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BEIRUT -- Dozens of soldiers and security forces were gunned down by suspected army defectors in southern Syria, a deadly ambush that comes as President Bashar Assad increasingly appears unable to manage the crisis, activists said Tuesday.
Monday's hours-long clash in the southern province of Daraa came on a particularly bloody day in Syria, with as many as 90 people killed across the country. The brazen attack by the army defectors suggested a new confidence among troops who have sided with the protesters and highlighted the potential for an armed confrontation to escalate.
The U.N. estimates the regime's military crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising has killed 3,500 people in the past eight months. November is shaping up to be the bloodiest month of the revolt, with well over 300 people killed so far.
The latest death toll was compiled by sources including British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Local Coordination Committees activist coalition and morgue officials.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the observatory, confirmed that 34 soldiers were killed in an ambush in Daraa, the birthplace of the uprising that began in mid-March, inspired by successful revolts in Tunisia, Egypt and later Libya.
Although activists say the protests have remained largely peaceful, with demonstrators calling for the regime's downfall, an armed insurgency has developed in recent months targeting Assad's military and security forces.
Assad is facing the most severe challenge to his family's four-decade rule in Syria, with former allies as well as Western nations using increasingly harsh rhetoric in urging him to stop his bloody crackdown. On Tuesday, Turkey said it no longer has confidence in the Syrian regime and warned Assad that his brutal crackdown threatens to place him on a list of leaders who "feed on blood."
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's comments were a blow to Syria, because the countries once cultivated close ties. But Turkish leaders have grown increasingly frustrated with Damascus over its refusal to halt the attacks on protesters.
On Monday, Jordan's King Abdullah II said Assad should step down for the good of his country, the first Arab leader to publicly make such a call.
That prompted pro-government protesters to converge on Jordan's embassy in Damascus, with three of them scaling the fence and ripping down the Jordanian flag the latest in a string of attacks on foreign missions. Jordan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Kayed said no one entered the embassy and no injuries occurred.
Monday's bloodiest attacks were in Daraa province, along the Jordanian border, including the attack that killed 34 soldiers. According to the observatory, 12 defectors and 23 civilians also killed in the area.
A resident near the town of Khirbet Ghazaleh in Daraa province said he heard more than four hours of intense gunfire. He asked that his name not be used for fear of government reprisals.
Another witness, who is an activist in the area, said he counted the bodies of 12 people, believed to be civilians killed by security forces' fire.
"I saw two army armored personnel carriers, totally burnt," he told The Associated Press by telephone. He also asked for anonymity out of fear for his safety.
In the restive city of Homs, the morgue received 19 corpses, all of them shot.
Other activist groups had slightly different figures of those killed, a common occurrence because the Syrian government has prevented independent reporting and barred most foreign journalists. Details gathered by activist groups and witnesses are key channels of information.
Syria's crackdown has brought international condemnation, but Damascus generally had been spared broad reproach in the Arab world. That changed Saturday, with a near-unanimous vote by the 22-member Arab League to suspend Syria, and the situation appeared to be spiraling out of Assad's control.
Earlier Monday, Syria struck back at its international critics, branding an Arab League decision to suspend its membership as "shameful and malicious" and accusing other Arabs of conspiring with the West to undermine the regime.
The Arab neighboring nations are beginning to call for an end to this.
BEIRUT (AP) Syrian army defectors attacked military and intelligence bases near the capital and an army checkpoint Wednesday during a spate of assaults, killing at least eight soldiers and security forces, activists said.
Attacks on regime forces by renegade troops have been escalating in recent days as the country's political crisis appears to be spiraling out of control. The Arab League was meeting Wednesday in Morocco, where the 22-member group was expected to formally suspend Damascus over its bloody crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising.
Although activists say the anti-government protesters have remained largely peaceful, an armed insurgency has developed in recent months, targeting Assad's military and security forces.
Wednesday's deadliest attack was in the central province of Hama, where army defectors killed at least eight soldiers and security forces in an assault on a checkpoint in Kfar Zeita village, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Also, Syrian army defectors said they launched several attacks on Assad's military and intelligence bases near the capital before dawn Wednesday.
The Free Syrian Army said in a statement that its main pre-dawn attack targeted a compound run by Air Force Intelligence in the Damascus suburb of Harasta. Defectors also hit military checkpoints in the Damascus suburbs of Douma, Qaboun and Arabeen and Saqba.
Wednesday's attacks could not be independently confirmed, and the Free Syrian Army released no details about the fighting or possible casualties.
A Syrian opposition figure said the operation in Harasta was carried out by defectors who attacked the compound from three sides with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. He added that the administrative building was damaged, and the attackers made sure not to hit a nearby building where detainees were being held.
The opposition figure, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations, said all the defectors' troops returned safely. He quoted residents in the area as saying that ambulances rushed to the military compound after the attack.
Attacks by army defectors have been rare near Assad's seat of power in Damascus, although there have been growing reports of the clashes in the northwestern province of Idlib, the central region of Homs and the southern province of Daraa.
The Syrian government has largely sealed off the country, barring most foreign journalists and preventing independent reporting. Details gathered by activist groups and witnesses, along with amateur videos, have become key channels of information.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 people were killed elsewhere Wednesday, including seven in the central province of Homs. It said that four others, including three defectors, were killed in the central province of Hama after they were ambushed by troops loyal to Assad.
The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group said six people have been so far killed on Wednesday, three in Homs, two in Idlib and one in the Damascus suburb of Zabadani.
Also, the observatory said Syrian security forces stormed the University of Qalamoon, north of Damascus, where students were holding an anti-regime sit-in. Dozens were reported to have been detained.
The unrest comes against the backdrop of increasing pressure on Assad from the West and from his Arab neighbors.
French government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse said Wednesday that Paris is working with the Syrian opposition "to try to develop a political alternative" to Assad's government.
The Arab League was expected Wednesday to formalize its weekend decision to suspend Syria for failing to end its crackdown against anti-government protesters.
PARIS (AP) - France's ambassador to Syria says the government in Paris has ordered him home in the wake of recent attacks against diplomatic missions and a crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.
Ambassador Eric Chevallier said by phone Wednesday he "was aware" that he had been ordered back but declined to provide details. He deferred all questions about the reasons to the Foreign Ministry.
The ministry declined immediate comment.
Syria: France Recalls Ambassador
PARIS (AP) - France's ambassador to Syria says the government in Paris has ordered him home in the wake of recent attacks against diplomatic missions and a crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.
Ambassador Eric Chevallier said by phone Wednesday he "was aware" that he had been ordered back but declined to provide details. He deferred all questions about the reasons to the Foreign Ministry.
The ministry declined immediate comment.
Syria: France Recalls Ambassador
BEIRUT Syria agreed in principle Friday to allow dozens of Arab observers into the country to oversee a peace plan, a significant concession from a hardline regime that loathes any sort of outside interference.
But critics said the regime is only stalling, trying to defuse international pressure while continuing its bloody crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising which the U.N. estimates has killed more than 3,500 people.
The acceptance came after surprisingly heavy pressure from the Arab League, which brokered the peace plan and this week suspended Syria from the 22-member organization for failing to abide by it. On Wednesday, the league gave Damascus three days to accept an observer mission or face economic sanctions.
Further international pressure was mounting on Syrian President Bashar Assad. Britain appointed a senior diplomat to be its pointman in dealing with Syria's opposition over the crisis, and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called on the U.N. Security Council to strengthen sanctions against Assad's regime. However, Russia, which holds veto power in the council, urged caution in moving against Damascus.
Violence has escalated in Syria the past week, as army dissidents who sided with the protests have grown more bold, fighting back against regime forces and even assaulting military bases. Activist groups said security forces on Friday killed at least 16 anti-government protesters in what has become a weekly ritual on Fridays, the main day for protests in Syria as thousands of people stream out of mosques following afternoon prayers.
The Arab League observer mission aims to prevent violence and monitor a cease-fire that Damascus agreed to last week in the league peace plan but has been unwilling or unable to implement.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. has seen no signs that Syria's government will honor the Arab League proposal.
"They've lost all credibility and that's why we believe Assad needs to step down and allow for a democratic transition to take place," he told reporters.
Deep questions remain over how effective Damascus will allow the mission to be.
A senior Syrian official said Friday that the government had agreed to the observer mission in principle but was "still studying the details." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue is so sensitive.
Nabil Elaraby, the head of the Arab League, said in a statement Friday that he received "amendments" to the mission from Damascus, which the League is studying. He gave no details on the changes Syria seeks.
The original league proposal had been for a 500-member observer mission but the number has dropped to 40, said Ibrahim el-Zaafarani, an Egyptian member of the Arab Medical Union who is expected to be part of the team for Syria. He said he was not clear on why or on whose behest the number was reduced.
"Our presence there will be protection for civilians," el-Zaafarani, in Cairo, told The Associated Press. He said the mission will include doctors, activists, lawyers and military experts.
The Syrian opposition was deeply skeptical.
"We have warned in the past and we warn again that these are the methods of the regime to waste time," said Omar Idilbi, a Beirut-based member of the Syrian National Council, an umbrella group of regime opponents.
But Louay Hussein, a prominent dissident based in Damascus, said allowing observers in was "a small step that can be built on and developed."
"The presence of observers constitutes a protection, however small, for civilians," he said. Their presence, he said, can help "expose the regime's lies."
The regime has depicted the uprising as the work of "armed gangs." On Friday, the state news agency said "terrorists" blew up an oil pipeline in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, causing a fire and four-hour disruption in oil pumping.
Syria: Arab League Observers 'In Principle' Welcome
BEIRUT Syria agreed in principle Friday to allow dozens of Arab observers into the country to oversee a peace plan, a significant concession from a hardline regime that loathes any sort of outside interference.
But critics said the regime is only stalling, trying to defuse international pressure while continuing its bloody crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising which the U.N. estimates has killed more than 3,500 people.
The acceptance came after surprisingly heavy pressure from the Arab League, which brokered the peace plan and this week suspended Syria from the 22-member organization for failing to abide by it. On Wednesday, the league gave Damascus three days to accept an observer mission or face economic sanctions.
Further international pressure was mounting on Syrian President Bashar Assad. Britain appointed a senior diplomat to be its pointman in dealing with Syria's opposition over the crisis, and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called on the U.N. Security Council to strengthen sanctions against Assad's regime. However, Russia, which holds veto power in the council, urged caution in moving against Damascus.
Violence has escalated in Syria the past week, as army dissidents who sided with the protests have grown more bold, fighting back against regime forces and even assaulting military bases. Activist groups said security forces on Friday killed at least 16 anti-government protesters in what has become a weekly ritual on Fridays, the main day for protests in Syria as thousands of people stream out of mosques following afternoon prayers.
The Arab League observer mission aims to prevent violence and monitor a cease-fire that Damascus agreed to last week in the league peace plan but has been unwilling or unable to implement.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. has seen no signs that Syria's government will honor the Arab League proposal.
"They've lost all credibility and that's why we believe Assad needs to step down and allow for a democratic transition to take place," he told reporters.
Deep questions remain over how effective Damascus will allow the mission to be.
A senior Syrian official said Friday that the government had agreed to the observer mission in principle but was "still studying the details." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue is so sensitive.
Nabil Elaraby, the head of the Arab League, said in a statement Friday that he received "amendments" to the mission from Damascus, which the League is studying. He gave no details on the changes Syria seeks.
The original league proposal had been for a 500-member observer mission but the number has dropped to 40, said Ibrahim el-Zaafarani, an Egyptian member of the Arab Medical Union who is expected to be part of the team for Syria. He said he was not clear on why or on whose behest the number was reduced.
"Our presence there will be protection for civilians," el-Zaafarani, in Cairo, told The Associated Press. He said the mission will include doctors, activists, lawyers and military experts.
The Syrian opposition was deeply skeptical.
"We have warned in the past and we warn again that these are the methods of the regime to waste time," said Omar Idilbi, a Beirut-based member of the Syrian National Council, an umbrella group of regime opponents.
But Louay Hussein, a prominent dissident based in Damascus, said allowing observers in was "a small step that can be built on and developed."
"The presence of observers constitutes a protection, however small, for civilians," he said. Their presence, he said, can help "expose the regime's lies."
The regime has depicted the uprising as the work of "armed gangs." On Friday, the state news agency said "terrorists" blew up an oil pipeline in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, causing a fire and four-hour disruption in oil pumping.
Syria: Arab League Observers 'In Principle' Welcome
It has been more than two and a half years since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told to Israeli President Shimon Peress face, You (Jews) know well how to kill. Prime Minister Erdoğan has also declared more than a few times that the main obstacle to peace in this part of the world is Israel, once calling the Jewish state a festering boil in the Middle East that spreads hate and enmity. In this holy month of Ramadan full of blood on Muslim territories, lets try to identify who are the ones who know well how to kill.
As the Syrian death count clicks every day to come close to 2,000, the Turkish-Kurdish death count does not stop, already over 40,000 since 1984, both adding to the big pool of blood called the Middle East. Only during this Ramadan, the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKKs, death toll has reached 50 in this Muslim Kurds vs. Muslim Turks war. This excludes the PKK casualties in Turkey and in northern Iraq due to Turkish military retaliation since they are seldom accurately reported.
Sudan is not in the conventional Middle East, so lets ignore the genocide there. Lets ignore, also, the West Pakistani massacres in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) totaling 1.25 million in 1971. Or 200,000 deaths in Algeria in war between Islamists and the government in 1991-2006.
But a simple, strictly Middle East research will give you one million deaths in the all-Muslim Iran-Iraq war; 300,000 Muslim minorities killed by Saddam Hussein; 80,000 Iranians killed during the Islamic revolution; 25,000 deaths in 1970-71, the days of Black September, by the Jordanian government in its fight against the Palestinians; and 20,000 Islamists killed in 1982 by the elder al-Assad in Hama. The World Health Organizations estimate of Osama bin Ladens carnage in Iraq was already 150,000 a few years earlier.
In a 2007 research, Gunnar Heinsohn from the University of Bremen and Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, found out that some 11 million Muslims have been violently killed since 1948, of which 35,000, (0.3 percent) died during the six years of Arab war against Israel, or one out of every 315 fatalities. In contrast, over 90 percent who perished were killed by fellow Muslims.
According to Mssrs. Heinsohn and Pipes, the grisly inventory finds the total number of deaths in conflicts all over the world since 1950 numbering around 85 million. Of that, the Muslim Arab deaths in the Arab-Israeli conflict were at 46,000 including 11,000 during Israels war of independence. That makes 0.05 percent of all deaths in all conflicts, or 0.4 percent of all Arab deaths in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In another calculation ignoring small massacres like the one that goes on in Syria and other deaths during the Arab Spring, only Saddams Iraq, Jordan, the elder al-Assads Syria, Iran-Iraq war, the bin Laden campaign in Iraq, the Iranian Islamic revolution and the Turkish-Kurdish conflict caused 1.65 million Muslim deaths by Muslims compared to less than 50,000 deaths in the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1950, including fatalities during and after Operation Cast Lead which came after the Heinsohn-Pipes study. For those who dont have a calculator ready at their desks, allow me to tell: 50,000 is three percent of 1.65 million.
Golda Meir, the fourth prime minister of Israel, or rather the Mother of Israel, had a perfectly realistic point when she said that peace in the Middle East would only be possible when Arabs love their children more than they hate us.
BEIRUT Turkey's prime minister said Tuesday that Syria's president must step down over the country's crackdown on dissent, ratcheting up the pressure on the increasingly isolated Bashar Assad.
Turkey's call came as Syrian activists reported that five people including four children were killed Tuesday.
"For the welfare of your own people and the region, just leave that seat," Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said in a televised speech.
He reminded Assad of the bloody end of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and those of past dictators, including Adolf Hitler.
"If you want to see someone who has fought until death against his own people, just look at Nazi Germany, just look at Hitler, at Mussolini, at Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania," he said. "If you cannot draw any lessons from these, then look at the Libyan leader who was killed just 32 days ago."
World leaders are turning on Assad in quick succession. The military crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising against Assad's regime has killed nearly 4,000 people.
The Local Coordination Committees, a key activist network, and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said four children, between the ages of 10 and 15, were killed by gunshots fired at random from a military checkpoint near the town of Houla in the restive Homs province. A fifth person was killed by security forces in the district of Khaldieh, the groups said.
The LCC said Syrian forces backed by tanks and armored vehicles stormed the area of Houla and were besieging the district of Bayada in Homs, a hotbed of dissent against President Assad's regime.
Syria places severe restrictions on the work of journalists and bans most foreign journalists from the country, making confirmation of events on the ground difficult.
Erdogan's warning came the day after Syrian soldiers opened fire on at least two buses carrying Turkish citizens, witnesses and officials said, apparent retaliation for Turkey's criticism of Assad, whose military crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising against his rule has killed nearly 4,000 people.
"To protect travelers, espcially those returning from the hajj, is a country's honor," Erdogan said, referring to the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Erdogan's call signals a definitive end to Turkey's once-close ties to the Assad regime. Turkey was an important trade partner for Syria, and Erdogan had cultivated a close friendship with Assad. But Turkish leaders have grown increasingly frustrated with Damascus over its refusal to halt the crackdown on the opposition protests.
As it emerges as a regional power, Turkey has taken a leading role in calling for changes in Syria.
Erdogan said last week that the world must urgently "hear the screams" from Syria and do something to stop the bloodshed.
Turkey has allowed Syrian refugees and military defectors to take refuge on its soil, and Syria's political opposition has used Turkey as a place to meet and organize.
Saudi Arabia, which has also criticized the crackdown, announced on Tuesday that one of its citizens, Hussein bin Bandar bin Khalaf al-Anzi, was killed in Homs while visiting relatives Monday. A government statement on the Saudi Press Agency demanded an explanation from Syria on the circumstances of his death and said the Saudi government regarded the incident with grave concern. It did not provide further details or say how he was killed.
Syria's state-run SANA news agency said security forces on Monday carried out a "qualitative" operation in the Bayada district of Homs in which they killed four terrorists and confiscated their weapons. It said a "top terrorist" nicknamed Bandar was among them.
It was not immediately clear if the man referred to by SANA was the Saudi man. But Syria's Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the Syrian government, said a Saudi was among gunmen killed by security agents in Homs. The paper said the Saudi was of Syrian origin, dismissing media reports that he was killed while on a visit to family in Homs.
Relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia are already tense. Last week, angry pro-Assad protesters attacked the Saudi Embassy in Damascus after the Arab League suspended Syria's membership in the bloc over its failure to abide by an Arab peace plan to end the bloodshed.
Saudi Arabia withdrew its ambassador to Damascus in August over the brutal crackdown.
Assad's deepening isolation and the growing calls for his ouster are a severe blow to a family dynasty that has ruled Syria for four decades and any change to the leadership could transform some of the most enduring alliances in the Middle East and beyond.
BEIRUT In an unprecedented move against an Arab nation, the Arab League on Sunday approved economic sanctions on Syria to pressure Damascus to end its deadly suppression of an 8-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.
But even as world leaders abandon Assad, the regime has refused to ease a military assault on dissent that already has killed more than 3,500 people. On Sunday, Damascus slammed the sanctions as a betrayal of Arab solidarity and insisted a foreign conspiracy was behind the revolt, all but assuring more bloodshed will follow.
The sanctions are among the clearest signs yet of the isolation Syria is suffering because of the crackdown. Damascus has long boasted of being a powerhouse of Arab nationalism, but Assad has been abandoned by some of his closest allies and now his Arab neighbors. The growing movement against his regime could transform some of the most enduring alliances in the Middle East and beyond.
At a news conference in Cairo, Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim said 19 of the League's 22 member nations approved a series of tough punishments that include cutting off transactions with the Syrian central bank, halting Arab government funding for projects in Syria and freezing government assets. Those sanctions are to take effect immediately.
Other steps, including halting flights and imposing travel bans on some, as-yet unnamed Syrian officials, will come later after a committee reviews them.
"The Syrian people are being killed but we don't want this. Every Syrian official should not accept killing even one person," bin Jassim said. "Power is worth nothing while you stand as an enemy to your people."
He added that the League aims to "to avoid any suffering for the Syrian people."
Iraq and Lebanon important trading partners for Syria abstained from the vote, which came after Damascus missed an Arab League deadline to agree to allow hundreds of observers into the country as part of a peace deal Syria agreed to early this month to end the crisis.
Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said the bloc will reconsider the sanctions if Syria carries out the Arab-brokered plan, which includes pulling tanks from the streets and ending violence against civilians.
The regime, however, has shown no signs of easing its crackdown, and activist groups said more than 30 people were killed Sunday. The death toll was impossible to confirm. Syria has banned most foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting inside the country.
The Local Coordinating Committees, a coalition of Syrian activist groups, praised the sanctions but called for a mechanism to ensure compliance.
"The sanctions leave open the opportunity for the regime to commit fraud and strip the sanctions of any substance, thereby prolonging the suffering of the Syrian people at the hands of an oppressive and brutal regime," the group said.
The Arab League move is the latest in a growing wave of international pressure pushing Damascus to end its crackdown. The European Union and the United States already have imposed sanctions, the League has suspended Syria's membership and world leaders increasingly are calling on Assad to go. But as the crisis drags on, the violence appears to be spiraling out of control as attacks by army defectors increase and some protesters take up arms to protect themselves.
BEIRUT -- The Arab League's newly approved sanctions against Damascus amount to "a declaration of economic war," Syria's foreign minister said Monday, betraying deep concern about the effects of the measures on the embattled regime.
But in a clear sign of defiance, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem insisted that the Syrian people will be the ones to suffer and the regime will survive.
"Let them study the history of Syria very well," al-Moallem told reporters at a televised news conference. "Neither warnings nor sanctions will work with us."
In an unprecedented move against a fellow Arab state, the 22-member Arab League approved sanctions Sunday to pressure the regime to end its suppression of an 8-month-old revolt. The crackdown has killed more than 3,500 people and deepened Syria's international isolation.
The sanctions by Syria's Arab neighbors include cutting off transactions with the Syria's central bank, and are expected to squeeze an ailing economy that already is under sanction by the U.S. and the European Union.
Damascus' response is that Syria is the victim of a foreign-supported insurgency by armed gangs. In an attempt to bolster that contention, al-Moallem showed reporters videos of charred and bloodied corpses.
"I'm sorry for these gruesome pictures, but they are a gift to the members of the Arab League who still deny the presence of these armed gangs," he said.
The European Union and the United States already have imposed sanctions, the League has suspended Syria's membership, and world leaders increasingly are calling on President Bashar Assad to go.
But as the crisis drags on, the violence appears to be spiraling out of control as attacks by army defectors increase and some protesters take up arms to protect themselves.
The sanctions are among the clearest signs yet of Syria's growing international isolation. Damascus has long boasted of being a powerhouse of Arab nationalism, but Assad has been abandoned by some of his closest allies and now his Arab neighbors.
Still tens of thousands of government supporters flocked to main squares on Monday in almost all cities, including the capital Damascus, to denounce the Arab League decision. State TV quoted demonstrators as saying that the sanctions target all segments of the population.
Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said the bloc will reconsider the sanctions if Syria carries out an Arab-brokered plan that calls for pulling tanks from the streets and ending violence against civilians. The regime, however, has shown no signs of easing its crackdown, and activist groups said more than 30 people were killed on Sunday alone.
The death tolls are impossible to confirm independently because Syria has banned most foreign journalists.
NEW YORK -- As the death toll in Syria's bloody government crackdown rises to more than 3,500 since mass protests began last March, the international community is ratcheting up pressure to end the violence and hold President Bashar al-Assad's regime accountable.
This week, two groups released reports blasting human rights violations carried out by Syrian security forces.
On Monday, the U.N. released a scathing report detailing "crimes against humanity" committed by Syrian troops since March, when the government crackdown began.
Among the harrowing details, the report includes mention of the killing of at least 256 children -- some of whom were sexually tortured -- and accounts that troops were ordered to "shoot to kill" to quell anti-government demonstrations. The report found torture "rampant" in several detention facilities. From the report:
Testimonies were received from several men who stated they had been anally raped with batons and that they had witnessed the rape of boys. One man stated that he witnessed a 15-year-old boy being raped in front of his father. A 40-year-old man saw the rape of an 11-year-old boy by three security services officers.
On Wednesday, Catherine al-Talli, a Syrian lawyer and human rights activist, spoke to a group of journalists in New York about her detention in Damascus last May.
She recalled witnessing security forces open fire on peaceful crowds of protesters, shooting them to death on several occasions. During protests in Duma, she recounted how snipers targeted a 50-year-old man riding a bicycle with his 10-year-old daughter. She said that although he was not involved with the protests, the snipers shot him from a roof. When another man ran to his assistance, the snipers shot him as well, she said.
On Sunday, the Arab League agreed on unprecedented sanctions on Syria, including tough economic measures such as cutting transactions with the Syrian central bank and freezing government assets. Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim said, "The Syrian people are being killed but we don't want this. Every Syrian official should not accept killing even one person," according to the Associated Press.
How the international community will proceed in addressing Syria's assault on civilians remains unclear. Different groups have offered different approaches, including further sanctions, no-fly and buffer zones, and a U.N. Security Council referral to the International Criminal Court.
Ms. al-Talli, a member of the Syrian National Council, an opposition group formed in Istanbul this September, has called for buffer zones and no-fly zones at Syria's borders to end the "river of blood." While she applauded the Arab League's sanctions, she reiterated that sanctions alone were not enough.
Amnesty International stops short of calling for the use of military force in enforcing buffer or no-fly zones, but the human rights organization has called for the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court.
Amnesty accuses Syria's security forces of "extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and the torture of people suspected of dissent," and has also urged the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms embargo and freeze the assets of al-Assad.
Russia and China, both permanent members of the Security Council, are likely to oppose a referral to the ICC. Indeed, in October, Russia and China rejected a European-sponsored resolution threatening sanctions if Syria continued its crackdown.
Ms. al-Talli is spending three days in New York to meet with representatives from delegations that have not offered their support in sponsoring a U.N. resolution, including South Africa, India, Brazil and Russia's first deputy permanent representative, Alexander Pankin.
Syria Crackdown Condemned By Activists, Rights Groups
NEW YORK -- As the death toll in Syria's bloody government crackdown rises to more than 3,500 since mass protests began last March, the international community is ratcheting up pressure to end the violence and hold President Bashar al-Assad's regime accountable.
This week, two groups released reports blasting human rights violations carried out by Syrian security forces.
On Monday, the U.N. released a scathing report detailing "crimes against humanity" committed by Syrian troops since March, when the government crackdown began.
Among the harrowing details, the report includes mention of the killing of at least 256 children -- some of whom were sexually tortured -- and accounts that troops were ordered to "shoot to kill" to quell anti-government demonstrations. The report found torture "rampant" in several detention facilities. From the report:
Testimonies were received from several men who stated they had been anally raped with batons and that they had witnessed the rape of boys. One man stated that he witnessed a 15-year-old boy being raped in front of his father. A 40-year-old man saw the rape of an 11-year-old boy by three security services officers.
On Wednesday, Catherine al-Talli, a Syrian lawyer and human rights activist, spoke to a group of journalists in New York about her detention in Damascus last May.
She recalled witnessing security forces open fire on peaceful crowds of protesters, shooting them to death on several occasions. During protests in Duma, she recounted how snipers targeted a 50-year-old man riding a bicycle with his 10-year-old daughter. She said that although he was not involved with the protests, the snipers shot him from a roof. When another man ran to his assistance, the snipers shot him as well, she said.
On Sunday, the Arab League agreed on unprecedented sanctions on Syria, including tough economic measures such as cutting transactions with the Syrian central bank and freezing government assets. Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim said, "The Syrian people are being killed but we don't want this. Every Syrian official should not accept killing even one person," according to the Associated Press.
How the international community will proceed in addressing Syria's assault on civilians remains unclear. Different groups have offered different approaches, including further sanctions, no-fly and buffer zones, and a U.N. Security Council referral to the International Criminal Court.
Ms. al-Talli, a member of the Syrian National Council, an opposition group formed in Istanbul this September, has called for buffer zones and no-fly zones at Syria's borders to end the "river of blood." While she applauded the Arab League's sanctions, she reiterated that sanctions alone were not enough.
Amnesty International stops short of calling for the use of military force in enforcing buffer or no-fly zones, but the human rights organization has called for the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court.
Amnesty accuses Syria's security forces of "extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and the torture of people suspected of dissent," and has also urged the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms embargo and freeze the assets of al-Assad.
Russia and China, both permanent members of the Security Council, are likely to oppose a referral to the ICC. Indeed, in October, Russia and China rejected a European-sponsored resolution threatening sanctions if Syria continued its crackdown.
Ms. al-Talli is spending three days in New York to meet with representatives from delegations that have not offered their support in sponsoring a U.N. resolution, including South Africa, India, Brazil and Russia's first deputy permanent representative, Alexander Pankin.
Syria Crackdown Condemned By Activists, Rights Groups
GENEVA Syrian authorities cracking down on opposition protesters have killed at least 307 children, the United Nation's human rights chief said Friday, urging world powers to refer these and other allegations of Syrian "crimes against humanity" to the International Criminal Court.
Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said fresh reports from Syria including the updated death toll for children from less than a week ago reinforced the need for the Security Council to submit the situation in the country to the Hague-based court.
"In light of the manifest failure of the Syrian authorities to protect their citizens, the international community needs to take urgent and effective measures to protect the Syrian people," Pillay told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Syria's President Bashar Assad trying to defeat an 8-month-old revolt challenging his autocratic rule faces widespread international condemnation at the growing death toll.
A draft resolution backed by African, European, Asian, Arab and American members of the 47-nation rights council calls for the establishment of a special investigator on Syria, but leaves open the issue of whether the Security Council, the U.N.'s most powerful arm, should refer the country to the ICC.
The council's session Friday comes amid mounting international pressure on Syria. The U.N. says the nation is on the verge of civil war, and the Arab League, European Union, Turkey and the United States have all approved measures to sanction the Syrian economy, which relies on oil and tourism.
Russia and China have held back support for the resolution. The two permanent members of the Security Council have condemned the bloodshed, but are staunchly resisting further international pressure on Syria.
Russia's ambassador Valery Loshchinin, whose nation has sold arms to Syria, claimed Friday that opposition groups are getting weapons from outside forces.
Loshchinin did not provide further details, but another council diplomat told The Associated Press it is commonly known the arms are coming through Turkey. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity.
"Now, we hear, unfortunately, that the conflict in Syria continues to be fueled by outside forces who are interested in further destabilizing the situation," Loshchinin told the council.
"Armed terrorist and extremist groups are being armed and organized, supplied with weapons and money from abroad," he said. "The situation in Syria must be resolved in strict observance of international law and the provisions of the United Nations Charter."
Turkey's ambassador Oguz Demiralp said the nation has become a "major threat to peace and stability" and Assad should step down. "We want to see the bloody quagmire in Syria come to an end," he told the council.
British ambassador Peter Gooderham whose nation is one of the Security Council's five permanent members with veto power told the AP that the sanctions imposed on Syria by the Arab League and its lead in calling for the special session were crucial for putting pressure on the Assad regime.
"We know that the situation on the ground is deteriorating," French ambassador Jean-Baptiste Mattei told the AP. "So we have to fully mobilize all the instruments at our disposal, and the Human Rights Council is part of what we can do."
Mattei said France, another permanent Security Council member, supports referring the situation in Syria to the ICC and failure to do so would be "a pity and a shame for the international community."
Two other veto-wielding Security Council members, China and Russia, have usually blocked these types of actions based on a recurring argument that too much international pressure can inflame crises and Western nations are too eager to encroach on nations' sovereignty.
DAMASCUS, Syria The walls are suddenly closing in around enterprising young Syrians who bought into the idea of a modernized economy promised by President Bashar al-Assad their simplest money transfers are blocked, and their credit cards useless outside Syria as the growing list of international sanctions darkens their financial future.
The owner of a handicrafts business who this week tried to transfer $450 to the Lebanese bank account of one of her suppliers found the transaction rejected because it originated in Syria. She had to hand deliver the cash instead. Then another client, the investor in a new Abu Dhabi hotel for whom she is designing furniture, asked her to export whatever was completed immediately lest the entire shipment get stuck.
This is not the solution, to end the uprising, said the woman, pulling her fashionable black wool coat tighter against the sudden winter chill hitting this superficially calm but beleaguered capital. This is a way to make us starve to punish the president.
Nearly nine months after a sustained popular uprising erupted against the Assad government, Syria finds itself increasingly isolated, with even one-time allies condemning its use of lethal force. Turkey, the Arab League, the European Union and the United States have all imposed economic sanctions. They are already biting in ways evident to a reporter during a brief, rare visit allowed by the government, which was seeking to draw attention to its claim that that the Arab League sanctions in particular amounted to economic war.
The crucial question, for President Assad, the international community, and the tens of thousands who rose up against the regime, is whether such financial pain will produce sufficient pressure to induce the government to halt the violent suppression of antigovernment protests. The sanctions are already unraveling the most significant change of President Assads tenure: linking Syria to the global economy, allowing private banks and opening economic opportunity for young people in nation where about three-quarters of the population is under the age of 35.
Optimists think the pressure could work, largely because the biggest tycoons are close to the president, especially his cousin, Rami Makhlouf, and some dozen sons of his fathers closest henchmen. (Mr. Makhlouf gobbled up so many state enterprises put up for sale that Syrians wryly dubbed the privatization process Ramification.)
Pessimists worry that the regime, including the scions of the old guard, will beggar the nation to cling to power.
Up until the last minute I did not believe the Arab League would take such a decision, said Mohammed Ghassan al-Qallaa, the president of the Damascus Chamber of Commerce, his office filled with Assad paraphernalia including a small gold bust of the former president, Mr. Assads father. It was like a poke in the eye.
Good statistics remain a rarity here. But trade and investment activity is already off by 50 percent, said financial analysts in Damascus, and estimates on how much the economy will shrink this year range from 12 to 20 percent. The higher estimates kick in if sanctions like a flight ban still being debated by the Arab League are toughened.
Layoffs are rampant, with unemployment estimated up to 22 percent. The tourism sector, which amassed some $6 billion in 2010, a boom year, has been decimated.
Hotel managers report an occupancy rate of 15 percent or lower, if they will divulge them at all, and numerous restaurants have gone broke. Financial analysts said the luxury Four Seasons chain tried to shutter its once booming Damascus hotel, an effort rejected by the government, which owns an estimated 50 percent share.
DAMASCUS, Syria During his most recent news conference, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem interrupted the flow of questions by waving a small white piece of paper indicating that he had important news.
I just received a note from the committee advising on the new constitution! said the portly, white-haired minister, announcing only that one new provision bans discrimination between political parties.
Such creaky political theater spoke volumes about the way President Bashar al-Assads government has been handling the crisis engulfing Syria since March.
Rather than responding to the motivations and demands behind the antigovernment uprising, opponents and political analysts say, the government has stubbornly clung to the narrative that it is besieged by a foreign plot. The government offers meager crumbs of political change, they say, avoiding the sweeping reforms that might defuse public anger and ease its international isolation.
At the same time, its violent efforts to combat the uprising have pushed a once peaceful opposition to take up arms, analysts here said.
Nine months into this crisis the government has nothing to offer except a military, security solution, said Hassan Abdel Azim, a 79-year-old war horse among Syrian dissidents, sitting in his cramped office, decorated only with a photograph of the Egyptian Arab nationalist leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Senior government officials including Mr. Assad and their supporters reel off a strikingly uniform explanation for the uprisings, blaming foreign agents and denying official responsibility for the violence.
Most of the people that have been killed are supporters of the government, not the vice versa, Mr. Assad said in an interview with ABC News broadcast on Wednesday. In the interview, Mr. Assad denied ordering a crackdown. We dont kill our people, he said. No government in the world kills its people, unless its led by a crazy person.
Virtually no one in the Syrian government links the uprisings to the sentiment inspiring revolutions across the Arab world, to a public fed up with the status quo. Instead, they say the United States and Israel, allied with certain quisling Arab governments, are plotting to destroy Syria, to silence its lone, independent Arab voice and to weaken its regional ally, Iran. To achieve this aim, they are arming and financing Muslim fundamentalist mercenaries who enter Syria from abroad, Syrian officials say.
Syria is one of the last secular regimes in the Arab world, and they are targeting Syria, said Buthaina Shaaban, a presidential political and media adviser, warning that the West would rue the day that it enabled Islamist regimes. She rejected the idea that any true Syrian could rise against the government, saying, Colonialism has always found agents inside the country.
But that view does not seem to explain events unfolding on the streets.
The seemingly routine flow of life in central Damascus could leave the impression that there is no crisis, or that the security approach is effective. Yet beneath the mundane, unease grips the capital as fear of civil war supplants hopes for a peaceful transition to democracy. Damascus residents describe the restive suburbs as severed from the city by government checkpoints, and while the security forces control those areas by day, the night belongs to the rebels. A request to visit the suburbs was denied for your own safety by a Syrian government official.
Protesters hold flying demonstrations inside the city, trying to subvert the security forces, with a few people gathering briefly to be filmed shouting antigovernment slogans. Damascenes say that they have become so accustomed to hearing slogans chanted in the background, given the almost daily pro-government rallies organized by the government, that it takes a few minutes to register that people are cursing Mr. Assad. By the time they seek the source, the protesters have faded away.
Yet security forces seem omnipresent, usually materializing in minutes. Government critics say myriad supporters have been recruited into the shabiha, or thugs, as the loyalist forces are known.
BEIRUT Syrian security forces fired on anti-government demonstrations across the country on Friday, killing at least nine people including two children as the regime tries to choke off a 9-month-old uprising, activists said.
Some of the worst violence was reported in Homs, a city in central Syria that has emerged as the epicenter of the revolt against President Bashar Assad.
"The earth was shaking," a Homs resident told The Associated Press by telephone, saying explosions and cracks of gunfire erupted in the early morning. "Armored personnel carriers drove through the streets and opened fire randomly with heavy machine guns."
He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Despite the relentless bloodshed, Assad has refused to buckle to the pressure to step down and has shown no signs of easing his crackdown. The United Nations estimates more than 4,000 people have been killed in the military assault on dissent since March.
Two boys, ages 10 and 12, were hit by stray bullets Friday near government checkpoints in Homs, according to activists.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, the head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the 10-year-old was shot as he crossed the street in the Bab Sbaaa neighborhood. The 12-year-old was struck as he walked in a crowd exiting a mosque, Abdul-Rahman said.
Anti-government demonstrations traditionally peak after Friday's midday prayers, although witnesses say there appeared to be a concerted effort to prevent any gatherings this week. Troops were deployed heavily and, in many cases, locked down areas before prayers even began.
Security forces also reportedly fired on protests in the Damascus suburbs, the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, Idlbi province near Turkey and elsewhere.
In the southern town of Daraa, activists said telephone and Internet lines were cut.
The reports could not be confirmed because Syria has banned most foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting. Accounts from activists and witnesses, along with amateur videos posted online, provide key channels of information.
The death toll was compiled from reports by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and an activist coalition called the Local Coordinating Committees.
Assad is under growing international pressure to curb the bloodshed.
Turkey, the Arab League and the European Union have imposed sanctions aimed at squeezing the ailing economy.
On Friday, Turkey urged Assad to punish his security forces and accept an Arab League observer mission if he is "sincere" in his repudiation of violence against civilians.
"If he is sincere he will punish the security forces, he will accept the Arab League observers and help change the atmosphere," Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday. "He still has the opportunity to do this."
Turkey, meanwhile, moved to suspend a 2008 free trade agreement with Syria, which will lead to the imposition of taxes of up to 30 percent on some Syrian goods, authorities said.
The move like most of the economic measures taken against Syria is likely to hit the Syrian business class, which until now has been one of the main props of the regime.
Syria already unilaterally suspended the free trade agreement, but Turkey's Cabinet needed to approve the suspension so it can collect the taxes.
Syria: Protesters Killed, Including 2 Children
BEIRUT Syrian security forces fired on anti-government demonstrations across the country on Friday, killing at least nine people including two children as the regime tries to choke off a 9-month-old uprising, activists said.
Some of the worst violence was reported in Homs, a city in central Syria that has emerged as the epicenter of the revolt against President Bashar Assad.
"The earth was shaking," a Homs resident told The Associated Press by telephone, saying explosions and cracks of gunfire erupted in the early morning. "Armored personnel carriers drove through the streets and opened fire randomly with heavy machine guns."
He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Despite the relentless bloodshed, Assad has refused to buckle to the pressure to step down and has shown no signs of easing his crackdown. The United Nations estimates more than 4,000 people have been killed in the military assault on dissent since March.
Two boys, ages 10 and 12, were hit by stray bullets Friday near government checkpoints in Homs, according to activists.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, the head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the 10-year-old was shot as he crossed the street in the Bab Sbaaa neighborhood. The 12-year-old was struck as he walked in a crowd exiting a mosque, Abdul-Rahman said.
Anti-government demonstrations traditionally peak after Friday's midday prayers, although witnesses say there appeared to be a concerted effort to prevent any gatherings this week. Troops were deployed heavily and, in many cases, locked down areas before prayers even began.
Security forces also reportedly fired on protests in the Damascus suburbs, the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, Idlbi province near Turkey and elsewhere.
In the southern town of Daraa, activists said telephone and Internet lines were cut.
The reports could not be confirmed because Syria has banned most foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting. Accounts from activists and witnesses, along with amateur videos posted online, provide key channels of information.
The death toll was compiled from reports by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and an activist coalition called the Local Coordinating Committees.
Assad is under growing international pressure to curb the bloodshed.
Turkey, the Arab League and the European Union have imposed sanctions aimed at squeezing the ailing economy.
On Friday, Turkey urged Assad to punish his security forces and accept an Arab League observer mission if he is "sincere" in his repudiation of violence against civilians.
"If he is sincere he will punish the security forces, he will accept the Arab League observers and help change the atmosphere," Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday. "He still has the opportunity to do this."
Turkey, meanwhile, moved to suspend a 2008 free trade agreement with Syria, which will lead to the imposition of taxes of up to 30 percent on some Syrian goods, authorities said.
The move like most of the economic measures taken against Syria is likely to hit the Syrian business class, which until now has been one of the main props of the regime.
Syria already unilaterally suspended the free trade agreement, but Turkey's Cabinet needed to approve the suspension so it can collect the taxes.
Syria: Protesters Killed, Including 2 Children
