(CNN) -- Syria's major opposition group condemned Bashar al-Assad's regime Wednesday for "horrific massacres" this week and called on the Arab League and the U.N. Security Council to take "necessary measures" to protect civilians.
The Syrian National Council said nearly 250 people have died over a 48-hour period and it urged the Arab League to condemn the killings and work with the United Nations "in taking the necessary measures to protect Syrian civilians."
"The SNC stresses the need to take all necessary actions to stop the bloody campaign that is targeting more cities and towns through the regime's militant expansion," the group said in a news release dated Tuesday but issued Wednesday to CNN via e-mail.
It called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting "to discuss the regime's massacres in Zawyiyeh mountain, Idlib, and Homs, in particular; issue international condemnation thereof; declare the cities and towns being brutally attacked 'safe zones' that enjoy international protection; and force the regime's forces to withdraw from said areas."
The group is calling for a declaration "that Zawiyeh mountain, Idlib, and Homs are disaster areas exposed to large-scale genocide and displacement operations by the Syrian regime's militias" and urged the International Red Crescent and other relief organizations "to intervene directly and provide urgent humanitarian assistance."
The violence spiked as Syria agreed to an Arab League peace plan Monday aimed at ending the violence between regime forces and protesters that started in mid-March. The United Nations earlier this month estimated that about 5,000 people have died in the violence.
Other groups also reported a surge in killings this week.
The Local Coordination Committees, an opposition umbrella group, said 84 people were killed across the country Tuesday.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a higher death toll of 111, which would make Tuesday among one of the deadliest days since the government crackdown started, activists say.
The Syrian Observatory's Rami Abdul Rahman had said Monday's toll of 100 to 110 was the highest, but Tuesday's total appears to surpass that.
The Syrian government maintains that it is cracking down on armed terrorists who attack security forces and civilians. The activists say the government's brutal crackdown against peaceful protests has led to the deaths.
CNN could not independently verify the allegations because Syria restricts the activity of journalists in the country.
Saad Abedine and Kindah Shair contributed to this report
(cnn.com)
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Syria, Egypt and Middle East unrest - live updates
11.06am: Syria's president Assad has a signed a new law that will impose the death penalty on anyone caught distributing weapons "with the aim of committing terrorist acts".
The regime has branded political opponents as terrorists since the start of the uprising, so the new law appears to be another signal of its determination to carry on with the crackdown.
10.49am: The Democratic Alliance, a political bloc in which the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party is the biggest player, has released a statement throwing its support firmly behind the protesters
.
Confirming its intention to participate in the sit-in at the supreme judiciary court until violence against protesters is halted and executive powers are handed over to the new parliament, it says:
Scaf (Supreme Council of Armed Forces) has failed in the management of the transitional period up to this critical moment, and it bears full responsibility for immediate cessation of violence, abuse of the citizens, assault of female demonstrators, the targeting of the revolutionaries who stood in the face of heavy-handed attacks, and for the immediate release of all protesters detained for no legal reason.
The conferees insist on bringing to justice and accountability military leaders and security officials responsible for ordering and carrying out violent attacks on the protesters, sitters and demonstrators, and on the formation of a special independent judicial commission of inquiry to take the necessary measures for the afore-mentioned purpose with full authority to initiate an investigation with the military and the security forces in charge of the area at the time. The conferees also condemn attempts to tarnish the image of the revolution and the revolutionaries who were always determined to maintain the peaceful nature of their protest and sit-in, which lasted nearly three weeks without any attack on a single institution.
10.46am: Video filmed by the Egyptian daily al-Masry al-Youm TV
at dawn today shows security forces in riot gear and protesters hurling projectiles at each other. What sounds like gunshots can be heard in the background.
Four people were killed in the raid on this morning's raid on Tahrir Square, a doctor told Ahram Online (see 10.07am).
10.22am: Reports of the killing of scores of Syrian army defectors in Idlib are sketchy, but the area is known to be a centre of desertion.
Dissident Ammar Abdulhamid claimed 72 defectors were killed in Kinsafrah.
The Syrian Observatory for Human said 60 to 70 defected troops were killed as they fled military positions between Kinsafrah and Kefer Quaid.
Last week residents of Kinsafrah were filmed hoisting an independence flag after reports that hundreds of troops switched sides in the town.
10.07am: Four people were killed when the Egyptian security forces raided Tahrir Square this morning,
a doctor told Ahram Online reports.
Yamen El Genedy, a doctor at the Omar Makram Mosque field hospital, told Ahram Online that he saw four people admitted at 8 this morning. All of them had been shot dead. "The bullets had entered and exited their bodies, making it seem like the result of snipers. The force of the gunshots was very strong," said El Genedy. One of the deaths, he added, was a 19-year-old.
9.50am: The US state department has also appears to suspect Syria of playing for time by signing a deal with the Arab League to allow in observers.
Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters:
We've seen too many broken promises from the Syrian regime, so we're really less interested in a signed piece of paper than we are in actions to implement commitments made.
We firmly support the calls by the Arab League and the stipulations in this agreement that monitors, international human rights monitors, would have unfettered access to all locations in Syria, that the violence will stop, that all political prisoners will be released, and that armed elements of the Syrian regime will be withdrawn from populated areas. So it's on that basis that we will judge the seriousness of the Syrian regime with regard to this – its apparent acquiescence now to the Arab League's proposal.
On the other hand, Russia and China have welcomed the deal.
Russia's foreign ministry said:
We believe the document signed in Cairo offers an opportunity to use a mechanism of independent monitoring on the ground, to provide protection for all Syrian citizens and to stabilize the situation. This chance must be utilized.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90777/7682071.html?
8.21am: Welcome to Middle East Live. Grim reports of escalating violence in both Syria and Egypt continue to emerge. Here's a round up of the latest developments.
Syria
• Up to 70 army deserters were killed on Monday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, making it one one of the bloodiest days in uprising so far.
A survivor told the Observatory that defected soldiers were shot by machine gun fire
as they tried to flee their base. It also counted 40 civilians shot dead across Syria in the crackdown on protests.
• The regime of president Bashar al-Assad has signed an Arab League initiative that will allow observers into the country, in a move seen as another stalling tactic by Damascus.
Syria's foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, said the observers will have a one-month mandate that could be extended by another month if both sides agree. The observers will be "free" in their movements and "under the protection of the Syrian government," he said, but would not be allowed to visit sensitive military sites. Dissident Ammar Abdulhamid said the deal gave the regime more time
to allow the crackdown to continue:
The move was not a concession, but another stalling tactic. Assad was just granted several weeks of respite in which he can do pretty much what he wants, knowing that nothing will take place in the meantime on the regional or international scene to hurt him.
• The authorities have released US-born blogger Razan Ghazzawi who was charged last week with fomenting sectarian strife and spreading false information through a secret organisation.
The Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, where she worked, said in a statement that Ghazzawi was freed on Sunday night on bail.
Egypt
• Egyptian troops and riot police raided Cairo's Tahrir Square early on Tuesday in their latest attempt to evict protesters who want the ruling military to immediately step down, according to a field hospital doctor.
Ahmed Saad said a 15-year-old protester was in critical condition after suffering a gunshot wound in the attack, AP reports.
• Prominent political personalities and newly elected MPs are planning to stage a sit-in at Cairo's supreme judiciary court to demand immediate halt of violence against protesters, Jadaliyya reports.
The sit-in will also demand an immediate transfer of power from military to civilian rule, it says.
• Amnesty has condemned the excessive use of force used by the army against protesters.
"It is clear that either the military police has been given orders to disperse demonstrators at any cost, or the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces does not control the army and security forces. Either scenario is equally worrying," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
• US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has accused the security forces of targeting female protesters for beatings.
In a speech in Washington she said:
Recent events in Egypt have been particularly shocking. Women are being beaten and humiliated in the same streets where they risked their lives for the revolution only a few short months ago. And this is part of a deeply troubling pattern. Egyptian women have been largely shut out of decision-making in the transition by both the military authorities and the major political parties. At the same time, they have been specifically targeted both by security forces and by extremists ...
Women are being attacked, stripped, and beaten in the streets. This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonours the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform, and is not worthy of a great people.
• Revolutionaries are partly to blame for the clashes, according to a Foreign Policy magazine article by Steven Cook from the Council on Foreign Relations.
He writes:
What is perhaps most disturbing is that the weekend's battle ... didn't seem to have a point. The young toughs who descended on Qasr al-Aini Street after news spread of the Army's efforts to clear the area seemed less concerned with principle than combat ...
If the revolutionaries and their supporters are now stunned that the Islamists -- both the Brotherhood and the Salafists -- are set to dominate post-uprising Egypt, they must take a hard look at what they have done, or not done, over the last 11 months. Indeed, their ability to read Egyptian public sentiment is as bad as that of the military, and a good deal more myopic.
The Muslim Brothers are just about the only ones who have played post-Mubarak Egypt well.
• Thousands of historic manuscripts are feared destroyed after the Institute of Egypt, a research centre set up by Napoleon Bonaparte during France's invasion in the late 18th century, caught fire during the clashes.
Volunteers have spent the past two days trying to salvage what's left of some 192,000 books, journals and writings from the Institute.
Iraq
• Iraq's Shia-led government has issued an arrest warrant for the vice-president, Tariq al-Hashimi, the country's highest ranking Sunni official, on terrorism charges.
The move, a day after the last US troops left Iraq and ended the nearly nine-year war, could signal a sharp escalation in the sectarian tensions that drove Iraq to the brink of civil war a few years ago.
Libya
• A Libyan military commander and rebel leader has launched legal proceedings against the British government over his rendition and alleged "barbaric" treatment meted out to him and his pregnant wife.
Abdel Hakim Belhadj, head of the Tripoli Military Council and a former leader of the militant Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, is suing ministers and MI6 for the part he claims they played in secretly sending him and his wife to Libya in March 2004.
Posted by
Matthew Weaver and Haroon Siddique
Tuesday 20 December 2011 11.15 GMT guardian.co.uk
The regime has branded political opponents as terrorists since the start of the uprising, so the new law appears to be another signal of its determination to carry on with the crackdown.
10.49am: The Democratic Alliance, a political bloc in which the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party is the biggest player, has released a statement throwing its support firmly behind the protesters
.
Confirming its intention to participate in the sit-in at the supreme judiciary court until violence against protesters is halted and executive powers are handed over to the new parliament, it says:
Scaf (Supreme Council of Armed Forces) has failed in the management of the transitional period up to this critical moment, and it bears full responsibility for immediate cessation of violence, abuse of the citizens, assault of female demonstrators, the targeting of the revolutionaries who stood in the face of heavy-handed attacks, and for the immediate release of all protesters detained for no legal reason.
The conferees insist on bringing to justice and accountability military leaders and security officials responsible for ordering and carrying out violent attacks on the protesters, sitters and demonstrators, and on the formation of a special independent judicial commission of inquiry to take the necessary measures for the afore-mentioned purpose with full authority to initiate an investigation with the military and the security forces in charge of the area at the time. The conferees also condemn attempts to tarnish the image of the revolution and the revolutionaries who were always determined to maintain the peaceful nature of their protest and sit-in, which lasted nearly three weeks without any attack on a single institution.
10.46am: Video filmed by the Egyptian daily al-Masry al-Youm TV
at dawn today shows security forces in riot gear and protesters hurling projectiles at each other. What sounds like gunshots can be heard in the background.
Four people were killed in the raid on this morning's raid on Tahrir Square, a doctor told Ahram Online (see 10.07am).
10.22am: Reports of the killing of scores of Syrian army defectors in Idlib are sketchy, but the area is known to be a centre of desertion.
Dissident Ammar Abdulhamid claimed 72 defectors were killed in Kinsafrah.
The Syrian Observatory for Human said 60 to 70 defected troops were killed as they fled military positions between Kinsafrah and Kefer Quaid.
Last week residents of Kinsafrah were filmed hoisting an independence flag after reports that hundreds of troops switched sides in the town.
10.07am: Four people were killed when the Egyptian security forces raided Tahrir Square this morning,
a doctor told Ahram Online reports.
Yamen El Genedy, a doctor at the Omar Makram Mosque field hospital, told Ahram Online that he saw four people admitted at 8 this morning. All of them had been shot dead. "The bullets had entered and exited their bodies, making it seem like the result of snipers. The force of the gunshots was very strong," said El Genedy. One of the deaths, he added, was a 19-year-old.
9.50am: The US state department has also appears to suspect Syria of playing for time by signing a deal with the Arab League to allow in observers.
Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters:
We've seen too many broken promises from the Syrian regime, so we're really less interested in a signed piece of paper than we are in actions to implement commitments made.
We firmly support the calls by the Arab League and the stipulations in this agreement that monitors, international human rights monitors, would have unfettered access to all locations in Syria, that the violence will stop, that all political prisoners will be released, and that armed elements of the Syrian regime will be withdrawn from populated areas. So it's on that basis that we will judge the seriousness of the Syrian regime with regard to this – its apparent acquiescence now to the Arab League's proposal.
On the other hand, Russia and China have welcomed the deal.
Russia's foreign ministry said:
We believe the document signed in Cairo offers an opportunity to use a mechanism of independent monitoring on the ground, to provide protection for all Syrian citizens and to stabilize the situation. This chance must be utilized.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90777/7682071.html?
8.21am: Welcome to Middle East Live. Grim reports of escalating violence in both Syria and Egypt continue to emerge. Here's a round up of the latest developments.
Syria
• Up to 70 army deserters were killed on Monday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, making it one one of the bloodiest days in uprising so far.
A survivor told the Observatory that defected soldiers were shot by machine gun fire
as they tried to flee their base. It also counted 40 civilians shot dead across Syria in the crackdown on protests.
• The regime of president Bashar al-Assad has signed an Arab League initiative that will allow observers into the country, in a move seen as another stalling tactic by Damascus.
Syria's foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, said the observers will have a one-month mandate that could be extended by another month if both sides agree. The observers will be "free" in their movements and "under the protection of the Syrian government," he said, but would not be allowed to visit sensitive military sites. Dissident Ammar Abdulhamid said the deal gave the regime more time
to allow the crackdown to continue:
The move was not a concession, but another stalling tactic. Assad was just granted several weeks of respite in which he can do pretty much what he wants, knowing that nothing will take place in the meantime on the regional or international scene to hurt him.
• The authorities have released US-born blogger Razan Ghazzawi who was charged last week with fomenting sectarian strife and spreading false information through a secret organisation.
The Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, where she worked, said in a statement that Ghazzawi was freed on Sunday night on bail.
Egypt
• Egyptian troops and riot police raided Cairo's Tahrir Square early on Tuesday in their latest attempt to evict protesters who want the ruling military to immediately step down, according to a field hospital doctor.
Ahmed Saad said a 15-year-old protester was in critical condition after suffering a gunshot wound in the attack, AP reports.
• Prominent political personalities and newly elected MPs are planning to stage a sit-in at Cairo's supreme judiciary court to demand immediate halt of violence against protesters, Jadaliyya reports.
The sit-in will also demand an immediate transfer of power from military to civilian rule, it says.
• Amnesty has condemned the excessive use of force used by the army against protesters.
"It is clear that either the military police has been given orders to disperse demonstrators at any cost, or the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces does not control the army and security forces. Either scenario is equally worrying," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
• US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has accused the security forces of targeting female protesters for beatings.
In a speech in Washington she said:
Recent events in Egypt have been particularly shocking. Women are being beaten and humiliated in the same streets where they risked their lives for the revolution only a few short months ago. And this is part of a deeply troubling pattern. Egyptian women have been largely shut out of decision-making in the transition by both the military authorities and the major political parties. At the same time, they have been specifically targeted both by security forces and by extremists ...
Women are being attacked, stripped, and beaten in the streets. This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonours the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform, and is not worthy of a great people.
• Revolutionaries are partly to blame for the clashes, according to a Foreign Policy magazine article by Steven Cook from the Council on Foreign Relations.
He writes:
What is perhaps most disturbing is that the weekend's battle ... didn't seem to have a point. The young toughs who descended on Qasr al-Aini Street after news spread of the Army's efforts to clear the area seemed less concerned with principle than combat ...
If the revolutionaries and their supporters are now stunned that the Islamists -- both the Brotherhood and the Salafists -- are set to dominate post-uprising Egypt, they must take a hard look at what they have done, or not done, over the last 11 months. Indeed, their ability to read Egyptian public sentiment is as bad as that of the military, and a good deal more myopic.
The Muslim Brothers are just about the only ones who have played post-Mubarak Egypt well.
• Thousands of historic manuscripts are feared destroyed after the Institute of Egypt, a research centre set up by Napoleon Bonaparte during France's invasion in the late 18th century, caught fire during the clashes.
Volunteers have spent the past two days trying to salvage what's left of some 192,000 books, journals and writings from the Institute.
Iraq
• Iraq's Shia-led government has issued an arrest warrant for the vice-president, Tariq al-Hashimi, the country's highest ranking Sunni official, on terrorism charges.
The move, a day after the last US troops left Iraq and ended the nearly nine-year war, could signal a sharp escalation in the sectarian tensions that drove Iraq to the brink of civil war a few years ago.
Libya
• A Libyan military commander and rebel leader has launched legal proceedings against the British government over his rendition and alleged "barbaric" treatment meted out to him and his pregnant wife.
Abdel Hakim Belhadj, head of the Tripoli Military Council and a former leader of the militant Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, is suing ministers and MI6 for the part he claims they played in secretly sending him and his wife to Libya in March 2004.
Posted by
Matthew Weaver and Haroon Siddique
Tuesday 20 December 2011 11.15 GMT guardian.co.uk
Syria unrest: Dozens of army deserters 'gunned down'
Dozens of army deserters have been shot dead by Syrian troops as they tried to flee their bases and join anti-government protests, reports say.
Activist groups said more than 70 defectors were gunned down in the north-western Idlib province.
They said Monday's death toll across the country could exceed 110 - which if true would make it one of the deadliest days of the uprising.
Damascus earlier agreed to an Arab League deal to allow monitors in.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the Arab League had accepted amendments demanded by Damascus.
The Arab League said an advance team of observers would go to Syria this week.
In a separate development, the UN General Assembly voted by a strong majority to condemn the Syrian authorities for the crackdown, which has left some 5,000 people dead since the protests against President Bashar al-Assad began in March.
The non-binding resolution - passed by a vote of 133 to 11, with 43 abstentions - demanded an immediate end to human rights abuses and called on Damascus to implement the Arab League plan.
Deal 'amendments'
On Monday, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a soldier who defected had reported the deaths of 60-70 army deserters by machine-gun fire in Idlib province - the main stronghold for army defectors.
"They were killed while trying to run away from their military positions on the way between the villages of Kensafra and Kefer Quaid, in Zawyia Mountain, in Idlib district," the group said.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem: "We do not seek to waste time. It is us seeking a solution"
The Observatory said another 40 people had died across the country, including three government soldiers were killed in fighting with armed rebels in Idlib.
The Syrian Revolution General Commission - a coalition of 40 opposition grassroots groups - said the number of defecting soldiers who died in Idlib reached 72.
Overall, it said, 114 people had died across the country on Monday, a toll which included nine deaths in Deraa and nine in Homs.
The claims cannot be independently verified as foreign media are banned from reporting in Syria.
The Arab League plan is key to developments at the UN, because it might help bridge a divide which has paralysed the Security Council.
Western nations would like to see tough action against Damascus, while Russia, China and others are wary of taking any action at all.
But they all support the Arab plan, and it features in a new draft Security Council resolution recently proposed by Russia.
The two sides appear to support it for different reasons: Western states see it as a way to exert greater pressure on Damascus, hoping to speed a transition to a more democratic order.
Russia sees it as a way to prevent international intervention in the dispute, such as UN sanctions.
Negotiations on the Russian draft are only just beginning, so it's not yet clear if the Arab plan will indeed be the compromise that leads to agreement.
The government of President Assad says it is fighting armed gangs, trying to destabilise Syria.
The alleged shooting of the deserters came just hours after Damascus finally put its signature to the Arab League deal to deploy observers in Syria.
After the protocol was signed at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Damascus had agreed because it wanted help to find a "political solution".
"We want to emerge from this crisis and build a safe, modern Syria - a Syria that will be a model of democracy," he said.
"The signing of the protocol is the beginning of co-operation between us and the Arab League and we will welcome monitors."
He said Syria's sovereignty would be protected because the Arab League had agreed to amendments to the deal, which also calls for all violence to be halted, for the withdrawal of troops from the streets and the release of detainees.
The observers would be "free" in their movements and "under the protection of the Syrian government", he added, but would not be allowed to visit sensitive military sites.
Mr Muallem said he was confident that the observers would support the government's assertion that "armed terrorist groups" were stirring up trouble, and targeting security personnel and civilians.
Damascus 'manoeuvring'
The Arab League's Secretary General, Nabil al-Arabi, told reporters that an advance party led by one of his assistants would travel to Syria in the next two or three days to prepare for the arrival of monitors.
The observers will have a one-month mandate that can be extended by another month if both sides agree.
But the leader of the Syrian National Council, an opposition umbrella group, dismissed the government's decision as "just a ploy".
The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says there is much scepticism in activist circles about the government's willingness to implement a peace plan which could result in large parts of the country falling out of its control.
Since mid-November, Syria wavered on whether to agree to the deployment of observers, prompting the Arab League to impose a range of economic sanctions.
In that time, more than 900 civilians have been killed by Syrian security forces, including 80 children and 29 women, according to the LCC.
(bbc.co.uk)
Activist groups said more than 70 defectors were gunned down in the north-western Idlib province.
They said Monday's death toll across the country could exceed 110 - which if true would make it one of the deadliest days of the uprising.
Damascus earlier agreed to an Arab League deal to allow monitors in.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the Arab League had accepted amendments demanded by Damascus.
The Arab League said an advance team of observers would go to Syria this week.
In a separate development, the UN General Assembly voted by a strong majority to condemn the Syrian authorities for the crackdown, which has left some 5,000 people dead since the protests against President Bashar al-Assad began in March.
The non-binding resolution - passed by a vote of 133 to 11, with 43 abstentions - demanded an immediate end to human rights abuses and called on Damascus to implement the Arab League plan.
Deal 'amendments'
On Monday, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a soldier who defected had reported the deaths of 60-70 army deserters by machine-gun fire in Idlib province - the main stronghold for army defectors.
"They were killed while trying to run away from their military positions on the way between the villages of Kensafra and Kefer Quaid, in Zawyia Mountain, in Idlib district," the group said.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem: "We do not seek to waste time. It is us seeking a solution"
The Observatory said another 40 people had died across the country, including three government soldiers were killed in fighting with armed rebels in Idlib.
The Syrian Revolution General Commission - a coalition of 40 opposition grassroots groups - said the number of defecting soldiers who died in Idlib reached 72.
Overall, it said, 114 people had died across the country on Monday, a toll which included nine deaths in Deraa and nine in Homs.
The claims cannot be independently verified as foreign media are banned from reporting in Syria.
The Arab League plan is key to developments at the UN, because it might help bridge a divide which has paralysed the Security Council.
Western nations would like to see tough action against Damascus, while Russia, China and others are wary of taking any action at all.
But they all support the Arab plan, and it features in a new draft Security Council resolution recently proposed by Russia.
The two sides appear to support it for different reasons: Western states see it as a way to exert greater pressure on Damascus, hoping to speed a transition to a more democratic order.
Russia sees it as a way to prevent international intervention in the dispute, such as UN sanctions.
Negotiations on the Russian draft are only just beginning, so it's not yet clear if the Arab plan will indeed be the compromise that leads to agreement.
The government of President Assad says it is fighting armed gangs, trying to destabilise Syria.
The alleged shooting of the deserters came just hours after Damascus finally put its signature to the Arab League deal to deploy observers in Syria.
After the protocol was signed at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Damascus had agreed because it wanted help to find a "political solution".
"We want to emerge from this crisis and build a safe, modern Syria - a Syria that will be a model of democracy," he said.
"The signing of the protocol is the beginning of co-operation between us and the Arab League and we will welcome monitors."
He said Syria's sovereignty would be protected because the Arab League had agreed to amendments to the deal, which also calls for all violence to be halted, for the withdrawal of troops from the streets and the release of detainees.
The observers would be "free" in their movements and "under the protection of the Syrian government", he added, but would not be allowed to visit sensitive military sites.
Mr Muallem said he was confident that the observers would support the government's assertion that "armed terrorist groups" were stirring up trouble, and targeting security personnel and civilians.
Damascus 'manoeuvring'
The Arab League's Secretary General, Nabil al-Arabi, told reporters that an advance party led by one of his assistants would travel to Syria in the next two or three days to prepare for the arrival of monitors.
The observers will have a one-month mandate that can be extended by another month if both sides agree.
But the leader of the Syrian National Council, an opposition umbrella group, dismissed the government's decision as "just a ploy".
The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says there is much scepticism in activist circles about the government's willingness to implement a peace plan which could result in large parts of the country falling out of its control.
Since mid-November, Syria wavered on whether to agree to the deployment of observers, prompting the Arab League to impose a range of economic sanctions.
In that time, more than 900 civilians have been killed by Syrian security forces, including 80 children and 29 women, according to the LCC.
(bbc.co.uk)
Senin, 19 Desember 2011
Syria signs deal to allow Arab League monitors
The Syrian government has signed an agreement to let international monitors into the country, finally accepting the last requirement of an Arab League deal to end the violence wracking Syria.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad signed the agreement at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on Monday, according to both a Reuters witness and an Arab League diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity, reports Haaretz.
The Associated Press writes that Syria likely agreed to Arab League proposal to avoid UN involvement in the country's upheaval, though regime critics argue that it is only a delaying tactic by President Bashar al-Assad while Syrian forces attempt to crush anti-government resistance.
Syria had previously agreed to the plan, which includes withdrawal of its army from Syrian towns and cities, the release of thousands of political prisoners, and opening dialogue with the opposition. But Damascus subsequently balked on terms requiring Syria to open its borders to Arab League monitors, and instead continued to attack protesters. The UN last week estimated that at least 5,000 people have now been killed during the upheaval, which began in March.
As a result of Syrian recalcitrance, Arab League officials implemented sanctions against Syria last month. They were set to meet on Wednesday to discuss a proposal that the UN take action against Syria.
Bloomberg writes that Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said that Syria agreed to sign the deal after Arab League officials changed the original text of the document as Syria requested. “If our amendments were not included, we wouldn’t have signed,” he said. “The signing of the protocol is the beginning of cooperation with the Arab League and we will welcome the observers.” Mr. Moallem did not discuss the details of the agreements.
As the terms of the deal were being discussed in Cairo, hundreds of people held a pro-government rally in Damascus, expressing support for the Assad regime and countries that have opposed intervention in the Syrian crackdown. Agence France-Presse reports that huge Russian and Chinese flags, as well as the colors of Syrian regional allies Iran and Hezbollah, decorated office buildings in Sabaa Bahrat Square, where the rally was held.
Elsewhere in Syria, the conflict showed little sign of ending. The Daily Telegraph writes that armed rebels in the flashpoint city of Homs, including soldiers who have defected, have warned that they will seek retribution if government forces execute 21 rebels they captured. The Syrian Army says that it has learned that the captured rebels, believed to have been seized during an attack on government posts in Deraa earlier this month, are scheduled to be executed sometime today.
"I have a personal message for the Army: If the Army executes these men, there will be a very harsh retaliation against them here in Homs," Abdul-Razaq Tlas, commander of one of two rebel battalions in the city, told the Daily Telegraph.
But in at least one positive step, Syrian officials released blogger Razan Ghazzawi after 15 days in a Syrian prison, reports Amira Al Hussaini of Global Voices, an umbrella site for citizen bloggers from around the world. Ms. Ghazzawi, a US-born human rights advocate, was seized and charged with “establishing an organization that aims to change the social and economical entity of the state” and “weakening the national sentiment, and trying to ignite sectarian strife," according to Lebanon's Daily Star.
(csmonitor.com)
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad signed the agreement at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on Monday, according to both a Reuters witness and an Arab League diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity, reports Haaretz.
The Associated Press writes that Syria likely agreed to Arab League proposal to avoid UN involvement in the country's upheaval, though regime critics argue that it is only a delaying tactic by President Bashar al-Assad while Syrian forces attempt to crush anti-government resistance.
Syria had previously agreed to the plan, which includes withdrawal of its army from Syrian towns and cities, the release of thousands of political prisoners, and opening dialogue with the opposition. But Damascus subsequently balked on terms requiring Syria to open its borders to Arab League monitors, and instead continued to attack protesters. The UN last week estimated that at least 5,000 people have now been killed during the upheaval, which began in March.
As a result of Syrian recalcitrance, Arab League officials implemented sanctions against Syria last month. They were set to meet on Wednesday to discuss a proposal that the UN take action against Syria.
Bloomberg writes that Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said that Syria agreed to sign the deal after Arab League officials changed the original text of the document as Syria requested. “If our amendments were not included, we wouldn’t have signed,” he said. “The signing of the protocol is the beginning of cooperation with the Arab League and we will welcome the observers.” Mr. Moallem did not discuss the details of the agreements.
As the terms of the deal were being discussed in Cairo, hundreds of people held a pro-government rally in Damascus, expressing support for the Assad regime and countries that have opposed intervention in the Syrian crackdown. Agence France-Presse reports that huge Russian and Chinese flags, as well as the colors of Syrian regional allies Iran and Hezbollah, decorated office buildings in Sabaa Bahrat Square, where the rally was held.
Elsewhere in Syria, the conflict showed little sign of ending. The Daily Telegraph writes that armed rebels in the flashpoint city of Homs, including soldiers who have defected, have warned that they will seek retribution if government forces execute 21 rebels they captured. The Syrian Army says that it has learned that the captured rebels, believed to have been seized during an attack on government posts in Deraa earlier this month, are scheduled to be executed sometime today.
"I have a personal message for the Army: If the Army executes these men, there will be a very harsh retaliation against them here in Homs," Abdul-Razaq Tlas, commander of one of two rebel battalions in the city, told the Daily Telegraph.
But in at least one positive step, Syrian officials released blogger Razan Ghazzawi after 15 days in a Syrian prison, reports Amira Al Hussaini of Global Voices, an umbrella site for citizen bloggers from around the world. Ms. Ghazzawi, a US-born human rights advocate, was seized and charged with “establishing an organization that aims to change the social and economical entity of the state” and “weakening the national sentiment, and trying to ignite sectarian strife," according to Lebanon's Daily Star.
(csmonitor.com)
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