Syria warns West against intervention

Assad’s canny game

The Syrian dictator may seem to be faring well but economic collapse should topple him.












By Telegraph View

8:40PM GMT 13 Mar 2012

16 Comments





As Syria’s bloodshed grows more fearful, an uncomfortable truth must be faced: the past few weeks have been good for President Bashar al-Assad. His army has crushed the rebels in Homs and recaptured territory along the borders with Lebanon and Turkey that had been dominated by insurgents.


Mr Assad took a significant risk by deploying tanks and heavy artillery for the first time, gambling that he could escalate the carnage while keeping the support of key allies. The signs are that his wager has paid off: Russia and China are still protecting Syria in the Security Council. No one in the region will be surprised that Iran continues to back Mr Assad, but the quiet support offered by Iraq is deeply unsettling. Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, has failed to enforce Arab League sanctions and declined to condemn the violence. Perhaps he is motivated by sectarian loyalty: Mr Assad, an Alawite, might count as a fellow Shia. Whatever his reasoning, Mr Maliki should be told that this indulgence must stop.


Meanwhile, Mr Assad has seen off a peace envoy in the shape of Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general, and made an empty gesture by calling parliamentary elections for May. Holding on to allies, rebuffing envoys and buying time with cardboard announcements are all signs of a dictator hitting his stride. In the end, the evisceration of Syria’s economy will probably sweep away Mr Assad, but this conflict probably has some time left to run. Now is not the moment for David Cameron to raise expectations of a Kosovo-style intervention, as he does in this week’s Newsweek. Instead, Britain should show patience and a sense of sombre realism. Above all, we can take comfort in the fact that Mr Assad has drunk from the deadly but slow-acting poison of economic collapse.

Syrian forces 'kill more than 40 outside mosque in Idlib'

Syrian forces were accused of killing more than 40 people outside a mosque in the northern city of Idlib as the Assad regime widened an offensive aimed at inflicting a decisive blow against a faltering rebel campaign.

New amateur video from Syria shows the shelling of the northern city of Idlib by government forces.

14 Mar 2012




Cameron calls for peaceful transition, not revolution, in Syria

David Cameron has said he would rather see a transition of power to the opposition in Syria rather than the revolutionary overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.

14 Mar 2012



Assad’s canny game



Telegraph View: The Syrian dictator may seem to be faring well but economic collapse should topple him.

13 Mar 2012
| 63 Comments


Syria: forces 'kill more than 40 outside mosque'



Regime accused of killings in northern city of Idlib as Assad widens offensive aimed at inflicting decisive blow against rebels.

13 Mar 2012
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Syrian refugees flood into Turkey




Turkey braces for a new influx of refugees as violence increases across Syria.

13 Mar 2012




Syria: regime accused of laying landmines

Human Rights Watch claims regime is laying landmines along routes used by refugees fleeing the country.

13 Mar 2012


Syria 'laying landmines along border'

Syrian troops have planted landmines along refugee routes to reach Turkey, a human rights group said.

Posted at 03:43 PM ET, 03/14/2012
Assad secret e-mails leaked: 7 revelations

By Elizabeth Flock


The Guardian has obtained what it believes to be a trove of e-mails between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, his wife and their inner circle.


Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife, Asma. (AFP/Getty Images) The 3,000 messages are believed to have been first intercepted by members of the opposition Supreme Council of the Revolution group between June and early February. The Guardian says it has made extensive efforts to authenticate the e-mails by talking to individuals whose correspondence appeared in the cache, and by checking the contents against established facts. But the news site stresses it has not been possible to verify every message.

The information in the e-mails ranges from the shocking (Assad knew about Western journalists in Homs) to the absurd (his wife spent thousands on jewelry and furniture). But what it all adds up to is a picture of a family enjoying a plush lifestyle as it remains insulated from the ongoing violence on the streets.

Read the top seven apparent revelations from the e-mails, after the jump.

• Assad took advice from Iran.

The Syrian leader apparently asked Iran how to handle the uprising against his regime. When Assad’s media consultant prepared a speech for the president in December, he told Assad to use “powerful and violent language,” based on “consultations with a good number of people in addition to the media and political adviser for the Iranian ambassador.”

• Assad made fun of reforms he’d promised.

Remember all those reforms — never enacted — that Assad promised to try to placate protesters? He made light of them in his e-mails, referring to “rubbish laws of parties, elections, media.”

• Assad knew about Western journalists in Homs

The Syrian leader was “briefed in detail” about the presence of Western journalists in the besieged Bab Amr district of Homs. The regime had said earlier that it didn’t know the journalists were there. Assad also urged that government forces “tighten the security grip” on Homs.

• Asma Assad spend thousands of dollars over the Internet

The president’s wife favors designer goods. She spent more than $15,000 on candlesticks, tables and chandeliers from Paris. She asked an aide to order a fondue set from Amazon. And Asma apparently used a Dubai-based company, al-Shahba, which has a registered office in London, to make her private purchases.

• Assad also shopped, despite sanctions

Extensive U.S. sanctions did not stop the Syrian president from making purchases either, mostly of music and apps from Apple’s iTunes, using a third party with a U.S. address.

• Assad’s aides advised, but also joked with him

The aides reported to Assad through a “private” e-mail account, where they often advised him on media strategy in the face of rising international pressure to step down. Once, Assad forwarded his aides a link to a YouTube video that showed a reenactment of the siege of Homs using toys and biscuits.

• Doha could offer the Assads exile

Hamid bin Khalifa al-Thani, a daughter of the emir of Qatar, at one time advised the Syrian first family to leave the country. She also suggested Doha may offer them exile.

Activists from the Supreme Council of the Revolution say they monitored the inboxes of the Assads for several months, and in that time used information to warn the opposition about possible moves by the regime.

Read more about the e-mails at the Guardian .

By Elizabeth Flock | 03:43 PM ET, 03/14/2012

Gilded lifestyle continued for Assad coterie as conflict raged in Syria

Bashar al-Assad appears to have emailed his wife song lyrics and video clips, while she shopped for shoes and chandeliers

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Robert Booth and Luke Harding

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 March 2012 18.04 GMT
Article history



Bashar al-Assad and his wife, Asma, in Paris in 2010. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images


As the international community struggled to absorb the bloodiest episode yet in Syria's brutal crackdown in Homs, Bashar al-Assad was in Damascus composing a private email to his wife, according to a cache of what appear to be emails from the Syrian first couple obtained by the Guardian.

It was 5 February 2012, and the previous day the president's artillery had pounded the restive city as never before, killing several hundred civilians and blowing up a makeshift hospital, according to opposition activists. In the capital, government forces reportedly took the lives of about a dozen mourners at a funeral. The UN security council was drawing up plans to act against the dictatorship.

But Assad's email, using the pseudonym Sam, reflected none of the bloody turmoil or diplomatic jeopardy facing his country. In a bizarre message apparently from the Syrian leader, he sent his wife the lyrics of a country and western song by the US singer Blake Shelton, and the audio file downloaded from iTunes.

Laden with self-pity, the communication appeared to exemplify the cocooned life of denial that Assad, his family and inner circle were leading while the country erupted around them. The first verse reads: "I've been a walking heartache / I've made a mess of me / The person that I've been lately / Ain't who I wanna be."

The note was one of dozens revealed in a cache of what Syrian activists claim are emails from the inboxes of Assad and his wife, Asma, that expose how Assad's coterie continued to enjoy a gilded lifestyle insulated from the slaughter around them.

The emails appear to show how tens of thousands of dollars were spent in internet shopping sprees on handmade furniture from Chelsea boutiques. Tens of thousands more were lavished on gold and gem-encrusted jewellery, chandeliers, expensive curtains and paintings to be shipped to the Middle East. While the country was rocked by Assad's crackdown on dissent, his inner circle was concerned about the possibility of getting hold of a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, or a new chocolate fondue set.

The details of the Assads' high living are likely to infuriate many Syrians who have had to negotiate shortages and other hardships in conflict-hit areas of the country. Anger over the wealth and profligacy of leaders' families has been a feature of the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

On 19 July 2011, Asma al-Assad could be found placing orders with her cousin Amal for jewellery made by a small Paris workshop. She requested four necklaces: "1 turquoise with yellow gold diamonds and a small pave on side" as well as a cornaline, "full black onyx" and "amethyst with white gold diamonds" of similar design. Amal replied that she would "launch" the order in mid-August with a view to getting it done "by mid-September". On 23 July 2011 Asma said she didn't mind the delay and added self-deprecatingly: "I am absolutely clueless when it comes to fine jewellery!" She signed off as "aaa" with: "Kisses to you both, and don't worry, we are well!"

Others items that caught the fancy of Syria's first lady included a vase priced £2,650. On 17 June 2011 she sent details to the family's London-based fixer Soulieman Marouf, and added: "Pls can abdulla see if this available at Harrods to order – they have a sale at the moment." Marouf replied with good news: "He bought it. Got 15% discount. Delivery 10 weeks." He added: "Today you should be receiving an Armani light … If you need anything else please let me know."

The emails suggest a woman preoccupied with shopping – but also with an eye for a bargain. She was eager to claw back VAT on luxury items shipped to Damascus, it emerges, and complained when a consignment of table lamps went missing in China. Emails sent from her personal account also concern the fate of a bespoke table, after it arrived with two "right" panels instead of a right and a left one. More than 50 emails to and from the UK deal with shopping.

Some of Asma al-Assad's prospective purchases arouse polite comment from her friends. On 3 February 2012, she was browsing the internet for luxury shoes, according to an email titled "Christian Louboutin shoes coming shortly".

She wrote to friends sharing details of new shoes on offer, including a pair of crystal-encrusted 16cm high heels costing £3,795. She asked: "Does anything catch your eye – these pieces are not made for general public." One friend replied dryly: "I don't think they're going 2 b useful any time soon unfortunately."

Most jarring were the occasions when the world was hearing news of the worst incidents of violence and bloodshed and the Assad family could be found shopping or joking online, often using pseudonyms. An adviser to the Assad inner circle, Lamis Omar, appeared to acknowledge that the first couple risked seeming too detached and sent Assad a link to an article in the US magazine Businessweek that described the president's "life in a cocoon".

Emails from the Syrian first lady's account are typically signed off with "AAA" – corresponding to Asma al-Assad – or "Alia Kayali", which is the name of the company secretary whose identity activists believe Asma hid behind. In email correspondence with shops in Paris and London, the signoff "Alia" predominates.

In July, "Alia" is found placing an order for about £10,000 worth of candlesticks, tables and chandeliers to be shipped from a Paris designer through a state company in Dubai. In early November, as protests continued, a London art dealer received a message asking about the availability and price of works costing between £5,000 and £35,000 each. In late January "Alia" unpacked a pair of bedside tables shipped from a Chelsea cabinet maker, only to discover a mistake. She complained they had "different finishes and they have different colour draws!?".

In Britain, suppliers said they were unaware that the woman behind the email account was in fact Syria's first lady. Tony Carpenter, who runs a bespoke furniture firm in Billingshurst, West Sussex, sold "Alia" a designer Baxter Gilbert table in November. The table cost £6,257. "I had no idea," Carpenter said. "She gave me a London address. The furniture went to Dubai. I assumed the job was in Dubai."

Carpenter added: "She was a very charming lady to deal with. I spoke to her once or twice, though it was mostly by email. She paid the bill very promptly." The table was oval-shaped and marble-topped, he added.

The shopping lists were not always pure luxury and sometimes hinted at the impact of events on the family. On 30 December, while anti-government protesters demonstrated in Aleppo, Hama, Damascus and Deraa, Mrs Assad appears to have sent the president options for BulletBlocker armoured clothing disguised as a blazer, and a link to the VIP Armour website.

Assad himself kept up a flow of personal, loving emails to his wife using the disguised accounts, at times revealing a flippant attitude towards reforms he had promised the country earlier that year.

In July when she emailed that she would be finished at 5pm, her delighted-sounding husband replied: "This is the best reform any country can have that u told me where will you be, we are going to adopt it instead of the rubbish laws of parties, elections, media …"

Sometimes he searched the internet for video clips that impressed him, on one occasion sending her a clip from America's Got Talent of "the best illusion of all time" – a man appearing to saw another man in half and then putting him back together again, to the delight of the judges David Hasselhoff, Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan.
Link to this video
The emails also paint a picture of a relationship under great stress. In late December the Syrian first lady told her husband simply: "If we are strong together, we will overcome this together … I love you…"

Assad's emails reveal his inner fears and suspicions. On 16 October, as the UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, called for international action to avoid "full-blown civil war" in Syria, Assad circulated from his iPad an article to a list of undisclosed recipients an article alleging that the US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, was responsible for "recruiting Arab 'death squads' from al-Qaida-affiliated units in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Chechnya to fight against Syrian military and police".

He sent another rabid article to his wife on 23 July that described Rupert Murdoch as a Jew and an Israeli citizen and "pretty much" Satan.

The emails shed light on the circle of young advisers around Assad who share jokes, TV clips and press cuttings about the crisis with the president on a regular basis and communicate with him informally. Mostly female, they refer to him variously as Sir and "his Excellency", and on one occasion – in a note not meant for his eyes, but which was forwarded to him – as "the dude".

Sheherazad Jaafari, the daughter of Syria's ambassador to the UN, Bashar Jaafari, took the role of strategic media adviser and can be seen organising an hour-long ABC interview with Assad. On another occasion she emailed him a photo showing Nicolas Sarkozy standing on a box next to George W Bush, with the subject line: "Funny!"

Hadeel al-Ali, another media adviser, reported back on the reaction of a group of friends who watched the president's speech in January. She summed up their feelings about the president as if he were a pop star: "We love him sooooooo much!!! We're so proud of him and his strength, wisdom, charisma and of course his beauty."

15 March 2012 Last updated at 10:39 Share this pageEmail Print Share this page


A coalition of 200 aid and rights groups have called on Russia and China to support attempts by the United Nations to end the violence in Syria.

Their appeal marks one year since the first protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrians had survived the subsequent crackdown with "outstanding courage", the group said, but more than 8,000 had died as the world "stood by".

Russia and China have both blocked UN Security Council resolutions on Syria.

They have objected to international action which they say would bring about a forced regime change in Syria.

On Wednesday, the Syrian authorities began shelling the southern city of Deraa - the birthplace of the protests - after retaking Idlib, on the Turkish border in the north-west, earlier this week.

Turkey says it has seen a sharp increase in the flow of refugees across its border in recent days.

"The number of Syrian refugees currently staying in Turkey boomed by 1,000 in a single day and climbed to 14,700 total," foreign ministry spokesperson Selcuk Unal told reporters in Ankara, adding that he expected the numbers to continue rising.

Among the latest group was a general who had defected from the army, joining the six already in Turkey, said Mr Unal.

Meanwhile, thousands of people have joined a pro-government rally in the Syrian capital, Damascus, to denounce the "year-old conspiracy" against the regime.

Mr Assad has always insisted his troops are fighting "armed gangs" who are seeking to destabilise Syria.

'End this horror'

In a statement, the 200 aid groups from 27 countries - including Human Rights Watch, Christian Aid, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Civicus and International Federation of Human Rights - called on the Security Council to unite in passing a resolution condemning the Syrian government's use of violence, torture and arbitrary detention against civilians.

Footage showing the scale of protests in Syria started emerging in March last year
"For a full year, the death toll in Syria has escalated to the horrifying total of more than 8,000 dead, including hundreds of children," said Ziad Abdel Tawab, deputy director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights.

"Isn't it time for the world to unite behind effective steps to stop this now?"

Souher Belhassen, president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), said Syrians had "survived with outstanding courage one year of systematic and widespread crimes and bloodshed as the world stood by and watched".

"The international community must unite and help Syrians bring an end to the horror."

They also called on the Syrian authorities to grant "full and unimpeded" access for humanitarian workers, rights monitors and journalists.

They said the international community must give its full support to Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general who is acting as the UN and Arab League's envoy to Syria.

Mr Annan visited Syria last week to deliver a proposed peace plan to Mr Assad, and is to brief the UN Security Council on his mission on Friday.

The plan includes demands for an immediate ceasefire by both sides, access for humanitarian aid, and the beginning of political dialogue.

A spokesman said he had received a response from Mr Assad but had questions about it and "and was seeking answers".

Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad al-Maqdisi told the BBC that Mr Assad's response had been positive because he wanted Mr Annan's mission to succeed.

Idlib assault

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 20 people, including seven army defectors, were killed on Wednesday as the government began shelling Deraa.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
There still is resistance there, still a lot of violence. So the situation is really very, very bad”
End Quote
Tom Porteous
Human Rights Watch

A day before, opposition activists said government forces had taken control of the north-western city of Idlib, after days of clashes with rebel fighters.

Security forces were reportedly carrying out house-to-house searches in the area, which has been a stronghold of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the main armed rebel group.

Tom Porteous of Human Rights Watch said there were reports that 114 people had died in the Idlib in the past four days.

"There has been a relentless assault on the city with machine guns, tanks, mortars firing indiscriminately into civilian areas," he said.

"There still is resistance there, still a lot of violence. So the situation is really very, very bad."

Reports are difficult to verify because of tight restrictions on independent media operating in Syria.

The violence comes two weeks after troops backed by tanks entered the shattered Baba Amr district of Homs, which had been under bombardment for almost a month, leaving an estimated 700 people dead.

The first protest in Syria took place on the streets of Damascus, on 15 March 2011, amid the wave of political unrest across the Middle East and North Africa.

A few days later, there were clashes in Deraa, as crowds protested against the arrest and alleged torture of a group of schoolchildren who had written anti-government slogans on a wall.

The army was called into Deraa to restore order by the end of the month, but the unrest had already spread to towns and cities across the country. As the army began firing on civilians, the initial calls more political freedom escalated into calls for the removal of Mr Assad and his government.

The Syrian government has been trying to suppress an uprising inspired by events in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The UN says thousands have been killed in the crackdown, and that many more have been detained and displaced. The Syrian government says hundreds of security forces personnel have also died combating "armed terrorist gangs".

:23pm UK, Friday March 16, 2012

Syrian forces are continuing their military offensive in the northern province of Idlib - driving 1,000 refugees across the Turkish border - as dozens more civilian deaths are reported.
The bloody revolt against President Bashar al Assad has entered a second year with no sign of a political solution.

Forty-five civilians were killed in frontier province Idlib, including 23 whose bodies were found with their hands tied behind their backs, as well as five army deserters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported.

The bloodshed and continued flow of refugees has prompted Turkey to suggest it might support a "buffer zone" inside Syria, a move likely to enrage Damascus.



Turkey set up a buffer zone along the border with Iraq during the Gulf War in the early 1990s, when tens of thousands of refugees headed towards Turkish territory.

The United Nations said about 230,000 Syrians have been displaced from their homes, including 30,000 who have fled abroad, raising the prospect of a regional refugee crisis.

The government has blamed foreign powers and terrorist gangs for the chaos and say 2,000 soldiers have died in the uprising.

Four members of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) announced the closures of their embassies in Syria in protest against its violent crackdown on anti-Assad activists, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said, quoting a statement by GCC Secretary General Abdullatif al Zayani.



Supporters of Syria's President Bashar al Assad attend a rally at Umayyad square in Damascus

Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Qatar were to close their embassies, after Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, the other two GCC members, announced embassy closures on Wednesday.

In an orchestrated show of support for Mr Assad, huge crowds took to the streets of Syria's cities on Thursday.

It marked the first anniversary of the unrest which started as largely peaceful protests against four decades of iron rule by the Assad dynasty.

Opposition activists said pro-Assad forces shot at crowds in various locations when they tried to protest against the 46-year-old leader.



Kofi Annan will brief the UN Security Council about his proposals to end the violence after his visit to Damascus

But residents reported that demonstrators did gather in the smart Shaalan district of Damascus to voice their anger.

Meanwhile, UN-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan is due to brief the United Nations Security Council about his talks in Damascus and proposals to end the violence.

"The door of dialogue is still open. We are still engaged with Syrian authorities over Mr Annan's proposals," his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in Geneva.

"He's been in telephone contact with the Syrian foreign minister during the course of the day... as well as with international actors, member states with influence."

Syria said it has given a "positive" response to Mr Annan's approach and a Middle Eastern diplomat characterised the reply from Damascus as "not a 'No'".

But a senior Western diplomat in the region said Damascus had spurned Mr Annan's ideas.




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Posted by: Patrick10 on March 16, 2012 4:53 PM@ MEK

Because only an idiot relies on a single source of news. pleanty sites paint a very different picture

----------------------------
Correct me if I am wrong but the the sites you mention are not actually on the ground in Syria either, are they?

So all the news originating fron Syria comes from just one main source Syrian national media does it not?

All assad has to do is let dozens of media outlets from every continent on Earth to freely report from Syria as they cannot all be biased.

It is this secrecy in Syria that is causing the suspicion he is hiding atrocities he does not want the UN or the media to uncover plus his own fathers reputation was less than savoury.Recommend (2)Report this commentPermalinkPosted by: the MEK on March 16, 2012 4:39 PM"Hang on a minute.....if Sky reporters are not on the ground and neither are you, how in the world can you possible know better than they do what is going on there."

Because only an idiot relies on a single source of news. pleanty sites paint a very different picture. Sky is into the humanitarian view the govt want us to see. Others show us the other side too. THAT's how we know.Recommend (1)Report this commentPermalinkPosted by: Patrick10 on March 16, 2012 4:27 PMThe point here is according to the UN he is not just firing at armed people who are firing back but also at UNARMED CIVILLIANS indiscriminately as well.

If he has nothing to hide why won't he allow in the whole worlds media to film in places like Homs to prove his claim, and why is he stalling the Arab and the international monitors to interview people and gather any evidence?

When he is in sole control of the official message coming from Syria he can say what he likes and nobody can dispute him.

Recommend (0)Report this commentPermalinkPosted by: Raymond Vermont on March 16, 2012 4:22 PM@viewsofperception

So are you saying the 200,000 plus currently residing in refugee camps(on the fringes of Syria) are, ''revolutionaries, rebels, militants or terrorists'' ?

They do say that some toddlers go through a stage of the 'terrible two's', but that doesnt make all those Syrian two year olds forced into the camps surrounding Syria, bad in a bad way and a threat to the Assad military machine and his Arabist neoNazi party!Recommend (0)Report this commentPermalinkPosted by: viewsofperception on March 16, 2012 4:12 PMI like how they are referred to as ''civilians''
They even go into claiming a military defectionist as a ''civilian''
It is illegal in ANY country for a military employee to defect to an opposing cause... and especially a cause uprising against the government that is defined as a terrorist group. That is punishable by death, even in america.
These armed militants are NOT civilians. They are ''revolutionaries, rebels, militants or terrorists'' no other definitions suit them.
Funny how the only killing of ''civilians'' is happening in the heavily fortified rebel towns that have been firing on government people for the past year. If an armed criminal group with other countrie's backing sprung up in manchester, took over the city and fortified it. The army would be called in immediately.
These are not ''protestors''. They refuse to co-operate peacefully and only resort with violence.
they are not civilians so stop reporting them so. This is propaganda.Recommend (2)Report this commentPermalinkPosted by: Patrick10 on March 16, 2012 3:13 PM@MrWalpole from Chiswick


" Sky reports on government troops killing civilians - but this is not factual. The so-called civilians are roaming the streets with guns - even children are armed - and getting shot."
________________________________________________
Hang on a minute.....if Sky reporters are not on the ground and neither are you, how in the world can you possible know better than they do what is going on there.


If you make claims cite sources to back up those claims otherwise I will assume it is just your personal opinion as you are a complete stranger to me.

Last time I checked Chiswick was over 2000 miles away from this conflict.Recommend (2)Report this commentPermalinkPosted by: Wormcake on March 16, 2012 3:00 PMI hope the 'no room, we're full' sign has been put up.Recommend (7)Report this commentPermalinkPosted by: Caratacus10AD on March 16, 2012 2:50 PM@MrWalpole from Chiswick

You could say the Jihadists have come mostly from Iraq, in order to gain territory advances as Iraq is Shia majority country, where the Sunni extremists cannot regain the power they crave... (which would also conveniently allow them to link up with PKK (Kurdish terrorists) to transport drugs from the Afghanistan/Pak tribal belts into Turkey and beyond.

Crush em all I say!Recommend (2)Report this commentPermalinkPosted by: sicktodeath on March 16, 2012 2:47 PMQuick close the borders!!!!!!Recommend (9)Report this commentPermalinkPosted by: Mr fedup on March 16, 2012 2:47 PMIs the same digraced Mr Annan, whos son got caught dealing in oil with Saddan Hussian.Recommend (2)Report this commentPermalink

The UN-Arab League envoy on the Syrian crisis, Kofi Annan, has warned of an "escalation" of the conflict to the rest of the Middle East unless it is handled carefully.
He voiced his fears of the troubles affecting the rest of the region as he called on the divided UN Security Council to overcome its deadlock and act to end the violence.

The bloody revolt against Syrian President Bashar al Assad has entered a second year with no sign of a political solution.

Neighbouring countries are worried about the fallout from the uprising.

Mr Annan gave his warning as he ordered a team of UN experts to Damascus this weekend to discuss setting up a new international monitoring mission.

The former UN secretary-general said: "We tend to focus on Syria, but any miscalculation that leads to major escalation will have impact in the region which would be extremely difficult to manage.



Kofi Annan, gives a statement after addressing the Security Council in New York by videolink at the UN headquarters in Geneva

"The region is extremely concerned about developments in Syria.

"Their concern goes beyond Syria itself because the crisis can have a serious impact for the whole region if it is not handled effectively."

A new draft resolution on Syria is currently being considered by the UN Security Council.

Two previous resolutions aimed at halting the deadly civil conflict have been vetoed by Russia and China.

He told the council in New York by videolink: "The stronger and more unified your message, the better chance we have of shifting the dynamics of the conflict."

Crisis talks between Mr Annan and Mr Assad earlier this week ended without a deal to end the bloodshed.

Syrian forces are continuing their military offensive in the northern province of Idlib - driving 1,000 refugees across the Turkish border - resulting in dozens more civilian deaths, according to reports.



Some 45 civilians were killed in frontier province Idlib, including 23 whose bodies were found with their hands tied behind their backs, as well as five army deserters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.

The bloodshed and continued flow of refugees has prompted Turkey to suggest it might support a "buffer zone" inside Syria, a move likely to enrage Damascus.

Turkey set up a buffer zone along the border with Iraq during the Gulf War in the early 1990s, when tens of thousands of refugees headed towards Turkish territory.

The United Nations said about 230,000 Syrians have been displaced from their homes, including 30,000 who have fled abroad, raising the prospect of a regional refugee crisis.

The government has blamed foreign powers and terrorist gangs for the chaos and say 2,000 soldiers have died in the uprising.

Four members of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) announced the closures of their embassies in Syria in protest against its violent crackdown on anti-Assad activists, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said, quoting a statement by GCC Secretary General Abdullatif al Zayani.



Supporters of Syria's President Bashar al Assad attend a rally at Umayyad square in Damascus

Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Qatar were to close their embassies, after Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, the other two GCC members, announced embassy closures on Wednesday.

In an orchestrated show of support for Mr Assad, huge crowds took to the streets of Syria's cities on Thursday.

It marked the first anniversary of the unrest which started as largely peaceful protests against four decades of iron rule by the Assad dynasty.

Opposition activists said pro-Assad forces shot at crowds in various locations when they tried to protest against the 46-year-old leader.

Syria said it has given a "positive" response to Mr Annan's approach and a Middle Eastern diplomat characterised the reply from Damascus as "not a 'No'".

2 Blasts in Damascus, Syria, State News Agency Says

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: March 17, 2012 at 5:03 AM ET





BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Two "terrorist explosions" struck security targets in the Syrian capital Saturday morning, killing a number of civilians and security forces, the country's state news agency said.






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The report said preliminary information indicated the blasts were caused by car bombs that hit the aviation intelligence department and the criminal security department at around 7:30 a.m local time. Shooting broke out in the wake of the blast and sent residents and others who had gathered in the area fleeing, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said.

The state-run news agency, SANA, posted gruesome photographs of the scene, with mangled and charred corpses, bloodstains on the streets and twisted steel.

"All our windows and doors are blown out," said Majed Seibiyah, 29, who lives in the area. "I was sleeping when I heard a sound like an earthquake. I didn't grasp what was happening until I hear screaming in the street."

One year into the Syrian revolt, the fight to oust President Bashar Assad is transforming into a nascent civil war. The regime says it is fighting foreign terrorists and armed gangs, denying there is a popular will behind the revolt. But Assad's opponents say they have been forced to carry weapons because the government used tanks, snipers and machine guns to crush peaceful protests.

Syria has seen a string of suicide bombings, the last major one on Feb. 10, when twin blasts struck security compounds in the government stronghold city of Aleppo, killing 28 people.

Damascus, another Assad stronghold, has seen three suicide previous bombings since December.

The regime has touted the attacks as proof that it is being targeted by "terrorists." The opposition accuses forces loyal to the government of being behind the bombings to tarnish the uprising.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the explosions.

The U.N. estimates that more that 8,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad began last March.

In recent weeks, Syrian forces have waged a series of heavy offensives against the main strongholds of the opposition — Homs in central Syria, Idlib in the north and Daraa in the south.

The bloodshed fuels the country's sectarian tensions. The military's top leadership is stacked heavily with members of the minority Alawite sect, to which Assad and the ruling elite belong.

Sunnis are the majority in the country of 22 million and make up the backbone of the opposition.

Diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis have so far brought no result. But U.N. envoy Kofi Annan told the Security Council in a briefing Friday that he would return to Damascus even though his recent talks with Assad saw no progress in attempts to cobble together peace negotiations between the two sides.

After the confidential briefing via videolink, Annan told reporters in Geneva that he urged the council "to speak with one voice as we try to resolve the crisis in Syria." Russia and China have blocked U.N. action against Assad's regime.

"The first objective is for all of us to end the violence and human rights abuses and the killings and get unimpeded access for humanitarian access to the needy, and of course the all-important issue of political process that will lead to a democratic Syria," Annan said.

Both Assad and much of the opposition spurned Annan's appeal for talks.

___

Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this story














































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Mar 17, 7:40 AM EDT


Blasts hit Syria capital, state news agency says

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Associated Press


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BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Twin bombings struck government targets in the Syrian capital early Saturday, killing security forces and civilians and leaving pools of blood and carnage in the streets, according to state-run television.

A Syrian official said there were reports of a third blast targeting a military bus at the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, but there were no details. He asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

The bombings were the latest in a string of large-scale suicide attacks targeting the Syrian regime's military installations. The blasts have killed dozens of people since late December.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The government has blamed the explosions on "terrorist forces" that it claims are behind the revolt against President Bashar Assad.

Top U.S. intelligence officials have also pointed to al-Qaida in Iraq as the likely culprit behind previous bombings, raising the possibility its fighters are infiltrating across the border to take advantage of the turmoil. Al-Qaida's leader called for Assad's ouster in February.

A suspected al-Qaida presence creates new obstacles for the U.S., its Western allies and Arab states trying to figure out a way to help push Assad from power, and may also rally Syrian religious minorities, fearful of Sunni radicalism, to get behind the regime.

The Syrian opposition has denied any link to al-Qaida and accuses forces loyal to the government of being behind the bombings to tarnish the uprising.

According to the state-run news agency, SANA, preliminary information indicated two blasts were caused by car bombs that hit the aviation intelligence department and the criminal security department at around 7:30 a.m local time. Shooting broke out soon after the blast and sent residents and others who had gathered in the area fleeing, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said.

SANA posted gruesome photographs of the scene Saturday, with mangled and charred corpses, bloodstains on the streets and twisted steel.

"All our windows and doors are blown out," said Majed Seibiyah, 29, who lives in the area. "I was sleeping when I heard a sound like an earthquake. I didn't grasp what was happening until I hear screaming in the street."

The Syrian government denies there is a popular will behind the uprising, saying foreign extremists and gangs are trying to destroy the country. But his opponents deny that and say an increasingly active rebel force has been driven to take up arms because the government used tanks, snipers and machine guns to crush peaceful protests.

The U.N. estimates that more that 8,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad began last March.

The last major suicide bombing in Syria happened on Feb. 10, when twin blasts struck security compounds in the government stronghold of Aleppo in northern Syria, killing 28 people. Damascus, another Assad stronghold, has seen three suicide previous bombings since December.

In recent weeks, Syrian forces have waged a series of heavy offensives against the main strongholds of the opposition - Homs in central Syria, Idlib in the north and Daraa in the south.

The bloodshed fuels the country's sectarian tensions. The military's top leadership is stacked heavily with members of the minority Alawite sect, to which Assad and the ruling elite belong.

Sunnis are the majority in the country of 22 million and make up the backbone of the opposition.

Diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis have so far brought no result. But U.N. envoy Kofi Annan told the Security Council in a briefing Friday that he would return to Damascus even though his recent talks with Assad saw no progress in attempts to cobble together peace negotiations between the two sides.

After the confidential briefing via videolink, Annan told reporters in Geneva that he urged the council "to speak with one voice as we try to resolve the crisis in Syria." Russia and China have blocked U.N. action against Assad's regime.

"The first objective is for all of us to end the violence and human rights abuses and the killings and get unimpeded access for humanitarian access to the needy, and of course the all-important issue of political process that will lead to a democratic Syria," Annan said.

Both Assad and much of the opposition spurned Annan's appeal for talks.

---

Associated Press writer Albert Aji contributed to this story from Damascus, Syria.

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Thousands of Syrians have crossed the Border into Turkey , not for the first time which is causing concern for the Turkish Government. There is talk of
the Governement building a no-mans land Border between the two Countries so the Syrians will not be officially in either Country .

At least 27 people have been killed and 97 wounded in two explosions in the Syrian capital Damascus, officials say.

State TV described the blasts as "terrorist" attacks. Preliminary reports suggested vehicles packed with explosives had been detonated, it said.

It said intelligence and police buildings were hit and the cause was not known.

Details of the reports cannot be independently verified.

Foreign journalists only have very restricted access to Syria.

Dozens of people have been killed in bomb attacks in Damascus and the second city Aleppo in recent months, which the government also blamed on terrorists.

The opposition has accused the authorities of staging some of those incidents.



Lina Sinjab

BBC News, Damascus

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The two explosions aimed at security buildings are another breach of the tight security apparatus control here in Damascus. Although all security buildings are sealed off with barricades, the government claims these were car bomb explosions.

They happened in the early hours of the morning on a weekend so there was hardly any movement in the street. But the timing of the blasts will raise eyebrows. They occurred a day before UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan is to launch his mission by sending a technical team to Damascus. Mr Annan wants to find a political solution to the crisis but President Assad said this would not succeed while terrorist groups were operating in Syria.

Similar explosions took place in Damascus just as an Arab League mission arrived in the country. Opposition groups blame the government for such attacks and say they are aimed at discrediting them.

The latest blasts came two days after the first anniversary of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, which UN estimates say has left more than 8,000 people dead.

State TV showed pictures of charred bodies, burned-out vehicles and bloodstains on the streets, as well as injured people being treated in hospital.

It described one body as being that of a terrorist.

It said buildings housing the criminal police and aviation intelligence had been targeted.

Opposition sources also said security buildings had been hit.

One activist told AFP news agency the first blast occurred at 07:30 local time (05:30 GMT), and was followed by a second more powerful explosion.

"All our windows and doors are blown out," local resident Majed Seibiyah, 29, told the Associated Press news agency.

"I was sleeping when I heard a sound like an earthquake. I didn't grasp what was happening until I heard screaming in the street."

Fresh anti-government protests were held on Friday in cities across Syria.


And there was a return of violence to the Damascus suburbs - the first significant fighting there since government forces imposed military control some weeks ago.

Clashes between rebel fighters and the army were reported in several other parts of the country.

President Assad insists his troops are fighting "armed gangs" seeking to destabilise Syria.

On Friday, UN and Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan renewed calls for an end to fighting and for unimpeded humanitarian aid for Syria.

Speaking to UN Security Council members, he said he was sending a team to Damascus to discuss setting up a new international monitoring mission.

The international community remains divided on Syria, with Russia and China both blocking UN Security Council resolutions on Syria and aid groups from 27 countries urging them to condemn the government's use of violence.

But the two permanent members have backed Mr Annan's peace mission.
More on This Story
Syria Crisis

(CNN) -- A Syrian rebel leader vehemently refuted the government's claim that so-called "terrorists" -- not the regime itself -- launched a series of explosions in Damascus that killed dozens.

"This is the regime's game. This is how they play their dirty tricks. They carry out these types of explosions from time to time to get more international support and compassion," Capt. Ammar al-Wawi of the rebel Syrian Free Army said Sunday. "They are desperately trying to prove to the world that they are fighting against armed gangs, but the reality is they are the ones who are doing all the killings."

Two explosions rocked parts of Damascus on Saturday, including Syrian government facilities, state-run media reported.

The Syrian Arab News Agency said 27 people were killed after two "booby-trapped" cars exploded in crowded areas in the capital. The blasts also injured 140 people and caused serious damage to surrounding buildings, SANA said.

One explosion occurred near the customs criminal investigations department, witnesses said, and another struck near the air force intelligence headquarters -- close to where twin bombings struck the offices of two security branches in December. Opposition activists said at the time that the regime staged those attacks to bolster its claim that the government is fighting terrorists, but the government also blamed the same attacks on "terrorists."

In addition to Saturday's attacks in the capital, "two terrorists were killed on Saturday when a booby-trapped car they were driving exploded" in Yarmouk Camp, in the Damascus countryside, SANA said.

Al-Wawi said the Free Syrian Army "had nothing to do with these explosions, which caused heavy casualties among civilians, because that's not our mission. We are fighting against the regime brutality, not against our people."

On Sunday, Syrian state television reported a "terrorist explosion" between two residential buildings in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described the blast as a car bomb explosion near the Political Security branch in Aleppo. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

More than a year after the start of the regime's crackdown on dissidents, reports of deaths mount every day.

At least six civilians were killed in clashes throughout the country Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, including two in the Damascus countryside, two in Homs and two in Daraa.

Four Syrian soldiers were killed in fighting with defectors near the northern city of Jisr al-Shugur, the observatory said.

Pro-Assad forces also assaulted and arrested opposition leader Mohamed Sayed Rasas during an anti-government protest in Damascus, the observatory said.

And in Deir Ezzor, heavy gunfire and explosions echoed in the city as government forces and Syrian defected groups clashed, the observatory said.

Opposition activists also described the aftermath of an attack in the Rifai district of Homs province last week, in which most of the 32 children and two women found were injured, the activists said.

"The children were tortured -- beaten, abused, fingers cut off, and shot by thugs," said a man who uses the pseudonym Waleed Faris.

Another activist, identified only as Abu Faris, was part of a rescue operation in Rifai. He described seeing abandoned neighborhoods, "tens of bodies" and "horrific corpses, shot, mutilated -- everywhere."

On Friday, Kofi Annan, the joint U.N-Arab League envoy to Syria, said he was trying to find a peaceful solution to the yearlong violence in Syria and "get unimpeded access" for humanitarian relief.

The former U.N. secretary-general said the situation in Syria is "much more complex" than that in Libya or other nations.

"It's a conflict in a region of the world that has seen many, many traumatic events. I think we need to handle the situation in Syria very, very carefully," he said. "Any miscalculation that leads to major escalation will have impact in the region."

Asked about the prospects of a coalition government, Annan said such a development would have to emerge from talks among Syrians.

Annan met last weekend with the Syrian president in Damascus and the Syrian opposition in Turkey in an effort to end the violence that has swept the nation.

Most reports from inside Syria indicate the regime is slaughtering civilians to wipe out dissidents seeking al-Assad's ouster. The al-Assad family has ruled Syria for more than four decades.

But al-Assad's regime has insisted that "armed terrorist groups" are behind the violence and says it has popular support for its actions.

CNN cannot independently confirm reports of casualties or attacks in Syria because the government has severely restricted the access of international journalists.

But more than 8,000 people have died in the conflict, according to the United Nations. Opposition activists say the overall toll is more than 9,000, most of them civilians.

CNN's Saad Abedine, Caroline Faraj and Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.

A car bomb has exploded in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, killing at least two people and injuring 30 others.

Officials blamed terrorists for the attack, which state media said killed a policeman and a female civilian.

Syrian TV showed a wrecked apartment block and rubble strewn across a street in Aleppo, which last suffered a deadly bomb attack in early February.

It comes a day after two car bombs blew up near security buildings in the capital Damascus, killing 27.

The government routinely blames terrorists for bomb attacks, and links them to the year-long uprising against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

The opposition, however, has accused the authorities of staging some of the bombings to characterise the rebels as terrorists.

Details of the reports are difficult to verify as foreign journalists are heavily restricted in Syria.

Elsewhere, activists said at least 16 people had been killed by security forces around the country on Sunday.

The BBC's Lina Sinjab in Damascus says both Damascus and Aleppo are seen as cities with high levels of support for President Assad.


She says both cities have been under tight security control to prevent mass opposition protests like those in Homs and Idlib.

Meanwhile leaders of an opposition group were arrested after trying to organise anti-government protests in Damascus.

Our correspondent says it is unusual as the group, the Syrian National Coordination Council, is tolerated by the authorities and had announced its demonstration beforehand.

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to get aid into the country are continuing, with Red Cross chief Jakob Kellenberger visiting Russia to highlight their concerns.

The Red Cross said in a statement that Mr Kellenberger would visit Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday to press for an "unambiguous commitment" for daily halts in fighting to allow aid to be delivered.

Russia is seen as the only nation with real influence over the regime in Damascus.

'White smoke'

The Aleppo attack was near a security building in the Suleimaniyeh quarter of the city, London-based opposition group the Syrian Observation for Human Rights said.

The group quoted residents as saying they heard a heavy blast in the early afternoon and later saw bodies in the streets.

A resident told the Associated Press news agency the affected area had a large Christian population and was generally crowded on Sundays.

"It was a strong explosion. It shook parts of the city," Mohammed Saeed said. "White smoke was billowing from the area."

State media said the attack took place near a post office and between two buildings in a residential area.

The latest blasts have come within days of the first anniversary of the uprising against Mr Assad, which UN estimates say has left more than 8,000 people dead.

UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has announced he is sending a team to Damascus to discuss setting up a new international monitoring mission.

On Friday he renewed calls for an end to fighting and for unimpeded humanitarian to be sent to Syria.

President Assad insists his troops are fighting "armed gangs" seeking to destabilise Syria.

19 March 2012 Last updated at 09:48 Share this pageEmail Print Share this page


A firefight has erupted in Syria's capital, Damascus, between the rebel Free Syria Army and the forces of President Bashar al-Assad.

Witnesses say the sound of machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades was heard from the district of al-Mezze.

The central neighbourhood hosts several security facilities and is one of the most heavily guarded areas.

The UN estimates more than 8,000 people have now died in a year-long uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

'Explosions'

Al-Mezze has previously been the scene of large anti-government protests.

One resident told Reuters news agency that there was "fighting near Hamada supermarket and the sound of explosions there and elsewhere in the neighbourhood".

He added: "Security police have blocked several side streets and the street lighting has been cut off."

Continue reading the main story
Analysis

Lina Sinjab

BBC News, Damascus

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The fighting centred on a flat in al-Mezze. Residents nearby said two floors were burnt out after the clashes. Gunfire continued into the morning in the district, part of central Damascus.

This is an upmarket residential area but it also contains a substantial security presence. The Free Syria Army is present in suburbs of Damascus but there are no records of any presence in this part of town. Close by is the al-Mezze 86 district, a security stronghold, whose residents are loyal to President Assad. Early last month, residents of 86 district fired at protesters who took to the streets calling for an end to President Assad's rule.

Since then there has been heavy security in the area. However, some protesters managed to cut-off roads by burning tyres and staging anti-Assad protests.

Opposition activist Amer al-Sadeq told the BBC's World Today programme he had spoken to a contact in al-Mezze who reported four blasts within five minutes and then heavy gunfire.

Syrian TV, quoted by Agence France-Presse, said three "terrorists" and a security force member had been killed.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights called the fighting "the most violent of its kind and closest to security centres in Damascus since the revolution began", adding that 18 government troops had been injured.

The BBC's Lina Sinjab, in Damascus, says the gunfire continued into Monday morning, with some reports saying it has now ended.

In January the Free Syria Army briefly seized several Damascus suburbs.

The latest incident follows bomb blasts in Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo over the weekend.

The car bomb that exploded in Aleppo on Sunday killed at least two people and injured 30 others.

A day earlier, at least 27 people were reported to have been killed and 97 wounded in two explosions in the capital.

State TV described the blasts as "terrorist" attacks.

However, activists have accused the authorities of staging incidents to discredit opposition groups.

Pause plea

As diplomatic efforts to end the crisis continue, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jakob Kellenberger, has travelled to Moscow to meet Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and ask the Russian government to press Syria to allow more humanitarian access.

In some parts of Syria, rebel fighters, like these in Idlib province, openly brandish their weaponry
The ICRC says that, in the worst-hit areas, a daily pause in the fighting of at least two hours was needed for the evacuation of the wounded and to allow in food and medicine.

Russia is a key ally of Syria and, along with China, has thwarted attempts to form a UN resolution condemning the repression.

The BBC's Daniel Sandford in Moscow says Mr Lavrov is likely to say that while Russia is engaging with Syria, it cannot tell the government there what to do.

Our correspondent says there is some frustration in Moscow with the speed at which Damascus is responding to some initiatives, particularly that of UN and Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan.

In another development, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces beat and arrested senior opposition figure Mohammed Sayyed Rassas on Sunday.

Mr Rassas, a leader of the National Co-ordinating Body for Democratic Change (NCB), had been taking part in a protest march in Damascus, the group said.

President Assad is trying to quell an increasingly armed rebellion that sprang from a fierce crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy protests a year ago.

He insists his troops are fighting "armed gangs" seeking to destabilise Syria.

The Syrian government has been trying to suppress an uprising inspired by events in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The UN says thousands have been killed in the crackdown, and that many more have been detained and displaced. The Syrian government says hundreds of security forces personnel have also died combating "armed terrorist gangs".
The family of President Bashar al-Assad has been in power since his father, Hafez, took over in a coup in 1970. The country underwent some liberalisation after Bashar became president in 2000, but the pace of change soon slowed, if not reversed. Critics are imprisoned, domestic media are tightly controlled, and economic policies often benefit the elite. The country's human rights record is among the worst in the world.
Syria is a country of 21 million people with a Sunni Muslim majority (74%) and significant minorities of Alawites - the Shia heterodox sect to which Mr Assad belongs - and Christians. Mr Assad promotes a secular identity for the country, but he has concentrated power in the hands of family and other Alawites. Protests have generally been biggest in Sunni-dominated areas.
Under the sanctions imposed by the Arab League, US and EU, Syria's two most vital sectors, tourism and oil, have ground to a halt in recent months. The IMF says Syria's economy contracted by 2% in 2011, while the value of the Syrian pound has crashed. Unemployment is high, electricity cuts trouble Damascus, and critical products like heating oil and staples like milk powder are becoming scarce.
Pro-democracy protests erupted in March 2011 after the arrest and torture of a group of teenagers who had painted revolutionary slogans on walls at their school in the southern city of Deraa. Security forces opened fire during a march against the arrests, killing four. The next day, the authorities shot at mourners at the victims' funerals, killing another person. People began demanding the overthrow of Mr Assad.
The government has tried to deal with the situation with a combination of minor concessions and force. President Assad ended the 48-year-long state of emergency and introduced a new constitution offering multi-party elections. But at the same time, the authorities have continued to use violence against unarmed protesters, and some cities, like Homs, have suffered weeks of intense bombardment.
The opposition is deeply divided. Several groups formed a coalition, the Syrian National Council (SNC), but it is dominated by the Sunni community and exiled dissidents. The SNC disagrees with the National Co-ordination Committee (NCC) on the questions of talks with the government and foreign intervention, and has found it difficult to work with the Free Syrian Army - army defectors seeking to topple Mr Assad by force.
International pressure on the Syrian government has been intensifying. It has been suspended from the Arab League, while the EU and the US have imposed sanctions. However, there has been no agreement on a UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to violence. Although military intervention has been ruled out by Western nations, there are increasing calls to arm the opposition.
Correspondents say a peaceful solution seems unlikely. Syria's leadership seems intent on crushing resistance and most of the opposition will only accept an end to the regime. Some believe the expected collapse of Syria's currency and an inability to pay salaries may be the leadership's downfall. There are fears, though, that the resulting chaos would be long-lasting and create a wider conflict.

(CNN) -- The Syrian regime launched new assaults on Homs province Tuesday, killing one of the first organizers in the Syrian uprising, an opposition group said.

Heavy shelling in the city of Homs claimed the life of 23-year-old Abdul Rahman Orfalli, the Homs Coordination Committee said. The group said Orfalli was one of the initial organizers of the first protests in the city in March 2011.

Orfalli was arrested twice and was tortured during a five-month detainment before coming back to lead demonstrations in Homs, the group said.

By mid-morning Tuesday, at least 14 people were killed across the country, with the vast majority in Homs, according to the opposition Syrian Network for Human Rights.

With diplomatic efforts so far failing to quell the bloodshed, United Nations members could vote Tuesday to support special envoy Kofi Annan's mission on Syria.

The U.N. effort is viewed as a backdoor way to lure China and Russia -- two countries that have refused to formally condemn the Syrian regime -- to join others in pressuring Syria to cooperate with Annan, who met with President Bashar al-Assad this month and laid out a series of proposals to end the crisis.

Both Russia and China have said they want an end to the violence but would not place the blame squarely on the regime. Both countries also have major trade ties with Syria.

The year-long fighting in Syria reached a new dynamic Monday, when rebel fighters moved in on a key neighborhood in the Syrian capital.

Intense clashes between Syrian rebels and government forces erupted in the Damascus neighborhood of al-Mazzeh, the site of embassies, security buildings and the homes of some members of the president's inner circle, opposition activists said.

At least 18 members of the security forces were injured, according to the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The clashes were the fiercest so far in the Syrian capital, and the closest to its security centers since the start of the Syrian uprising last year, the group said.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency later said two "terrorists" and a member of the security forces were killed when authorities raided an apartment building in the neighborhood, seizing machine guns and grenades in the process.

A spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army confirmed the rebels' involvement in the clashes but had no details.

Across Syria, at least 34 people were killed Monday, the LCC said.

U.N. officials say the Syrian crisis has killed more than 8,000 people, while opposition activists put the toll at more than 9,000 -- most of them civilians.

Syria's government consistently blames "armed terrorist groups" for the violence. CNN cannot independently confirm reports of casualties or attacks in Syria because the government has severely restricted the access of international journalists, but most reports from inside Syria indicate the regime is slaughtering civilians to wipe out dissidents seeking al-Assad's ouster.

CNN's Saad Abedine and Amir Ahmed contributed to this

Syria's leadership making mistakes, says Russia Russia has supported the Red Cross calls for a daily pause in fighting to allow for humanitarian access
Syria's leadership is making "a lot of mistakes", Russia's foreign minister has said, in a further sign Moscow may be hardening its stance on Damascus.

Sergei Lavrov said President Bashar al-Assad's regime had "responded incorrectly" from the start, when the protests were peaceful.

He also said Moscow was prepared to support a UN resolution backing its envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan.

It comes a day after Russia called for a daily humanitarian ceasefire.

Earlier on Tuesday, US campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused elements of Syria's armed opposition of carrying out serious human rights abuses, including kidnapping, torture and execution.

'Continuing efforts'

"We believe that the Syrian leadership responded incorrectly to the very first manifestations of the peaceful protests," Mr Lavrov told Kommersant FM radio in a pre-recorded interview.

"The Syrian leadership - despite the numerous promises it has made in response to our calls - is making a lot of mistakes. Unfortunately this is why the conflict is so acute."

Russia is a key ally of Syria and, along with China, has twice thwarted attempts to agree to a UN resolution condemning Mr Assad's actions.

But observers believe Moscow's patience with Damascus has been wearing thin.

Mr Annan, the UN-Arab League special envoy on Syria, has spent the last few weeks meeting all sides in the conflict - putting forward proposals to try and bring about an immediate ceasefire by both sides, access for humanitarian aid and the beginning of political dialogue.

Mr Lavrov, speaking at a news conference after meeting his Lebanese counterpart, said the UN Security Council should support the proposals, "not as an ultimatum, but as a basis of continuing efforts" by Mr Annan to find a solution to the crisis.

Following talks with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Monday, Mr Lavrov's ministry put out a statement urging the Syrian government "and all armed groups who oppose it" to agree to ceasefires "without delay".

The ministry said it supported the ICRC's demands for a daily pause in fighting to evacuate the wounded from the worst affected areas and allow in food and medicine, and urged the Syrian authorities to give the organisation "access to all detained persons in Syria following the protests".

Meanwhile, HRW has called on Syria's main opposition coalition, the Syrian National Council (SNC), to condemn the abuses carried out by some of its supporters.

According to HRW, abuses include kidnapping for ransom, detention, and torture of security force members, government supporters, and people identified as members of pro-government militias, called Shabiha.

HRW has frequently accused Syria's government of abuse over the past year of conflict.

The UN says more than 8,000 people have been killed in the year-long uprising, while tens of thousands of people have fled their homes.

The Syrian government has been trying to suppress an uprising inspired by events in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The UN says thousands have been killed in the crackdown, and that many more have been detained and displaced. The Syrian government says hundreds of security forces personnel have also died combating "armed terrorist gangs".
The family of President Bashar al-Assad has been in power since his father, Hafez, took over in a coup in 1970. The country underwent some liberalisation after Bashar became president in 2000, but the pace of change soon slowed, if not reversed. Critics are imprisoned, domestic media are tightly controlled, and economic policies often benefit the elite. The country's human rights record is among the worst in the world.
Syria is a country of 21 million people with a Sunni Muslim majority (74%) and significant minorities of Alawites - the Shia heterodox sect to which Mr Assad belongs - and Christians. Mr Assad promotes a secular identity for the country, but he has concentrated power in the hands of family and other Alawites. Protests have generally been biggest in Sunni-dominated areas.
Under the sanctions imposed by the Arab League, US and EU, Syria's two most vital sectors, tourism and oil, have ground to a halt in recent months. The IMF says Syria's economy contracted by 2% in 2011, while the value of the Syrian pound has crashed. Unemployment is high, electricity cuts trouble Damascus, and critical products like heating oil and staples like milk powder are becoming scarce.
Pro-democracy protests erupted in March 2011 after the arrest and torture of a group of teenagers who had painted revolutionary slogans on walls at their school in the southern city of Deraa. Security forces opened fire during a march against the arrests, killing four. The next day, the authorities shot at mourners at the victims' funerals, killing another person. People began demanding the overthrow of Mr Assad.
The government has tried to deal with the situation with a combination of minor concessions and force. President Assad ended the 48-year-long state of emergency and introduced a new constitution offering multi-party elections. But at the same time, the authorities have continued to use violence against unarmed protesters, and some cities, like Homs, have suffered weeks of intense bombardment.
The opposition is deeply divided. Several groups formed a coalition, the Syrian National Council (SNC), but it is dominated by the Sunni community and exiled dissidents. The SNC disagrees with the National Co-ordination Committee (NCC) on the questions of talks with the government and foreign intervention, and has found it difficult to work with the Free Syrian Army - army defectors seeking to topple Mr Assad by force.
International pressure on the Syrian government has been intensifying. It has been suspended from the Arab League, while the EU and the US have imposed sanctions. However, there has been no agreement on a UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to violence. Although military intervention has been ruled out by Western nations, there are increasing calls to arm the opposition.
Correspondents say a peaceful solution seems unlikely. Syria's leadership seems intent on crushing resistance and most of the opposition will only accept an end to the regime. Some believe the expected collapse of Syria's currency and an inability to pay salaries may be the leadership's downfall. There are fears, though, that the resulting chaos would be long-lasting and create a wider conflict.
previous slide next slide 1/9More on This

U.N. Council Backs Plan for Ending Syria Conflict

By RICK GLADSTONE

Published: March 21, 2012









.



Overcoming months of bitter division, the United Nations Security Council delivered a diplomatic setback to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria on Wednesday, unanimously embracing efforts by Kofi Annan, the former secretary general, to negotiate a cease-fire in the year-old Syrian conflict, funnel aid to victims and begin a political transition.





Tatan Syuflana/Associated Press

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke in Jakarta on Wednesday.









TimesCast | Fighting Continues in Syria













.



Document: Presidential Statement on the Joint Special Envoy on Syria





.

In a document known as a presidential statement, the 15-member council expressed its “gravest concern at the deteriorating situation in Syria, which has resulted in a serious human rights crisis and a deplorable humanitarian situation.”

Russia and China, which had used their vetoes on the council to block efforts to adopt a resolution on the Syrian conflict, agreed to the statement.

It endorsed a plan by Mr. Annan, publicly revealed in detail for the first time, that he presented to Mr. Assad in meetings this month as the special representative of both the United Nations and the Arab League.

The statement said Mr. Annan’s plan would “facilitate a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs, including through commencing a comprehensive political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition.”

The plan closely resembles an Arab League proposal that Mr. Assad has rejected. It calls for all combatants to immediately stop fighting, for the military to withdraw from populated areas, for a United Nations-supervised truce and for the provision of humanitarian assistance, the release of all arbitrarily detained people, freedom of movement for journalists and freedom for peaceful demonstrations.

It warns of unspecified “further steps” if Mr. Annan’s plan is not carried out.

The statement does not have the enforcement muscle of a formal Security Council resolution. But it reflected some significant diplomatic bridging of disagreements that had principally pitted Western and Arab countries against Russia, Mr. Assad’s most important supporter.

Russia’s endorsement of the statement is an embarrassment for Mr. Assad, who has refused to negotiate with his political opponents and has characterized the uprising as a terrorist crime wave.

There was no immediate reaction from Mr. Assad. But the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, in a brief dispatch on the Security Council’s action, emphasized that it satisfied Russia’s insistence that it contain no ultimatums, threats or “unilateral demands.”

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who had expressed anger over Russia’s support for Mr. Assad, praised the Security Council’s action as “a positive step.”

“The council has now spoken with one voice,” she added.

Mr. Annan said through a spokesman that he was “encouraged by the united support of the Security Council and urges the Syrian authorities to respond positively.”

Russia, backed by China, had twice vetoed earlier draft resolutions on Syria, arguing that they would violate Syria’s sovereignty and did not equally blame Mr. Assad and his armed antagonists for the crisis.

But Russian officials have shown increasing impatience with Mr. Assad, and on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov said Mr. Assad had made “many mistakes” over the past year.

Speaking to reporters after the Security Council session, Russia’s ambassador, Vitaly I. Churkin, sought to frame the unanimous action as a vindication of Russia’s position. “We are very pleased,” he said. “The Security Council has finally chosen to take a pragmatic look at the situation in Syria.”

The Security Council also issued a press statement, which Russia had proposed, that condemned the bombing attacks on Syrian government targets in Damascus and Aleppo in recent days, for which Mr. Assad has blamed his opponents. The press statement described those attacks as terrorism.

22 March 2012 Last updated at 11:45 Share this pageEmail Print Share this page

98ShareFacebookTwitter.Opposition reports Syrian army tanks are shelling Hama Amateur video purporting to show a castle being shelled in Hama
Opposition groups in Syria say a district of Hama is being "heavily shelled" by government tanks.

They say there is heavy fighting in the Arbaeen quarter of the city, which is one of the main centres of opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.

It follows clashes between the Free Syrian Army and the security forces in the area on Wednesday.

The local revolutionary council says that 12 people were killed in that fighting.

It describes the northern and eastern districts of Hama as "a battlefield", and says bodies are having to be buried in a local park.

Witnesses say several buildings have been destroyed and many civilians have been wounded.

Videos posted on YouTube purport to show tanks being deployed in Hama, and a tank being blown up by Free Syrian Army fighters.


Activists have also uploaded images which appear to show night-time anti-government demonstrations in Hama.

There have been further reports of heavy shelling from three directions at the town of Sarmin in Idlib province, in the north of the country.

A British based group - The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights - says government troops are trying to storm the town, which is being bombarded with artillery and large callibre machine-gun fire.

On Wednesday the United States warned Syria to co-operate with a UN-backed peace plan, put forward by the UN's envoy Kofi Annan.

It calls for an end to all violence, secure humanitarian access and a political transition.

The plan has now been endorsed by the UN Security Council, with support from Russia and China.

The UN says more than 8,000 people have been killed in the year-long uprising in Syria, while tens of thousands of people have fled their homes.

The government in Damascus is trying to quell an increasingly armed rebellion that sprang from a fierce crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy protests a year ago.

Mr Assad insists his troops are fighting "armed gangs" seeking to destabilise Syria.

US policy on Syria: A bad joke told at the Syrian people's expense




By Michael WeissWorldLast updated: March 22nd, 2012

52 CommentsComment on this article



President Assad and his wife, Asma

One of my favourite anecdotes from the Syrian revolution is this. On June 15 of last year, the Assad regime staged one of its many expensive loyalist rallies in Damascus. Demonstrators unfurled a three-mile-long Syrian flag on which was written, “God, Syria, Bashar”, a slightly contradictory troika since Syrian security forces routinely torture anti-Assad protestors by telling them that there is no god but Bashar. Two days later, in Hama, an even larger anti-regime rally of about 100,000 people was held featuring an even longer banner – this one the “Independence” flag of Syria. On it was written: “Hama will not kneel.”

Nor has it, which is why the regime is now pounding the hell out of Hama. Despite the lamest attempts by so-called international community to argue otherwise, the Syrian revolution has not resigned itself to the notion that Assad’s downfall is “inevitable”. Weeks after the fall of Baba Amr, the New York Times still finds itself running headlines like this: “Fighting Returns to Areas Syria Had Declared Secure.” Homs will not kneel either, apparently. Street-to-street fighting persists in Deir Ba’albeh, and tanks are being blown up in al-Khadiyeh. And the Independence flag has just been unfurled in Damascus.

All of which would count as good news but for the fact that Barack Obama is the first US president to set a policy of regime change for a rogue state only to then rescind it once he realised what it meant. His endorsement of Kofi Annan’s reconciliation protocol - the rebels and the regime must lay down their weapons and start "negotiating" – amounts to lowering the priority of the conflict, if not its outright betrayal of Syrian self-determination.

First Obama outsourced to Turkey the job of overseeing the formation of the opposition. The result was the Syrian National Council, which is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, as the Muslim Brotherhood likes to remind us, and which has sustained some high-profile defections in recent days. Now comes news, via Tony Badran in a must-read piece, that Hillary Clinton instructed her Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu not to impose a safe zone or humanitarian corridor in northern part of the country, as the Turks have been threatening to do for ages.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the current US strategy is to quietly hope that Assad wins this thing.

Nevertheless, Asma al-Assad's Louboutin and fondue expenditures can't hide the reality that the regime is decaying from within. It is hemorrhaging useful information about the speed and extent of that decay. According to Muhammed Mahmud, a former Syrian colonel turned defector who was interviewed by the London-based newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awasat last week, all military orders are delivered verbally by Bashar al-Assad himself because written orders would be evidence of war crimes. Muhammed claims that army morale is very low (compare that to rebel morale, which is remarkably high) and that the troops are told they’re training to “confront the Israeli enemy". Apparently "confronting our kith and kin is unbearable.”

Defections would be greater, Muhammed says, but for the surveillance of the rank-and-file. Watching anything but state TV is forbidden in the barracks and political commissars are embedded with regular units to ensure absolute fealty. One soldier who was to meant to be deployed to Baba Amr made the mistake of phoning his mother and telling her that he wouldn’t kill innocent civilians. The mukhabarat listened in on that call and, according to Muhammed, “returned his corpse to his mother three days later.” In other words, Assad is treating his army as if it’s already joined the opposition – so much for the “cohesion” theme advanced by US intelligence assessments on Syria as an excuse not to get involved.

Another defector, Abd al-Majid Barakat, passed on a tranche of state documents to Al Jazeera outlining the existence of a “crisis management cell” set up in the early days of the uprising. This cell, which consists of the security branch leaders, sends all decisions onto the dictator. But there's a catch. Barakat insists that competition and disagreement within the cell are rife: “When a certain plan is executed by a certain branch, the other branch is not informed of the plan. Hence, security plans often clash, which results in conflicts pertaining to the security measures.” The cell also grossly underestimates the size of anti-regime protests to bolster loyalist morale, which effectively means it's lying to the boss. No wonder he's got time to download Right Said Fred mp3s.

Obama's got two goals for the near future: the first is to get re-elected, and the second is to ensure that the Israelis don’t do anything to jeopardise the first. Both appear promising at present. What he hadn’t counted on, however, is that attack ads run against Mitt Romney on CNN might have to alternate with live-feed coverage of an increasingly dire civil war, a war that his administration has done little to forestall or contain.

Four US senators are now making noises about intervention in Syria, and the alpha among them – an independent-minded Republican – has little regard for either the incumbent or the GOP challenger. John McCain won't shy from forcing Syria into the election debate, bipartisan isolationism (or his nominal endorsement of Romney) be damned. And what if another Western journalist gets killed and Syria returns to the front page? What if even one of Assad’s 50-odd caches of chemical weapons is looted by al-Qaida affiliates from Iraq? One floated Pentagon plan is to get Jordanian Special Forces to secure Syria’s WMD stockpile. Yes, we can!

The longer this conflict drags on, the worse it becomes for Obama. A commander-in-chief who wishes that America were done with the Middle East has yet to realise that that the Middle East is not quite done with America.


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US policy on Syria: A bad joke told at the Syrian people's expense




By Michael WeissWorldLast updated: March 22nd, 2012

52 CommentsComment on this article



President Assad and his wife, Asma

One of my favourite anecdotes from the Syrian revolution is this. On June 15 of last year, the Assad regime staged one of its many expensive loyalist rallies in Damascus. Demonstrators unfurled a three-mile-long Syrian flag on which was written, “God, Syria, Bashar”, a slightly contradictory troika since Syrian security forces routinely torture anti-Assad protestors by telling them that there is no god but Bashar. Two days later, in Hama, an even larger anti-regime rally of about 100,000 people was held featuring an even longer banner – this one the “Independence” flag of Syria. On it was written: “Hama will not kneel.”

Nor has it, which is why the regime is now pounding the hell out of Hama. Despite the lamest attempts by so-called international community to argue otherwise, the Syrian revolution has not resigned itself to the notion that Assad’s downfall is “inevitable”. Weeks after the fall of Baba Amr, the New York Times still finds itself running headlines like this: “Fighting Returns to Areas Syria Had Declared Secure.” Homs will not kneel either, apparently. Street-to-street fighting persists in Deir Ba’albeh, and tanks are being blown up in al-Khadiyeh. And the Independence flag has just been unfurled in Damascus.

All of which would count as good news but for the fact that Barack Obama is the first US president to set a policy of regime change for a rogue state only to then rescind it once he realised what it meant. His endorsement of Kofi Annan’s reconciliation protocol - the rebels and the regime must lay down their weapons and start "negotiating" – amounts to lowering the priority of the conflict, if not its outright betrayal of Syrian self-determination.

First Obama outsourced to Turkey the job of overseeing the formation of the opposition. The result was the Syrian National Council, which is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, as the Muslim Brotherhood likes to remind us, and which has sustained some high-profile defections in recent days. Now comes news, via Tony Badran in a must-read piece, that Hillary Clinton instructed her Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu not to impose a safe zone or humanitarian corridor in northern part of the country, as the Turks have been threatening to do for ages.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the current US strategy is to quietly hope that Assad wins this thing.

Nevertheless, Asma al-Assad's Louboutin and fondue expenditures can't hide the reality that the regime is decaying from within. It is hemorrhaging useful information about the speed and extent of that decay. According to Muhammed Mahmud, a former Syrian colonel turned defector who was interviewed by the London-based newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awasat last week, all military orders are delivered verbally by Bashar al-Assad himself because written orders would be evidence of war crimes. Muhammed claims that army morale is very low (compare that to rebel morale, which is remarkably high) and that the troops are told they’re training to “confront the Israeli enemy". Apparently "confronting our kith and kin is unbearable.”

Defections would be greater, Muhammed says, but for the surveillance of the rank-and-file. Watching anything but state TV is forbidden in the barracks and political commissars are embedded with regular units to ensure absolute fealty. One soldier who was to meant to be deployed to Baba Amr made the mistake of phoning his mother and telling her that he wouldn’t kill innocent civilians. The mukhabarat listened in on that call and, according to Muhammed, “returned his corpse to his mother three days later.” In other words, Assad is treating his army as if it’s already joined the opposition – so much for the “cohesion” theme advanced by US intelligence assessments on Syria as an excuse not to get involved.

Another defector, Abd al-Majid Barakat, passed on a tranche of state documents to Al Jazeera outlining the existence of a “crisis management cell” set up in the early days of the uprising. This cell, which consists of the security branch leaders, sends all decisions onto the dictator. But there's a catch. Barakat insists that competition and disagreement within the cell are rife: “When a certain plan is executed by a certain branch, the other branch is not informed of the plan. Hence, security plans often clash, which results in conflicts pertaining to the security measures.” The cell also grossly underestimates the size of anti-regime protests to bolster loyalist morale, which effectively means it's lying to the boss. No wonder he's got time to download Right Said Fred mp3s.

Obama's got two goals for the near future: the first is to get re-elected, and the second is to ensure that the Israelis don’t do anything to jeopardise the first. Both appear promising at present. What he hadn’t counted on, however, is that attack ads run against Mitt Romney on CNN might have to alternate with live-feed coverage of an increasingly dire civil war, a war that his administration has done little to forestall or contain.

Four US senators are now making noises about intervention in Syria, and the alpha among them – an independent-minded Republican – has little regard for either the incumbent or the GOP challenger. John McCain won't shy from forcing Syria into the election debate, bipartisan isolationism (or his nominal endorsement of Romney) be damned. And what if another Western journalist gets killed and Syria returns to the front page? What if even one of Assad’s 50-odd caches of chemical weapons is looted by al-Qaida affiliates from Iraq? One floated Pentagon plan is to get Jordanian Special Forces to secure Syria’s WMD stockpile. Yes, we can!

The longer this conflict drags on, the worse it becomes for Obama. A commander-in-chief who wishes that America were done with the Middle East has yet to realise that that the Middle East is not quite done with America.


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Mar 23, 10:17 AM EDT


Syrian activists: Clashes near Turkish border

By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press








Latest Syria News
Syrian activists: Clashes near Turkish border
Syria's Assad in firm control after a bloody year

Islamists seek influence in Syria uprising

Syrian rebels outgunned, struggling for supplies

A timeline of some key events in Syrian uprising











BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian government forces fired machine guns and mortars Friday in fierce clashes with army defectors in a town near the Turkish border, an activist group reported, as European Union foreign ministers imposed sanctions on the wife and three other close relatives of President Bashar Assad.

Eight government ministers will also be targeted in the latest round of sanctions aimed at stopping the violent crackdown on the Syrian opposition, several officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a decision that will be announced later Friday.

The EU has imposed 12 previous rounds of sanctions against the Syrian regime but the crackdown has only intensified.

Asma Assad, 36, the president's wife, was born in London, spent much of her life there, and has British citizenship. Britain's Home Office said that a British citizen subject to an EU travel ban could not be refused entry into the country.

International condemnation of Assad's regime and high-level diplomacy have failed to ease the year-old Syria conflict, which the U.N. says has killed more than 8,000 people.

But diplomatic pressure appears to be mounting. In Geneva, the U.N.'s top human rights body sharply condemned Syria's bloody crackdown, and extended the mandate of a U.N. expert panel tasked with reporting on alleged abuses in the country.

The 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council's resolution condemned "widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms perpetrated by the Syrian authorities" including summary executions, torture and sexual abuse of detainees and children, and other abuses.

UNICEF meanwhile said Friday that at least 500 Syrian children have been killed in the violence so far, while hundreds more have been injured, put in detention or abused. The U.N. children's agency said schools have closed and health centers have shut down or become too dangerous for families to reach.

The U.N. condemnation and the EU sanctions follow a Thursday call by one of Damascus' most steadfast allies, Russia, for Assad to pull his troops out of Syrian cities.

The regime however is pressing on with several offensives throughout the country, including in northern areas close to the rebels' main supply bases in Turkey.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clashes in the town of Azaz in the northern province of Aleppo have left at least three soldiers and one defector dead. The Observatory, which has a network of activists around Syria, said military helicopters were seen flying over the town, eight kilometers (five miles) from the Turkish border.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said troops were shelling residential areas in Azaz with heavy machine gun fire and mortar rounds.

The Observatory also reported that 24 mortar rounds fell Friday morning in several neighborhoods in the central city of Homs - Bab Dreib, Safsaf and Warsheh. It said two people were killed in Safsaf.

Homs has been the scene of some of the heaviest fighting in the uprising. Government forces crushed a rebel stronghold in Baba Amr neighborhood on March 1 but appear to be facing continued resistance from other parts of the city.

Activists also reported demonstrations in different parts of Syria after midday Muslim prayers, and said government troops fired on protesters.

The Observatory said security forces opened fire at a demonstration of about 1,000 people in the Damascus neighborhood of Kfar Souseh, wounding at least eight.

The LCC said security forces opened fire at protesters in the northern city of Aleppo, adding that there were casualties. The city is Syria's largest, which is also one of Assad's main centers of support.

Others protested in the southern province of Daraa, the coastal city of Latakia, the eastern oil-rich region of Deir el-Zour, and the central city of Hama, where three were reported wounded.

Amateur videos posted online by activists on Friday showed what they said were Soviet-designed T-72 battle tanks driving through streets in Hama. The video was taken on Tuesday, according to the activist filming the tanks. The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.

The LCC said a total of at least 18 people were killed throughout the country. The Observatory said five were killed.

In Jordan's capital Amman, blind Syrian cleric Ahmad al-Sayasneh preached to 1,000 Syrian anti-Assad protesters Friday to "remain steadfast until our tyrant leadership is ousted." It was his first public appearance since fleeing Syria two months ago. A Sunni Muslim, al-Sayasneh preached at a mosque in the rebellious town of Daraa where he delivered fiery sermons calling for civil disobedience.

Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict continued, with the United Nations saying the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan, would travel to Russia and China for more talks aimed at a peaceful resolution.

Russia and China have twice in the past vetoed Security Council resolutions that criticized the regime, but the West, the U.N. and Arab countries are making a new push to get the two powers not to stand in the way of their initiatives.

On Thursday, senior Russian lawmaker Mikhail Margelov, the Kremlin-connected chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, said Assad must take the first step toward settling his country's yearlong conflict by pulling his forces out of cities and allowing humanitarian assistance.

Margelov's comments indicated Moscow's increasing impatience with Assad and its eagerness to raise pressure on an old ally. Russia has been one of Assad's strongest supporters since the crisis began.

Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby is to urge China to help in issuing a U.N. resolution that includes internationally agreed-upon proposals to end Syria's crisis. The request was included in a memo that he will raise during next week's Arab summit in Iraq, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press in Cairo.

On Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council issued a statement calling for a cease-fire to allow for dialogue between all sides on a political solution.

The statement endorsed a six-point plan by joint U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, which includes a cease-fire by Syrian forces, a daily two-hour halt to fighting to evacuate injured people and provide humanitarian aid and inclusive talks about a political solution.

Assad's government played down the statement, saying Damascus is under no threats or ultimatums.

---

Associated Press writer Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this story.


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Latest Syria News
Tens of thousands in Syria call for fall of regime






BEIRUT (AP) -- Tens of thousands of Syrians braved tear gas and gunfire to protest across the country Friday, vowing to storm the capital Damascus to oust President Bashar Assad as the European Union ramped up pressure on the regime by imposing sanctions on his wife and other close relatives.

Security forces deployed in many cities to disperse protests, but opposition groups reported fewer protester deaths than in past weeks. Activists said more than 20 people were killed nationwide in army attacks on opposition areas or clashes with armed rebels.

International condemnation and high-level diplomacy have failed to stop the year-old Syria crisis, which the U.N. says has killed more than 8,000 people, many of them civilian protesters.

Friday's sanctions bring to 13 the sets imposed by the EU to try to compel the regime to halt its violent crackdown on dissent. The U.S. and others have also imposed sanctions. Previous measures were aimed at Syrian companies and Assad himself.

Those imposed Friday targeted Asma Assad, Syria's British-born first lady, banning her from traveling to EU countries and freezing any assets she may have there. They also included the president's mother, sister, sister-in-law and eight government ministers.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said sanctions were weakening the regime.

"Their economic situation becomes ever more difficult. Syria has few reserves," he said. "We think its economic situation will become untenable."

While the measures have hurt Syria's economy, they appear to have had little effect on the regime's actions. It has regularly deployed troops, pro-government thugs and snipers to attack anti-regime protests. Human rights groups accuse the regime of shelling civilian areas and torturing and killing detainees in its push to stop the uprising, which it blames on terrorists carrying out a foreign conspiracy.

In Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council blasted Syria's crackdown and extended the mandate of a U.N. expert panel tasked with reporting on alleged abuses in the country.

A resolution passed by the 47-member body condemned "widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms perpetrated" by Syrian authorities, including summary executions, torture and sexual abuse of detainees and children.

Also Friday, UNICEF said at least 500 children have been killed in the conflict, while hundreds more have been injured, detained or abused. The U.N. children's agency said schools have closed and health centers have shut down or become too dangerous for many families to reach.

Throughout the conflict, China and Russia have protected Syria from censure by the U.N. Security Council, fearing a strongly worded resolution condemning Assad could pave the way for military intervention, as happened in Libya last year.

Russia, however, softened its stance Thursday by calling for Assad to pull his troops out of Syrian cities. The U.N. has been trying to secure a cease-fire so all parties could hold a dialogue on a political solution to end the conflict. So far, both sides have refused talks.

Regime forces continued to pound oppositions areas Friday, and activists reported major shelling and fire with heavy machine-guns in the provinces of Homs in central Syria, Idlib in the north and Daraa.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 23 civilians were killed in government attacks Friday. Government troops and armed rebels clashed in a number of places, with at 13 soldiers and three rebel fighter killed, the group said.

Another group, the Local Coordination Committees, said government troops killed 36 civilians on Friday. It did not provide details on each civilian killed.

Activists reported dozens of anti-regime protests in towns and cities across Syria under the banner "Damascus, we are coming." Security forces broke up many of them with gunfire and tear gas, and there were reports of wounded.

Activists reported fewer protester deaths and Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Observatory, said he had yet to confirm a single protester death on Friday, remarking that this was unusual.

"We hope it happens like this every time because we don't want anyone to die," he said.

The Syrian government has barred most media from working in the country, and activist accounts could not be independently verified.

Syria's state news agency said hundreds marched in a pro-Assad demonstration in the capital Damascus and published photos of them carrying Syrian flags and Assad photos.

In Jordan's capital Amman, blind Syrian cleric Ahmad al-Sayasneh called on a congregation of 1,000 Syrians to "remain steadfast until our tyrant leadership is ousted."

It was the cleric's first public appearance since fleeing Syria two months ago. Al-Sayasneh rose to prominence though his fiery sermons calling for civil disobedience at a mosque in the southern Syrian town of Daraa, considered the uprising's birthplace.

---

Associated Press writer Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this story.

© 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Mar 24, 2:43 AM EDT


Ex-UN chief Annan to visit China for Syria talks


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BEIJING (AP) -- China says former U.N. chief Kofi Annan will visit next week to discuss efforts to mediate an end to the crisis in Syria.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei says Annan will visit China on Tuesday and Wednesday. Annan is a joint U.N.-Arab League envoy and will visit China after traveling to Russia.

China and Russia have been chastised because they have twice vetoed U.N. resolutions criticizing Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime for its bloody crackdown on opposition.

Hong said in a statement Saturday that Annan would meet with Chinese leaders, but he did not name them. He said China attaches importance to Annan's mediation efforts.

The U.N. estimates that more than 8,000 people have been killed since an uprising began in Syria a year ago.

© 2012 The Associated Press

CNN) -- A top defector from the Syrian military said Saturday that armed rebel groups have aligned under the leadership of the Free Syrian Army.

Uniting all efforts will bolster the anti-regime movement and safeguard the nation, Brig. Gen. Mustafa Sheikh said in a video posted on YouTube.

The move addressed a key concern for observers of the Syrian crisis both inside and outside the country -- that armed rebel groups were disjointed and divided.

Sheikh was one of the first high ranking officers to announce his defection from President Bashar al-Assad's forces. He was accompanied in the video by Free Syrian Army commander Col. Riad al-Asaad.



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Ending violence in Syria "In these critical and difficult times that our beloved country is going through, all the honorable men and women in this nation are required to work on uniting all efforts to overthrow this corrupt regime," Sheikh said. "The soldiers and officers of the Free Syrian Army pledged their allegiance to protect the people and the nation."

Not long after the video was posted, fresh attacks by the regime killed at least 41 people across the country, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said. Of the dead, 22 were in the war-torn city of Homs, rife with anti-government sentiment.

At least 54 people were killed Friday, including three children.

CNN cannot independently confirm reports of casualties or attacks in Syria because the government severely restricts access by international journalists.

The United Nations estimates the Syrian conflict has killed more than 8,000 people; opposition activists put the toll at more than 10,000.

In the YouTube video, Sheikh outlined rebel decisions.

"First, we decided to unite all the military councils and battalions and all the armed battalions inside the country under one unified leadership of the Free Syrian Army and to follow the orders of the commander of the FSA, Col. Riad al-Asaad," Sheikh said.

Second, with the FSA serving and protecting Syrians, "any movement to carry out a military operation or do anything outside the framework of the FSA "will be held responsible for any act they carry out," Sheikh warned.

Third, the rebels called for soldiers and officers in the Syrian armed forces "who don't have blood on their hands" to defect and join the ranks of the FSA.

Sheikh's appearance with al-Asaad also mended rifts between the two main defectors' groups, the Free Syrian Army and the Higher Military Council.

In February, a spokesman for the Higher Military Council announced Sheikh was the leader of the group, which claimed to lead armed defectors within Syria.

But al-Asaad, who was leading the FSA from the Turkish border with Syria, quickly rejected the claim.

"This man represents himself," al-Asaad said of Sheikh last month. "He has nothing to do with the Free Syrian Army. ... Those people are representing themselves and do not represent the revolution and the Free Syrian Army. They don't represent anybody."

"The division is over. All the parties involved in the revolution carried out all the efforts to form one united front to better represent and defend the Syrian people," Free Syrian Army Lt. Riad Ahmed said.

"In the past, there were some minor technical disagreements, but this is all behind us from now on," he said.

Al-Asaad will lead all field operations of the FSA, while Sheikh will remain head of the Higher Military Council and will represent the FSA in trying to get weapons and international support, Ahmed said.

Some world leaders have been hesitant to send arms to the rebels, saying the opposition movement is fractured and that a political solution is still possible.

The unification also allows rebels to unilaterally deny attacks carried out by other groups. The Syrian government routinely blames the vaguely defined "armed terrorist groups" for violence in the country, while most reports from inside Syria indicate the government is slaughtering civilians in an attempt to wipe out dissidents.

Meanwhile, Kofi Annan, the U.N.-Arab League special envoy to Syria, arrived in Moscow Saturday in an effort to seek Russian help in securing a cease-fire. Annan will also visit Beijing this weekend, his spokesman said.

Russia and China have blocked Security Council attempts to pass resolutions condemning the al-Assad regime. The two countries say they want the violence to stop but argue that previous resolutions were not evenhanded.

Russia and China have major trade deals with Syria, and again Friday they refused to condemn al-Assad's regime formally by voting against a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution condemning "appalling human rights violations in Syria." The resolution passed 41-3, with Cuba casting the other negative vote.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called the resolution a "unilateral assessment" of the crisis --blaming solely the regime for the violence.

Human Rights Watch, however, lashed out at the Russian ministry's use of an open letter published by the global monitoring group that described atrocities committed by armed groups affiliated with the Syrian opposition. The organization said it had learned that Russian diplomats used the open letter in informal U.N. Security Council discussions March 22 in an attempt to equate the violence by both sides.

"Russia's attention to concerns expressed in the letter to the Syrian opposition is a positive development," Human Rights Watch said. "The selective use of the findings, however, causes serious concern."

It said Russia had ignored detailed documentation of widespread and systematic abuses by the al-Assad regime, including killings of peaceful protesters, shelling of residential neighborhoods, large-scale arbitrary detention and torture, executions, denial of medical assistance, looting, and "disappearances."

"None of these findings have been ever acknowledged by Russian officials," the group said.

The U.N. Security Council this week urged immediate implementation of Annan's proposed peace plan. The 15-member body, including China and Russia, expressed full support for Annan's efforts.

CNN's Arwa Damon, Ivan Watson and Moni Basu and journalist Omar al Muqdad contributed to this report.

24 March 2012 Last updated at 18:55 Share this pageEmail Print Share this page


The UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, has arrived in Moscow amid reports of 24 new civilian deaths in Syria.

Mr Annan will try to persuade Russia to take a firmer stance against the Syrian government.

Next week, he will travel to China which, like Russia, has generally supported Syria at the UN.

Ten of the new deaths were reported in Homs, the city at the heart of the revolt against Bashar al-Assad.

"The shelling started like it does every morning, for no reason," an activist in the city's Bab Sbaa district told Reuters news agency via Skype.

"They are using mortar and tank fire on many neighbourhoods of old Homs."

The activist added that most residents in the area had fled to safer districts and many were trying to escape the city altogether.

Foreign media face severe restrictions on reporting in Syria, and it is hard to verify the claims of either side.

Tank attack

The Associated Press news agency has seen video apparently showing a huge explosion in Homs.

The footage, released by an activist group called the Shaam News Network, shows a large ball of fire and plume of black smoke.

According to the London-based Observatory for Human Rights, a total of 24 civilians died on Saturday as well as 15 soldiers and two rebels.

One activist, Nureddin al-Abdo, told AFP news agency that government troops backed by 26 tanks had attacked the town of Saraqeb in the north-western province of Idlib.

All the signs are that the regime intends to continue its drive unless armed rebels simply surrender, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon.

That is the message to Kofi Annan as he urges the government to call an immediate halt to the use of heavy arms in populated areas, our correspondent says.

Whether the route ahead lies with his peace efforts, or with further confrontation, the opposition clearly needs to unify its divided ranks, he adds.

It has announced moves to unite its fragmented military efforts and also to hold a meeting in Istanbul on Monday, to try to bring the various political groups together behind a shared vision for Syria's future.

Mar 25, 5:38 AM EDT


US to pursue 'non-lethal' aid for Syrian rebels

By BEN FELLER
AP White House Correspondent










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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Seeking to stem the violence in Syria, the U.S. and other key allies are considering providing Syrian rebels with communications help, medical aid and other "non-lethal" assistance.

President Barack Obama discussed the potential aid options Sunday in a lengthy private meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Both leaders are in Seoul, South Korea for a nuclear security summit.

Turkey has been a key U.S. partner in international efforts to quell violence in neighboring Syria and push President Bashar Assad to leave power. The United Nations estimates 8,000 people - many civilian protesters - have been killed in year-long clashes between forces loyal to Assad and opposition fighters.

Ben Rhodes, the White House deputy national security adviser for strategic communication, said Sunday that communications assistance could be critical to the opposition's efforts.

"It's important to the opposition as they're formulating their vision of an inclusive and democratic Syria to have the ability to communicate," Rhodes told reporters traveling with Obama.

The U.S. has been loath to intervene militarily in Syria or provide the rebels with weapons, saying that would only serve to further militarize an already violent situation. The Obama administration and its allies have been seeking ways to provide humanitarian assistance in Syria.

Rhodes said the prospect of providing the rebels with non-lethal assistance would be a central focus of the April 1 meeting of the diplomatic group "Friends of Syria." Turkey is hosting the upcoming meeting and the U.S. will be represented by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The U.N. refugee agency estimates 230,000 Syrians have fled their homes since the uprising against Assad's regime began last year. About 16,000 refugees live in refugee camps in Turkey.

"`We cannot remain a spectator to these developments," Erdogan said following his meeting with Obama.

The U.S., Europe and many Arab states have called on Assad to stand down, but Russia and China have protected Syria from condemnation by the U.N. Security Council.

Earlier this week, the council passed a nonbinding statement calling for a cease-fire to allow for dialogue between all sides on a political solution and the delivery of aid to suffering civilians.

While Obama has repeatedly said that the demise of Assad's regime is inevitable, there are few signs that he plans to step down any time soon.

The U.S. and European allies have sought to ratchet up economic pressure on Assad's regime with a series of sanctions, including fresh European Union penalties on Assad's British-born wife.

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