Syria unrest: Tear gas fired at Deraa funeral

[StrontiumDog]

BBC News - Syria unrest: Tear gas fired at Deraa funeral

19 March 2011 Last updated at 14:27 GMT

Syria unrest: Tear gas fired at Deraa funeral


President Bashar al-Assad inherited power from his father in 2000

Syrian security forces have fired tear gas to disperse crowds at the funeral of two people killed in anti-government protests on Friday, witnesses say.

Thousands had gathered for the funeral in the southern city of Deraa, and began chanting anti-government slogans.

Rights activists said at least one mourner was arrested by secret police.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose Baath party has dominated politics in the country for almost 50 years, tolerates no dissent.

Witnesses told Reuters news agency that the mourners began to chant: "God, Syria, Freedom. Whoever kills his own people is a traitor."

A rights activist told AFP news agency that several had been injured as the protesters struggled to run away from the security forces.

Rights groups say a fourth person died from his wounds on Saturday after the protests in Deraa on Friday.

They were killed by security forces as protesters demanded political freedom and an end to corruption, eyewitnesses and activists told foreign media.

State news agency Sana said violence and "acts of sabotage" had broken out in Deraa, prompting security forces to intervene.

It accused "infiltrators" of seeking to "provoke chaos through acts of violence which resulted in damage to private and public property".

The US and US both condemned the violence and urged the government not to use repression.

[socal]

what is a muslim funeral without some tear gas, mortar rockets or suicide bombers anyway ?

[StrontiumDog]

Arab Spring: Is a Revolution Starting Up in Syria?

By Rania Abouzeid
Saturday, Mar. 19, 2011


This video grab purportedly shows a March 19, 2011 protest at an unknown location in Syria.
AFP / Getty

Has the wave of popular revolts rocking the Arab world finally reached Syria, one of the region's most policed states, a country its young president boasted was "immune" from calls for freedom, democracy and accountable government? Or were the unprecedentedly large protests on Friday just a one-off?

Syria was always going to be a tough nut for pro-democracy activists to crack. It is a country where NGOs and political parties other than the ruling Baath have long been banned; and where dissent, however mild, is viciously crushed. The omnipresent secret police, who are much more visible these days, and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad they serve, have instilled a public fear so heavy, it's almost tangible. (See why few go bashing Bashar.)

But on Friday and Saturday something changed. Several thousand Syrians publicly gathered to cast off that yoke by calling for greater freedoms. The extraordinary protests took place across several cities; in Dara'a in the south, Banias, along the Mediterranean, in the capital Damascus at the renowned Umayyad Mosque, and in Homs — not to be confused with Hama, site of a merciless crackdown in the 1980s against the Muslim Brotherhood by Bashar's late father, former President Hafiz Assad. Tens of thousands of people were killed in that uprising, which still remains a potent reminder of the price of rising against the Assads.

It's unclear exactly how many people were killed on Friday in Dara'a after police opened fire on the crowd. Some media reports say six, others five. On Saturday, police in Dara'a reportedly fired tear gas at thousands of mourners taking part in a funeral procession for two protesters killed the day earlier, Wissam Ayyash and Mahmoud al-Jawabra. Mazen Darwish, a Syrian human rights activist just released after spending several days in custody, told the media that Dara'a has been cordoned. The police were letting people leave but not to return into the town. (Syria: Rebels who are on pause?)

Assad has moved quickly to tamp down unrest in Dara'a, according to Ayman Abdel Nour, a prominent Syrian dissident and former political prisoner who now edits www.all4syria.info from Dubai. The 45-year-old president has ordered the release of those detained in Friday's protests, and sent a high-ranking Baath delegation to offer his condolences. "Ten bodies were delivered to their parents," Abdel Nour told TIME. "It is the start of a Syrian revolution unless the regime acts wisely and does the needed reforms," he says. "It will continue in all cities, even small groups, but the brutality the regime will use — it will show its Gaddafi face, the one it has been trying to hide for the last 30 years after the Hama massacres," Abdel Nour says, referring to the Libyan leader, Moammar Gaddafi.

Facebook calls for Syrian "days of rage" in early February fizzled, despite the fact that the country, with its burgeoning youth population, faces many of the same socio-economic factors that helped precipitate uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Oman and other states. Still, a Facebook page entitled "The Syrian Revolution 2011" which has more than 56,000 fans, appears to be emerging as a key virtual rallying point for pro-democracy supporters. On Saturday it posted a 39-second video purportedly shot in Dara'a of a group of men gathered around a bloodied youth in a black t-shirt who appeared to be dead. A volley of gunshots is heard, scattering the crowd. There was no date on the video, nor any way to verify where the footage had been obtained. Syria recently lifted its ban on Facebook, although human rights activists worried that the measure had more to do with greater surveillance of activities on the site than it did with more freedom.

In a twist on a common slogan often heard to praise the president, protesters across the country chanted "God, Syria, freedom and nothing else!" instead of the usual "God, Syria, Bashar and nothing else!" Khaled al-Abboud, a member of parliament representing Dara'a, told Al Jazeera that it wasn't so much what the protesters said, but the mere fact that they were protesting, and blamed the unrest on "Islamists" and a "foreign agenda." "I don't think that we are against what was said, but against what some of these demonstrations might lead to," he told the Arabic satellite television station. "They are fulfilling foreign agendas, they don't represent the street, they want to manipulate the street."

Syria's official SANA news agency confirmed the violence in Dara'a and also blamed "acts of sabotage" for Friday's events there. "A number of instigators tried to create chaos and unrest damaging public and private properties and setting fire to cars and shops," it said, adding that the security forces stepped in "to protect citizens and their property." Blaming a hidden foreign hand and Islamists is vintage Assad. The barrier of fear Syrians must surmount is significant if they are to seriously take on the regime, but then again, as protesters in Tunisia, Egypt and even Libya have proven, so too are the opportunities.

Read more: Arab Spring: Is a Revolution Starting Up in Syria? - TIME

[StrontiumDog]

Syrians demand end to emergency rule - RTÉ News

Syrians demand end to emergency rule

Updated: 12:30, Sunday, 20 March 2011

Thousands of Syrians have demanded an end to 48 years of emergency law in a third day of protests.


Syria - Third day of protests

Thousands of Syrians demanded an end to 48 years of emergency law, a third straight day of protests emerging as the biggest challenge to Syria's rulers since unrest swept the Arab world this year.

Marchers chanted as a government delegation arrived in the southern town of Deraa to pay condolences for victims killed by security forces in demonstrations there this week.

Syria has been ruled under emergency law since the Baath Party, which is headed by president Bashar al-Assad, took power in a 1963 coup and banned all opposition.

The government sought to appease popular discontent in Deraa by promising to release 15 schoolchildren whose arrests for scrawling protest graffiti had helped fuel the demonstrations.

An official statement said the children, who had written slogans inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt on walls, would be released immediately. The statement was a rare instance of Syria's ruling hierarchy responding to popular pressure.

Security forces opened fire on Friday on civilians taking part in a peaceful protest in Deraa demanding the release of the children, political freedoms and an end to corruption. Four people were killed.

Non-violent protests have challenged the Baath Party's authority this month, following the uprisings that toppled the autocratic leaders of Egypt and Tunisia, with the largest protests in Deraa drawing thousands of people.

Deraa is home to thousands of displaced people from eastern Syria, where up to a million people have left their homes because of a water crisis over the past six years. Experts say state mismanagement of resources has worsened the crisis.

[Kurgen]

Tear gas fired at mourners.....

how would you know?

[StrontiumDog]

REUTERSFLASH ReutersBreakingNews

Protesters in Syrian southern city of Deraa burn Palace of Justice, ruling Baath Party headquarters - residents

[harrybarracuda]

Total opposite of Bahrain: Majority Sunni population and Shia minority dictatorship.

Bet Iran aren't stoking that one up.

[StrontiumDog]

ChicoER.com : Associated Press News Article

Mar 21, 11:27 AM EDT

At defiant march, Syrians shout 'No more fear!'

By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press


AP Photo/Hussein Malla

DARAA, Syria (AP) -- Syrians chanting "No more fear!" held a defiant march Monday after a deadly government crackdown failed to quash three days of massive protests in a southern city - an extraordinary outpouring in a country that brutally suppresses dissent.

Riot police armed with batons chased away the small group Monday without incident, but traces of earlier, larger demonstrations were everywhere: burned-out and looted government buildings, a dozen torched vehicles, an office of the ruling Baath party with its windows knocked out. Protesters burned an office of the telecommunications company Syriatel, which is owned in part by the president's cousin.

The unrest in the city of Daraa started Friday after security troops fired at protesters, killing five people. Over the next two days, two more people died and authorities sealed the city, allowing people out but not in as thousands of enraged protesters set fire to government buildings and massed in their thousands around the city.

Among the victims was 11-year-old Mundhir Masalmi, who died Monday after suffering tear gas inhalation a day earlier, an activist told The Associated Press. The activist asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisals.

On Monday, an Associated Press team was allowed into Daraa, accompanied by two government minders who kept them away from protesters and would not allow photographs of the demonstrations. Army checkpoints circled the city and plainclothes officers were dispatched in key areas.

A lawyer told The Associated Press that criminal records were destroyed as people ransacked and burned the two-story Palace of Justice, which houses a criminal court and a police station. Every room in the building was burned and more than 20 computers were stolen, lawyer Samir Kafri said.

Municipal workers hosed down charred courtrooms covered in soot and ash, and security officers hung Syrian flags outside broken, scorched windows.

The violence in Daraa has fast become a major challenge for President Bashar Assad, who has tried to contain the situation by freeing detainees and promising to fire officials responsible for the violence.

One human rights activist said pro-democracy demonstrations spread Monday to the towns of Jasim and Inkhil, near Daraa where thousands of people protested to demand reforms.

Syria, a predominantly Sunni country ruled by minority Alawites, has a history of suppressing dissent. Assad's father and predecessor, Hafez, crushed a Muslim fundamentalist uprising in 1982, killing thousands.

A city of about 300,000 near the border with Jordan, Daraa is a Sunni city that has been relatively peaceful, although it is suffering sustained economic effects from a drought.

Prolonged disturbances in Syria would be a major expansion of the unrest tearing through the Arab world for more than a month after pro-democracy uprisings that overthrew the autocratic leaders of Tunisia and Egypt.

But protesters in Syria would face a tough time trying to pull off a serious uprising along those lines.

Despite the political repression and rights abuses, Assad remains popular among many in the Arab world, in particular, because he is seen as one of the few Arab leaders willing to stand up to Israel.

It is also not clear how much support any uprising would have within the country. A few earlier attempts to organize protests through social networking sites fell flat.

[StrontiumDog]

Syrian forces kill 6 in mosque attack: residents - Yahoo! News

Syrian forces kill 6 in mosque attack: residents



Reuters – Protesters gather near the Omari Mosque in the southern old city of Deraa, March 22, 2011. REUTERS/Khaled …

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis Khaled Yacoub Oweis – 12 mins ago

DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syrian forces killed at least six people on Wednesday in an attack on a mosque in the southern city of Deraa, site of unprecedented protests challenging President Bashar al-Assad's Baathist rule, residents said.

Those killed included Ali Ghassab al-Mahamid, a doctor from a prominent Deraa family who went to the Omari mosque in the city's old quarter to help victims of the attack, which occurred just after midnight, said the residents, declining to be named.

Before the attack, electricity was cut off in the area and telephone services were severed. Cries of "Allahu Akbar (God is the greatest)" erupted across neighborhoods in Deraa when the shooting began.

It was not immediately clear whether the protesters had any weapons.

The attack brought to 10 the number of civilians killed by Syrian forces during six days of demonstrations calling for political freedoms and an end to corruption in the country of 20 million. The ruling Baath Party has banned opposition and enforced emergency laws since 1963.

No comment was immediately available from the government of Assad, facing the biggest challenge to his rule since succeeding his father Hafez al-Assad in 2000. A wave of Arab unrest has toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt.

"Dr Mahamid was shot by a sniper. The phone networks have been disrupted but we got through to people near the mosque on Jordanian mobile phone lines," said one resident. Deraa is on the border with Jordan.

A political activist, who also declined to be identified, said: "The old quarter is in total darkness and it is still difficult to know exactly what happened."

The attack occurred a day after the U.N. Office for Human Rights said the authorities "need to put an immediate halt to the excessive use of force against peaceful protesters, especially the use of live ammunition."

REFORM PLEDGE

The protesters, who erected tents in the mosque's grounds, said earlier they were going to remain at the site until their demands were met.

The mosque's preacher, Ahmad Siasneh, told Arabiya television on Tuesday that the mosque protest was peaceful.

Protesters also gathered in the nearby town of Nawa.

On Tuesday, Vice President Farouq al-Shara said Assad was committed to "continue the path of reform and modernization in Syria," Lebanon's al-Manar television reported.

A main demand of the protesters is an end to what they term repression by the secret police, headed in Deraa province by a cousin of Assad.

Authorities arrested a leading campaigner who had supported the protesters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It said Loay Hussein, a political prisoner from 1984 to 1991, was taken from his home near Damascus.

Syria has been under emergency law since the Baath Party took power in a 1963, banning any opposition and ushering in decades of economic retreat characterized by nationalization.

Assad has lifted some bans on private enterprise but has ignored demands to end emergency law, curb a pervasive security apparatus, develop rule of law, free political prisoners, allow freedom of expression, and reveal the fate of tens of thousands of dissenters who disappeared in the 1980s.

He has emerged in the last four years from isolation by the West over Syria's role in Lebanon and Iraq and backing for mostly Palestinian militant groups.

Assad strengthened Syria's ties with Shi'ite Iran as he sought to improve relations with the United States and strike a peace deal with Israel to regain the occupied Golan Heights, lost in the 1967 Middle East war.

Limited economic liberalization in the last decade has been marked by the rise of Rami Makhlouf, another cousin of Assad, as a business tycoon controlling key companies.

Makhlouf, under U.S. sanctions for what Washington deems public corruption, has been a target of protesters' anger. They describe him as a "thief." He says he is a legitimate businessman helping to bring economic progress to Syria.

(Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi)

[Boon Mee]

On Monday Barack Obama told reporters in Chile that Gaddafi needs to go.



But, that was yesterday.
Today Barack Obama told reporters that Gaddafi can stay.

President Obama indicated on Tuesday that Muammar Qadhafi may still have an opportunity to “change his approach” and put in place “significant reforms” in the Libyan government.
Asked by NBC’s Savannah Guthrie what the U.S. commitment is in Libya if Qadhafi remains in power but continues to pose a threat to his people, Obama appeared to leave the door open for political reforms.
“You are absolutely right that as long as Qadhafi remains in power, and unless he changes his approach and there are significant reforms in the Libyan government that allow the Libyan people to express themselves, there are still going be potential threats against Libyan people—unless he is going to step down,” Obama said.
His quick shift back to what he had earlier stated—that Qadhafi must step down—is more in line with the conclusion that he and his administration officials had come to weeks ago. But a return to the call for “political reforms” is reminiscent of the White House position on Egypt during its upheaval.


Obama says Qadhafi could stay | POLITICO 44

It’s settled then. Gaddafi can stay… Until tomorrow’s press conference, eh?

[StrontiumDog]

Many dead in Syria protests - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Many dead in Syria protests

At least 13 dead, human rights activists say, as security forces open fire on protesters in southern town of Daraa.

Last Modified: 23 Mar 2011 18:07

Human rights activists say at least 13 people have been killed in the Syrian town of Daraa, the focal point of a week of anti-government protests.

Activists and residents said security forces opened fire on protesters outside the Omari mosque early Wednesday, after hundreds of people had gathered overnight to prevent police from storming it, and that shooting had continued sporadically over the course of the day.

A rights activist also told AFP news agency that security forces had opened fire on mourners attending the funeral of those killed in Daraa.

Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Damascus, said that fighting broke out when residents from other towns clashed with security forces as they tried to enter Daraa to help residents there.

A youth activist in the Syrian capital, who remains anonymous, told Al Jazeera that his contacts in Daraa said that "dozens of people" had died in clashes.

"Many there want to take down the government, and want more freedoms." he said.

Our correspondent said there was a heavy security presence in Daraa, with the army, anti-terror police and riot police all deployed in the city. Journalists are not being allowed to visit the city, and several of those who attempted to do so last night had their equipment confiscated by authorities.

Checkpoints have been set up by security forces at all entries to the city.

Syria's state-run television station reported that an "armed gang" attacked an ambulance at the Omari mosque, killing four people.

The victims were a doctor, a paramedic, a policeman and the ambulance driver, according to SANA.

'Weapons stockpile'

The security forces who were near the area intervened, hitting some and arresting others," the report said, without elaborating.

Later in the day, state television showed what it said were pictures of a weapons stockpile inside the Omari mosque, including pistols, shotguns, grenades and ammunition.

The violence was condemned by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, who called for "a transparent investigation into the killings".

On Tuesday, Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged Syrian authorities to halt the excessive use of force.

"The government should carry out an independent, transparent and effective investigation into the killings of the six protesters during the events of 18 and 20 March," Rupert Colville, a spokesman for Pillay, said on Tuesday.

"We are greatly concerned by the recent killings of protesters in Syria and reiterate the need to put an immediate halt to the excessive use of force against peaceful protesters, especially the use of live ammunition."

Colville said that the use of excessive force was a "clear violation of international law" and that perpetrators could be prosecuted.

Emergency law

Demonstrations have been held in a number of Syrian cities in recent days despite the country's emergency law, which bans protests and has been in place since 1963.

Wednesday's incident brings to 12 the number of people reportedly killed by security forces since the start of the demonstrations on March 18, including an 11-year-old boy who died after inhaling tear gas on Monday.

A Syrian official told the AFP news agency that the governor of Daraa had been sacked following the killings.

[StrontiumDog]

More than 100 killed in Syrian protest: activists

Syria to take "important" decisions after protests

More than 100 killed in Syrian protest: activists

Thursday, 24 March 2011

DUBAI (Al Arabiya)

More than 100 have been killed in the Syrian protest city Deraa, rights activists said on Thursday, hours after medics said the local hospital had received 37 bodies of protests.

A hospital official said on Thursday, at least 37 people were killed in the Syrian city of Deraa, in an escalation in protests which have prompted the government to promise to listen to protesters' demands.

Buthaina Shaaban, an adviser to President Bashar al-Assad, told reporters the demands of the people of Deraa were "justified ... and under study ... The coming period will witness important decisions on all levels".

The announcement came after hundreds took to the streets on Wednesday in the towns of Jasim, Enkhil, al-Hara, and al-Harrag "in support for their brothers in Deraa," a witness told Al Arabiya, adding that they demanded the end of a security siege on the city.

Deraa protests

Security forces opened fire on hundreds of youths at the northern entrance to Deraa on Wednesday, witnesses said, after nearly a week of protests in which seven civilians had already been killed since Friday.

The main hospital in Deraa, in southern Syria near the Jordanian border, had received the bodies of at least 37 protesters killed on Wednesday, a hospital official said.

Around 20,000 people marched on Thursday in the funerals for nine of those killed, chanting freedom slogans and denying official accounts that infiltrators and "armed gangs" were behind the killings and violence in Deraa.

"Traitors do not kill their own people ... God, Syria, Freedom. The blood of martyrs is not spilt in waste!" they chanted in Deraa's southern cemetery.

As Syrian soldiers armed with AK-47s roamed the streets of the southern city, residents emptied shops of staples and basic goods and said they feared Assad's government was intent on crushing the revolt by force.

Assad, a close ally of Iran, key player in neighboring Lebanon and supporter of militant groups opposed to Israel, had earlier dismissed demands for reform in Syria, a country of 20 million people run by the Baath Party since a 1963 coup.

A government statement had blamed "armed gangs" for the violence in Deraa.

Middle East unrest

Syria has been the least expected to be hit by the popular unrest sweeping the Middle East because of its perceived iron-fisted security policies.

Taken by surprise and amid an attempted failure to quell the protests by force, President Bashar al-Assad sacked provincial governor of Deraa aisal Kalthoum on Wednesday in the second apparent concession to protesters since the uprising.

There were also reports that a number of local security officials reviled by people had been reassigned or suspended.

In some Arab countries hit by popular unrest, government concessions have often emboldened demonstrators and prompted popular demands to rise and in others, such as Libya, the refusal to acknowledge such demands have led demonstrations to take a bloody turn

In first vocal western response to the events France urged Syria to carry out political reforms without delay and respect its commitments to human rights.

"France calls on Syria to follow its international commitments to human rights, to which it has signed up especially with regard to freedom of expression and opinion," foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said in a daily briefing to reporters.

"Political reforms must be put in place without delay to meet the aspirations of the Syrian people," he said.

Again troubled by another unexpected Arab uprising, the Obama administration called on the Syrian Government to “exercise restraint” against its peaceful protesters.

"The United States is deeply troubled by violence and civilian deaths in Deraa at the hands of security forces," the State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, said.

"We are concerned by the Syrian Government's use of violence, intimidation and arbitrary arrests in Deraa to hinder the ability of its people to freely exercise their universal rights," he said.

The United States was largely criticized for its delayed response to a brutal crackdown of peaceful protests in Libya and President Barack Obama was accused in Washington of dithering on Egypt.

[StrontiumDog]

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/mi...460868563.html

Syria braces for 'day of dignity' rallies

Call for protests at mosques comes despite a reform pledge by the government after many were shot dead in Daraa city.

Last Modified: 25 Mar 2011 06:40


Protests turned deadly on Wednesday after security forces opened fire on demonstrators in Daraa [Reuters]

Authorities in Syria are bracing for the possibility of further protests, following a week of unrest that have left dozens dead.

Activists have called for "Day of Dignity" rallies at mosques across Syria on Friday, despite a reform pledge by the government.

Officials have been on the defensive after protesters in the southern city of Daraa were shot dead by police.

Syria announced that it would "study" ending emergency rule - in place since 1963 - and look into legalising political parties, a presidential adviser has said, after a week of deadly protests in the country's south.

"I am happy to announce to you the decisions made by the Arab Baath party under the auspices of President Bashar al-Assad ... which include ... studying the possibility of lifting the emergency law and licensing political parties," Buthaina Shaaban, the Syrian president's media adviser, said on Thursday.

'Harsh crackdown'

The current emergency law allows people to be arrested without warrants and imprisoned without trial.

The announcement came after a week of deadly protests in Daraa against Assad's government.

Soon after the promises of reforms were made, the prisoners detained in the city during the protests were released. There were also reports of orders being issued by the president for the army to pull out of Daraa.

"[The Syrian government] crackdown harshly, and this shows there is real confusion in the government on how to deal with [widespread protests]"
Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies

Motee al-Batten, a Daraa resident, told Al Jazeera that the army was still present in the city on Thursday night, and that the situation was peaceful.

He said a majority had reacted positively to the announcement from the president's office but that the people of Daraa still want to know the whereabouts of missing people and bodies and why they were held or killed.

Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, said the Syrian government appeared to be confused over how to deal with the protests.

"This is widespread. This is Syrians who are in pain, who are in poverty, who have been treated badly and the government understands that," he said.

"Shaaban made some important statements saying no issue is taboo and the government feels your pain.

"At the same time, they [the government] crackdown harshly, and this shows there is real confusion in the government on how to deal with this."

'Major step'

Rula Amin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the capital, Damascus, said many of the pledged measures address demands Syrians are talking about. They included a raise in salaries for all workers in the public sector and health insurance for them.

"Saying there will be a study to lift emergency law is a major step, as is the promise of a new law for the media to increase transparency.

"But will this be enough? I think for some this is a good sign, others will want more measures to be undertaken immediately."

About 20,000 Syrians marched in Daraa on Thursday, calling for liberty. Defying a security crackdown, they took to the streets during funerals for nine protesters killed a day earlier by security forces.
The nine were among at least 25 people shot dead on Wednesday, residents said.

Shaaban said the Syrian government had no objection

to peaceful protests [Reuters] Khaled al-Abboud, the member of parliament representing Daraa, reiterated the government's position that security forces never intentionally clashed with demonstrators.

"Security forces never used live ammunitation, and were never in direct clashes with demonstrators," he told Al Jazeera.

"Shortly after these demonstrators took to the streets, a group of armed personnel appeared to be joining them. Therefore security forces never retaliated - but in the end they handled those armed thugs. Yes, security forces used force, but against those thugs - not against peaceful demonstrators.

"Therefore, if people among peaceful demonstrators were hurt or killed in these clashes, we demand an investigation, in order to come to a conclusion."

A witness told Al Jazeera that more than 100 people were killed. He said many people have gone missing and bodies have been dragged away from the streets.

Shaaban told reporters that ten people were killed on Wednesday, in what she called an attempt to target Syria because it supports resistance against Israel.

"What is being targeted is Syria's position, Syria's security and ability to be a pillar of resistance against Zionism and US schemes,'' she said.

Shaaban said the Syrian government had no objection to peaceful protests, and claimed that demonstrators in Daraa had attacked security forces.

"The demands of the people are being studied night and day and Syria will witness important decisions that meet the ambitions of our people,'' she said.

Activists arrested

Shaaban said the president had chaired a meeting of the ruling Baath party at which decisions taken included guaranteeing security for the people, and a higher committee to discuss with Daraa residents what had happened and sanction those responsible.

"If there is a legitimate demand by the people then the authorities will take it seriously, but if somebody wants to just cause trouble then it is a different story," she warned.

Meanwhile, the US condemned what it said was the Syrian government's brutal repression of demonstrations and the killing of civilians by security forces.

"The demands of the people are being studied night and day and Syria will witness important decisions that meet the ambitions of our people"
Buthaina Shaaban, Syrian government media adviser

White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement that those responsible for the violence must be held accountable and that the US is calling on the Syrian government to exercise restraint and respect the rights of its people.

According to Amnesty International at least 93 people had been arrested this month, some for their online activities, in the cities of Damascus, Aleppo, Banias, Daraa, Hama, Homs, and others.

Mazen Darwish, a journalist and activist, was arrested in Damascus on Wednesday and released on Thursday evening.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the arrest of blogger Ahmad Hadifa in the capital on Thursday.

The government crackdown has led to harsh criticism from the US, Britain, France and the United Nations.

Inspired by the wave of pro-democracy protests around the Arab world, Daraa residents have held protests since last week, with more planned across the country on Friday.

[StrontiumDog]

Thousands protest in Syrian town despite reform pledges

France’s Sarkozy demands end to Syria violence

Thousands protest in Syrian town despite reform pledges

Friday, 25 March 2011



DAMASCUS (AlArabiya.net) Thousands gathered on Thursday night in the restive Syrian city of Deraa chanting "freedom, revolution" despite a pledge by President Bashar al-Assad to consider reforming the country's authoritarian political system.

Al Arabiya correspondent in Damascus said crowds from Deraa and from nearby villagers were continuing to pour into the old quarter of the city around the main Omari mosque, which security forces evacuated earlier after storming it on Wednesday and killing six people.

Some demonstrators reacted to the government's pledge of reform as insufficient and demanded concrete steps to be taken against those responsible for the deaths of dozens of protesters.

The president's media adviser Buthaina Shaaban had announced on Wednesday that he ruling Baath party had agreed to a series of reforms, including raising the salaries of state employees.

Shaaban said the government would also form a committee to listen to the demands of the people of Deraa, a tribal city at Syria's border with Jordan that has been the focal point of the week-long protests.

In major international reaction to the pledged reforms French President Nicols Sarkozy called on Friday for a halt of all forms of violence against demonstrators in Syria, saying that no democracy would accept opening fire on peaceful demonstrators.

"We expressed out great concern over the rise of violence in Syria," Sarkozy told a European summit.

"In all democracies there are demonstrations and it is possible that violence will occur, but what is not acceptable is the shooting of demonstrators," Sarkozy said.

Separately, US defense minister Robert Gates urged Syria to follow Egypt's example where the army refused to open fire of demonstrators and helped speed up the departure of the president Hosni Mubarak as people demanded.

Gates said the challenge facing the Syrian government is the same challenge of corruption and political and economic injustice facing governments across the region. He suggested that the regimes in Iran, Syria and Libya are authoritarian and do not hesitate to use force to quell peaceful protests.

[Rural Surin]

Total opposite of Bahrain: Majority Sunni population and Shia minority dictatorship.

Bet Iran aren't stoking that one up.

Perhaps it's not what it appears to be. Nor akin to any expected predispositions.

[StrontiumDog]

http://english.aljazeera.net//news/m...817688433.html

Deaths as Syrian forces fire on protesters

At least 20 killed near Daraa, a witness tells Al Jazeera, as anti-government protesters defy security crackdown.

Last Modified: 25 Mar 2011 15:40


The southern city of Daraa has seen a number of clashes between protesters and security forces [Reuters]

Syrian security forces have opened fire on anti-government protesters near the city of Daraa, killing at least 20 people, according to one witness.

"There are more than 20 martyrs .... they [security forces] opened fire haphazardly," the witness told Al Jazeera.

Reuters also reported that heavy gunfire could be heard in the southern city, the focal point for demonstrations against Bashar al-Assad's regime in recent days.

Rula Amin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Damascus, said Syrian forces apparently opened fire after protesters set fire to a statue of the late president Hafer al-Assad.

"Eyewitnesses are telling us that when some young men tried to burn down the statue of the late president the security forces started firing live ammunition at the protesters and there were some injured, we think there is one casualty, but we are trying to verify".

Different accounts

However Reem Haddad from the Syrian information ministry, told Al Jazeera that security forces had been given the order not to shoot at protesters "no matter what happens".

"But things took on a different hue because inside these peaceful demonstrations there was another group of people who were armed ... and were shooting at the security forces and were shooting at other citizens in Daraa.

"At the end of the day this became a matter of national security."

But an eyewitness told Al Jazeera that "there were no people carrying arms among demonstrators".

"What happened in the square ... was live ammunition, I was present myself and I saw the youth and other young demonstrators leading a peaceful demonstration.

"They were chanting slogans calling for freedom and transparency and an end [to] corruption."

The incident comes as protesters demanding greater freedom called for a "day of dignity" on Friday following a week-long crackdown by pro-regime forces that has left dozens dead.

At least 200 people marched in the centre of Damascus after Friday prayers in support of the people of Daraa, scene of protests against Baath Party rule, Reuters reported.

Protests spread across Syria, with rallies also held in the central city of Hama and in Tel, near Damascus. According to our correspondent, numbers at these rallies ranged from hundreds of people to thousands.

Daraa, the main city of southern Syria, has become a flashpoint for protests. Officials have been on the defensive after protesters in the southern city were shot dead by police.

Syria has announced that it would "study" ending emergency rule - in place since 1963 - and look into legalising political parties, a presidential adviser has said.

"I am happy to announce to you the decisions made by the Arab Baath party under the auspices of President Bashar al-Assad ... which include ... studying the possibility of lifting the emergency law and licensing political parties," Buthaina Shaaban, the Syrian president's media adviser, said on Thursday.

The current emergency law allows people to be arrested without warrants and imprisoned without trial.

Soon after the promises of reforms were made, the prisoners detained in Daraa during the protests were released. There were also reports of orders being issued by the president for the army to pull out of Daraa.

[StrontiumDog]

Supporters of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad shout slogans in Syria's northern city of Aleppo March 25, 2011. REUTERS/George Ourfalian

by Morven McCulloch at 11:19 PM

[StrontiumDog]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110327/...medium=twitter

Syrian government: 12 killed in seaside city



AP – Pro-Syrian President Bashar Assad protesters, shouts pro-Assad slogans as they hold his posters, in Damascus, …

By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press – 14 mins ago

DAMASCUS, Syria – The Syrian government says 12 people were killed in violence rocking a seaside Mediterranean city.

Syria's state-run news agency said unknown armed elements on Saturday attacked neighborhoods in Latakia, shooting from rooftops and terrorizing people.

Ten people, including security forces, residents as well as two members of the shadowy "armed elements" died in the violence.

Some 200 others were wounded, most from the security forces, the report said Sunday.

Syrian army units deployed in Latakia Saturday night following a day of violence and chaos in which protesters and the government traded accusations of violence and incitement.

[StrontiumDog]

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/...imes&seid=auto

Syrian Forces Confront Protesters, Witnesses Say

By REUTERS

Published: March 28, 2011 at 11:03 AM ET

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian forces opened fire to disperse hundreds of protesters in Deraa calling for an end to emergency laws on Monday, but demonstrators regrouped despite a heavy troop deployment, a witness said.


At least 61 people have been killed in 10 days of anti-government protests in the southern city, posing the most serious challenge to President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

Assad has yet to respond to the demonstrations, which have spread to the port city of Latakia and Hama, but Vice President Farouq al-Shara said Assad would give an important speech in the next two days.

The demonstrators in Deraa converged on a main square chanting: "We want dignity and freedom" and "No to emergency laws," the witness said. He said security forces fired in the air for several minutes, but protesters returned when they stopped.

Security forces have reduced their presence in recent days in the poor, mostly Sunni city, but residents said on Monday they had returned in strength.

"(Security forces) are pointing their machine guns at any gatherings of people in the area near the mosque," said a trader, referring to the Omari Mosque which has been a focal point of demonstrations in the city.

Abu Tamam, a Deraa resident whose house overlooks the mosque, said soldiers and central security forces occupied almost every metre outside the mosque. Another resident said snipers had repositioned on many key buildings.

"No one dares to move," he said, speaking before Monday's demonstration began.

Such demonstrations would have been unthinkable a couple of months ago in Syria, where the Baath Party has been in power for nearly 50 years but now faces the wave of Arab revolutionary sentiment which has toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

EMERGENCY LAWS

Vice President Shara said Assad would give an important speech in the next two days that would "assure the people," according to the official news agency, SANA.

Assad has been criticised by the West and even close ally Turkey, Syria's northern neighbour, for using violence against peaceful protesters.

At home he is facing growing demands to scrap emergency law, which was imposed by the Baath Party when it took power in a 1963 coup, to release thousands of political prisoners, allow freedom of speech and assembly and curb the free reign the security apparatus has in the country of 22 million.

"I think he is not decided on whether to go on television and try to defuse the situation or choose an even more brutal crackdown route," a senior diplomat in Damascus said.

Lawyers say emergency law has been used by authorities to ban protest, justify arbitrary arrests and closed courts and give free rein to the secret police.

"I do not see Assad scrapping emergency law without replacing it with something just as bad," he added.

Assad, 45, sent in troops to the key port city of Latakia on Saturday, signalling the government's growing alarm about the ability of security forces to keep order there.

The government has said 12 people were killed in clashes between "armed elements" -- whom they blame for the violence -- citizens and security forces. Rights activists have said at least six people had been killed in two days of clashes.

State television showed on Sunday deserted streets in Latakia, littered with rubble and broken glass and two burnt-out, gutted buses. Latakia is inhabited by a potentially volatile mix of Sunni Muslims, Christians and the minority Alawites who constitute Assad's core support.

Assad has pledged to look into granting greater political and media freedoms but this has failed to dampen the protest movement now in its 11th day.

In an attempt to placate protesters, authorities have freed 260 mostly Islamist prisoners. They also released political activist Diana Jawabra and 15 others arrested for taking part in a silent protest.

[StrontiumDog]

France24 - Cabinet resigns after weeks of violent protests

Latest update: 29/03/2011

Cabinet resigns after weeks of violent protests


REUTERS - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accepted his government's resignation on Tuesday after nearly two weeks of pro-democracy unrest that has posed the gravest challenge to his 11-year rule.
But the move was unlikely to satisfy protester demands since the cabinet has little authority in Syria, where power is concentrated in the hands of Assad, his family and the security apparatus.

Tens of thousands of Syrians held pro-government rallies on Tuesday, awaiting a speech in which Assad was expected to announce a decision on lifting emergency laws that have served to crush dissent for almost 50 years.

That is a key demand of anti-government demonstrations in which more than 60 people have been killed.

"President Assad accepts the government's resignation," the state news agency SANA said, adding that Naji al-Otari, the prime minister since 2003, would remain caretaker until a new government was formed.

Protesters at first had limited their demands to greater freedoms. But, increasingly incensed by a security crackdown on them, especially in the southern city of Deraa where protests first erupted, they now call for the "downfall of the regime".

The calls echo those sounded during the uprisings buffeting the Arab world that, since January, have toppled veteran autocratic presidents in Tunisia and Egypt and also motivate rebels fighting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Syrian state television showed people in the Syrian capital Damascus and in Aleppo, Hama and Hasaka waving the national flag, pictures of Assad and chanting "God, Syria, Bashar".

"Breaking News: the conspiracy has failed!" declared one banner, echoing government accusations that foreign elements and armed gangs are behind the unrest. "With our blood and our souls we protect our national unity," another said.

Employees and members of unions controlled by Assad's Baath Party, which has been in power since a 1963 coup, said they had been ordered to attend the rallies, where there was a heavy presence of security police.

All gatherings and demonstrations not sponsored by the state are banned in Syria, a country of 22 million at the sensitive heart of generations of Middle East conflict.

Media organisations operate in Syria under restrictions. The government has expelled three Reuters journalists in recent days -- its senior foreign correspondent in Damascus and then a two-man television crew who were detained for two days before being deported back to their home base in neighbouring Lebanon.

Fears of sectarian violence

More than two hundred protesters gathered in Deraa chanting "God, Syria, and Freedom" and "O Hauran rise up in revolt", a reference to the plateau where Deraa is located.

Deraa is a centre of tribes belonging to Syria's Sunni Muslim majority, many of whom resent the power and wealth amassed by the elite of the Alawite minority to which Assad belongs. Latakia, a religiously mixed port city, has also seen clashes, raising fears the unrest could take on sectarian tones.

The government has said Syria is the target of a project to sow sectarian strife.

"If things go south in Syria, bloodthirsty sectarian demons risk being unleashed and the entire region could be consumed in an orgy of violence," wrote Patrick Seale, author of a book on late president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, on the Foreign Policy blog.

Bordered by Iraq, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Israel, Syria maintains a strong anti-Israeli position through its alliances with Shi'ite Muslim regional heavyweight Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah, as well as Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas. It has also reasserted influence in smaller neighbour Lebanon.

Vice President Farouq al-Shara said on Monday the 45-year-old president would give a speech in the next 48 hours that would "assure the people".

Last week Assad made a pledge to look into ending emergency laws, consider drafting laws on greater political and media freedom, and raise living standards. But the increasingly emboldened protesters have not been mollified.
However Syrian officials, civic rights activists and diplomats doubt that Assad, who contained a Kurdish uprising in the north in 2004, would completely abolish emergency laws without replacing them with similar legislation.

Emergency laws have been used since 1963 to stifle political opposition, justify arbitrary arrest and give free rein to a pervasive security apparatus.

Protesters want political prisoners freed, and to know the fate of tens of thousands who disappeared in the 1980s.

The British-educated president was welcomed as a "reformer" when he replaced his father in 2000. He allowed a short-lived "Damascus Spring" in which he briefly tolerated political debates that openly criticised Syria's autocratic rule, but later cracked down on critics.

West’s hands tied

In Deraa, demonstrators have destroyed a statue of Hafez al-Assad, remembered for his intolerance of dissent.

In 1982 he sent in troops to quell an armed uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood, killing thousands of people and razing part of the conservative city of Hama to the ground.

Even Hama has been hit by the new protest wave and Assad had to deploy the army for the first time in Latakia, after clashes in which officials said at least 12 people had been killed last week. Assad's crackdown on protests. the likes of which would have been unthinkable two months ago in rigorously-controlled Syria, has drawn international condemnation.

But, realistically, Syria is unlikely to face the kind of foreign military intervention seen in Libya.

By cultivating a rapprochement with the West in recent years, while at the same time consolidating its ties with anti-Israeli allies Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, Syria poses a headache for the West which has few options beyond condemning the violence and making calls for political reforms.

France, colonial ruler until 1946, led the rehabilitation of Damascus following the 2005 assassination of Lebanese statesman Rafik al-Hariri, for which initial investigations have implicated Syrian and pro-Syrian Lebanese officials.

The United States, long critical of Syria's support for anti-Israeli militant groups and its involvement in Lebanon, restored full diplomatic relations by sending an ambassador to Damascus in January after a nearly six-year gap.

"Iran is very involved with this regime. Iran would defend it with all means possible," said Antoine Basbous, head of the Paris-based Observatory of Arab countries.

"What's at stake if the Syrian regime falls is not just a matter of Syria internally, the stakes are above all geopolitical ones on a regional scale."

[StrontiumDog]

At least 9 dead in Syria as thousands defy president

Critics dismiss Assad's limited steps towards reform

At least 9 dead in Syria as thousands defy president

Saturday, 02 April 2011


The shootings came as thousands of Syrians staged demonstrations after Friday prayers (File)

DAMASCUS (AlArabiya.net, Agencies) Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters on Friday north of Damascus and in the south of the country, killing at least nine people, a witness and a human rights activist told AFP.

The shootings came as thousands of Syrians staged demonstrations after Friday prayers.

At least eight protesters died in Douma, 15 kilometers (nine miles) north of the capital when police opened fire after protesters emerging from a mosque pelted them with stones, the witness told AFP by telephone.

The death toll could be more than 10, said the witness, but he only provided AFP six full names for those killed.


An official source said via state news agency SANA "armed groups" had positioned themselves on rooftops and opened fire on citizens and security forces gathered in Douma, killing and wounding dozens.

Activists said Syrians took to the streets after Friday prayers in the capital Damascus, Homs to the north of the capital, Banias on the coast, Latakia port and the southern city of Deraa, where the unprecedented protests challenging Assad's 11 years in power began in March.

The United States applauded what it called the courage and dignity of demonstrators in Syria.

We condemn and deplore the use of violence against citizens demonstrating in Syria, and applaud the courage and dignity of the Syrian people," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.

Protests also took place for the first time in Qamishli and Amuda in the mainly Kurdish populated northeast, Kurdish rights activist Radif Mustafa told AFP.

"There is no confidence"

In his first public appearance since the demonstrations began, Assad declined on Wednesday to spell out any reforms, especially the lifting of a 48-year-old emergency law that has been used to stifle opposition and justify arbitrary arrests.

Instead, he said there was a "conspiracy" targeting Syrian unity.

"There is no confidence. President Assad talks about reform and does nothing," said Montaha al-Atrash, board member of the independent Syrian human rights organization Sawasiah.

Assad, who became president after his father Hafez al-Assad died in 2000, had predicted the popular revolts seen in Tunisia and Egypt would not spread to Syria, saying the ruling hierarchy was "very closely linked to the beliefs of the people".

But for the past two weeks thousands of Syrians have turned out demanding greater freedoms in the tightly controlled Arab state, posing the gravest challenge to almost 50 years of monolithic Baath Party rule.

Assad blamed Syria's "enemies" for inciting sectarian divisions in the country ruled by emergency law since the Baath party seized power in 1963.

The Syrian Revolution 2011, a wildly popular yet anonymous Facebook group that has emerged as a driving force of the protests, had called for rallies after Friday prayers.

Government-appointed preachers denounced "acts of turmoil" which they said had been "provoked from the outside and had targeted the nation's security".

On Thursday Assad ordered the creation of a panel that would draft anti-terrorism legislation to replace emergency law, a move critics have dismissed, saying they expect the new legislation will give the state much of the same powers.

Assad also ordered an investigation into the deaths of civilians and security forces in Deraa and in Latakia, where clashes that authorities blamed on "armed gangs" occurred last week, killing 12 people, according to officials.

The Syrian News Agency earlier said security forces had arrested two armed groups that opened fire and attacked citizens in a Damascus suburb.

Assad also formed a panel to "solve the problem of the 1962 census" in the eastern region of al-Hasaka. The census resulted in 150,000 Kurds who now live in Syria being denied nationality.

Activists estimate that more than 160 people have been killed so far in clashes with security forces, mainly in Daraa, and in Latakia, while officials put the death toll at about 30.

[StrontiumDog]

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/mi...medium=twitter

Fresh protests erupt in Syria

Reports of violent clashes in southern city of Daraa as demonstrations are held in several cities across the country.

Last Modified: 08 Apr 2011 12:08


Activists say at least 80 people have been killed since demonstrations began on March 18 [Reuters]

Protests have erupted in cities across Syria, despite a series of concessions by President Bashar al-Assad, including sacking his Cabinet and firing two governors.

Witnesses said security forces were using live ammunition against protesters in this southern city of Daraa but this report could not be immediately verified. However, an activist told Al Jazeera that tear gas had been used to disperse demonstrators.

Demonstrations were reported in cities including Qamishli, Deir e-Zor in the east, the coastal city of Banias, and in the Damascus suburb of Douma.

Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Douma, said there were no security forces visible in the area where eight people were killed in protests one week ago.

"It's a new situation in Syria," she said. "We saw thousands of people taking to the streets after Friday prayers, from all walks of life. Young and old, professionals and not professionals, educated, not educated, there were some Islamists, some nationalists.

"The chanting that was unifying them was a chant for freedom and dignity."

On Thursday, President Assad issued a decree granting Syrian nationality to thousands of Kurds living in the eastern al-Hasaka region.

It was not immediately clear how many would qualify, but the announcement on Thursday is due to affect about 200,000 Kurds currently registered as foreigners as a result of a 1962 census in the region.

Assad has also announced that a panel will study the possibility of lifting the emergency law, in place since 1963.

But many Syrian activists remain sceptical about the regime's concessions.

Mazen Darwish, an activist in Damascus, told Al Jazeera that the pledged reforms were positive but not enough.

"It's not about this problem or that problem. It's about transforming Syria from dictatorship to democracy. To change the constitution, open up political life, to have free press and political parties and lift the emergency law."

[StrontiumDog]

Witnesses: At least 13 protesters killed in Daraa in Syria -

Apr 08, 2011

Witnesses: At least 13 protesters killed in Daraa in Syria

09:55 AM

By Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY

Update at 10:03 a.m. ET: The Associated Press, also quoting witnesses, puts the death toll among protesters as high as 13 in the southern Syrian city of Daraa.

Earlier posting: The Reuters news agency quotes witnesses as saying that at least 10 protesters have been killed in the southern city of Daraa.

The city of 300,000, near the Jordanian border, was the scene of bloody clashes last month between security forces and demonstrators that left scores dead.

[Butterfly]

Is NATO there yet ?

[Rural Surin]

Is NATO there yet ?

NotAvailableThereOtherwise