Assad, also was named.

The EU blacklist on Syria now contains 50 people and nine entities who face asset freezes and travel bans as punishment for one of the deadliest government crackdowns of the Arab Spring. Syria already is under broad sanctions from the U.S. and European countries, but calls for stricter measures have been on the rise.

Syria: Crackdown Continues Despite International Pressure

 

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Russia, China resist U.N. Syria sanctions push: envoys

(Reuters) - The U.S. and European push to impose U.N. Security Council sanctions on Syria for its bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators is meeting fierce resistance from Russia and China, U.N. diplomats said.

The United States, Britain, France, Germany and Portugal circulated a draft resolution that calls for sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, influential members of his family and close associates. They said they wanted to put the draft to a vote as soon as possible.

The measures are not as severe as U.S. sanctions in place and a proposed expansion of European Union steps against Damascus that would forbid the import of Syrian oil.

Diplomats said there are no plans for a vote yet.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin has hinted that Moscow would use its veto power to knock down the draft if it was put to a vote at the present time. Western diplomats said that Russia and China were refusing to discuss the draft.

"The Russians say they have no instructions," a diplomat told Reuters on Friday on condition of anonymity.

As a result, Western diplomats in New York said their capitals would have to get involved to persuade Moscow and Beijing to join negotiations on the draft resolution to reach a consensus among the 15 Security Council members.

"Clearly we need this to be unlocked at the capital level because there is very strong resistance from Russia and China," a diplomat said.

Brazil, India and South Africa have also been reluctant to sanction -- or even condemn -- Syria, whose five-month crackdown on demonstrators has killed at 2,200, according to U.N. figures from earlier this week.

But one diplomat said that the three powerful developing countries, all three of which aspire to one day become permanent members of an expanded Security Council, were now "constructively engaging on the text."

Russia, China resist U.N. Syria sanctions push: envoys | Reuters

 

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Syria: Troops Kill 7 Despite Start Of Muslim Holiday

BEIRUT — Syrian security forces killed at least seven people, including a 13-year-old boy, as thousands of protesters poured out of mosques and marched through cemeteries Tuesday at the start of Eid al-Fitr, a holiday when pious Muslims traditionally visit graves and pray for the dead.

The three-day holiday marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, a time of introspection that many protesters had hoped would become a turning point in the 5-month-old uprising. Instead, the government crackdown on dissent intensified and the conflict has become a bloody stalemate.

"They can shoot and kill as much as they want, we will not stop calling for regime change," an activist in Daraa told The Associated Press by telephone, asking for anonymity out of fear of reprisals.

In Washington, the Obama administration announced a new set of sanctions on Syria. The regulations ban Americans from doing business with President Bashar Assad's foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, and two other senior officials, senior adviser Buthaina Shaaban; and Ali Abdul Karim Ali, Syria's ambassador to Lebanon. The Treasury Department's action Tuesday also blocks any assets the Syrian officials may have in the United States.

Tuesday's bloodshed was in the southern province of Daraa, the central city of Homs and the capital, Damascus, and its suburbs. Amateur videos posted by activists online showed protesters calling for the downfall of the regime and even the execution of Assad – a sign of how much the uprising against Assad has grown in both size and anger over the past five months.

The uprising began with modest calls for reform in Syria, an autocratic state that has been ruled by the same family for more than 40 years. But as the government crackdown escalated, so too did the protesters' demands. Now, most protesters are demanding nothing less than the downfall of the regime.

In the northern province of Idlib, a few hundred protesters marched with flower wreaths decorated with the Syrian flag and pictures of dead relatives. Many shouted: "Bashar, we don't want you!"

The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, said six protesters were killed in Daraa province and one in Homs. An activist in Daraa confirmed the six deaths in Daraa, saying four were killed in the village of al-Harra and two others in Inkhil.

The deaths in al-Harra included a 13-year-old boy, they said.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported heavy gunfire in the Qaboun district of the capital Damascus, with five people injured.

State-run news agency SANA said Assad performed Eid prayers in the Hafez Assad Mosque in the capital, named after Assad's father, who ruled Syria with an iron fist for three decades until his death in 2000.

The U.N. says more than 2,200 people have been killed since the uprising erupted in March, touched off by the wave of revolutions sweeping the Arab world.

The government crackdown escalated dramatically at the start of Ramadan, when Muslims typically gather in mosques during the month for special nightly prayers after breaking the dawn-to-dusk fast.

Syria: Troops Kill 7 Despite Start Of Muslim Holiday