Protests at Syrian embassy in London

LONDON: Five people were arrested Saturday after gaining entry to the Syrian embassy in London as protesters demonstrated at the building, police said.

Around 150 protesters gathered outside the plush property in Belgrave Square. A Scotland Yard spokesman said the arrests were for public order offences after the demonstration broke out at around 2:00am (0200 GMT).

The spokesman said “appropriate policing” was in place.

The demonstration occurred amid reports that Syrian forces killed at least 217 civilians, including women and children, in a “massacre” in the central city of Homs, ahead of a United Nations vote on the repression.

Over 200 civilians die in Syrian ‘massacre’ ahead of UN vote

DAMASCUS: Syrian forces killed at least 217 civilians, including women and children, in a “massacre” in the central city of Homs, a rights group said Saturday, ahead of a UN vote on the repression.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 138 of the fatalities were caused by mortar fire in the Al-Khalidiya district of Homs, which has become a flashpoint of the 10-month revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Another 79 people were killed in other parts of town. Following violence elsewhere, including Damascus, during the day, Friday’s overall death toll was around 250 and could still rise, the Observatory said.

“It’s a real massacre,” the observatory’s director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP, calling for the “immediate intervention” of the Arab League to end the killing.

The Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya television channels showed images of dozens of bodies on the ground.

The violence broke out after thousands of people across Syria defied the government crackdown to mark the 30th anniversary of a notorious 1982 massacre in the central city of Hama that killed thousands.

News of the latest deaths came as a diplomat in New York said members of the UN Security Council would meet Saturday morning for a vote on a resolution condemning the violent repression in Syria.

The text is the same as a draft resolution sent to the council’s 15 members on Thursday.

It highlights the UN body’s support for an Arab League plan for a democratic transition while leaving out explicit references to calls for Assad to step down, the diplomat said Friday.

The Syrian rights group, called on the people “to take to the streets in the towns and villages and to rise up against the regime which is committing a real massacre right now in Homs.”

The Homs violence followed an already bloody day in which, the Syrian Observatory said, at least 35 other people were reported killed across Syria, among them 16 civilians.

The Britain-based group said 14 soldiers were killed in clashes with the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) and that five army deserters also lost their lives.

In addition, one person died of wounds sustained on Thursday, and the bodies of three other people were either found or returned to their families.

Amid growing concern that Syria is sliding into all-out civil war, an officer with the FSA claimed the regular army “is in a pitiful state and getting close to collapsing.”

The UN Security Council vote is expected on the same day that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to hold face-to-face talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, amid a fresh American push for passage of the resolution.

“It is the same text that’s going to a vote,” a UN diplomat said on Friday, referring to the draft resolution sent to the council’s 15 members the previous day.

The resolution faces an uncertain fate, as Moscow had maintained its opposition to a tougher draft resolution authored by Western powers and the Arab League.

Russia also said Friday it could not support the new draft in its current form, which states the council fully supports an Arab League plan to facilitate a democratic transition, but leaves out explicit references to calls for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

The Security Council has yet to adopt a resolution on Syria despite 10 months of violence that has left more than 6,000 people dead, rights groups estimate. An earlier draft was blocked in October by China and Russia.

Clinton held what her spokesman described as “constructive” talks by telephone with Lavrov over the draft, and the pair were due to meet in Munich, likely ahead of the UN vote.

“You can be sure that Syria and the discussions at the UN will be one of the issues there, among many,” a senior State Department official said.

The new draft backs a January 22 Arab League request that Assad transfer power to a deputy and a government of national unity within two months but does not call on him to step down, according to a copy obtained by AFP.

Instead, it calls for a “Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system… including through commencing a serious political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition under the League of Arab States’ auspices, in accordance with the timetable set out by the League of Arab States.”

The draft also “condemns all violence from whatever source and… requires that all parties in Syria, including armed groups (opposition), immediately cease all violence or reprisal.”

The latest attempt at consensus emerged after hours of talks stalled in the Security Council, with Moscow leading the opposition to a tougher draft resolution authored by Western powers and the Arab League.

Diplomats said the new draft took into account concerns by Moscow, a staunch Damascus ally. AGENCIES

384 children killed in Syrian unrest: UN

DAMASCUS: At least 384 children have been killed during 10 months of violence in Syria and almost the same number detained, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.

“As of January 7, 384 children have been killed, most are boys,” Rima Salah, acting UNICEF deputy executive director, told a press briefing in Geneva.

She said about 380 children have been detained, “some less than 14 years old.”

The figure was revealed as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said violence claimed at least 35 lives in Syria on Friday, including the first fatalities in the commercial city of Aleppo and a car bomb in the northwest.

Arab monitoring head says violence dipped in Syria

CAIRO: The general who headed the Arab monitoring mission in Syria said on Monday that violence had dipped after the observers arrived, contradicting accounts by Syrian activists who have said the killing has continued unabated.

Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi was speaking a day after Arab League foreign ministers proposed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hand power to a deputy and set up a new unity government, after earlier efforts failed to end bloodshed.

“After the arrival of the mission, the intensity of violence began to decrease,” Dabi told a news conference at the Cairo-based Arab League, echoing a line other League officials have taken.

“Our job was to check what is going on the ground and not investigate it,” he said.

Syrian activists have been critical of the mission saying it has simply bought time for Assad without ending the violent 10-month crackdown on protests.

Dabi’s own appointment has also been criticized because of the Sudanese government’s rights record in Darfur and other areas of Sudan where there has been unrest.

“I assure that the heavy military equipment has been withdrawn from all cities…,” Dabi said.

Despite criticism over the monitors’ failure to end the bloodshed, the Arab ministers agreed to extend the mission, expand it and boost its technical and logistical support.

The extension was, however, overshadowed by Saudi Arabia’s decision to withdraw its own monitors and urge the international community to exert “all possible pressure” on Damascus.

“The mission’s role is monitoring and is not stopping the killing or stopping the destruction or otherwise,” Dabi said, adding that the monitoring mission was sent to check whether Syria was adhering to an Arab peace plan.

That plan included calling for withdrawing the military from residential areas, releasing detainees, giving free access to the media and opening dialogue with the opposition.

“On releasing detainees, statements we got were based on general reports from opposition sources saying 12,000 have been detained or so but when we audited them we found that those reports lacked solid information and could not be verified,” Dabi said.

Hundreds of Syrians have been reported killed since the unarmed observers began their work. At least three monitors have told Reuters of deep civilian suffering and complained that the Syrian government has shown no will to end the crackdown.

Countering those who have said the mission has been buying time for the Syrian government, Dabi said:

“I stressed (to Arab ministers) the necessity of bringing forward the peace process so that the national dialogue would take place simultaneously with the monitoring mission’s work.” AGENCIES

Syrian forces open fire in town on Lebanon border

AMMAN: Thousands of Syrian troops backed by armour opened fire in the resort town of Zabadani on the border with Lebanon on Sunday, a day after heavy fighting in the area between army defectors and loyalist forces, residents and activists said.

Armoured vehicles fired machineguns and anti-aircraft guns as they entered the town, in the foothills of the Anti Lebanon Mountains, 35 km (22 miles) west of Damascus.

Troops combed flat farmland near the town on Saturday looking for defectors, ransacked homes, seized cars and arrested at least 100 people, including three female college students suspected of participating in pro-democracy protests, they said.

“Soldiers accompanied by Military Intelligence have set up road blocks everywhere. Zabadani is now cut off from Damascus,” said one resident who gave his name as Mohammad.

Local residents said army defectors fought loyalist troops for several hours on Saturday, and two vehicles belonging to the security police were seen riddled with bullets.

Military defections have increased in the last two months, as Assad intensified a military crackdown to crush protests demanding his resignation. The United Nations says the crackdown has killed 3,000 people, including at least 187 children.

The authorities have blamed the unrest on armed gangs and say 1,100 troops and police have been killed.

The defectors have been mostly Sunni Muslims, who comprise most of the army’s rank and file while the officer corps is composed mainly of members of the Alawite sect effectively under the command of Assad’s younger brother, Maher.

The minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, expanded its dominance of the state, the military and the secret police, a bloc now underpinning the power structure, when Assad’s father, the late Hafez al-Assad, took power in a 1970 coup. AGENCIES

Syrian opposition calls on Assad to end crackdown

Dozens of Syrian opposition members called on President Bashar Assad Sunday to end his deadly six-month crackdown or face an escalation in peaceful protests, as security forces fired warning shots to disperse high school students calling for the regime s downfall.

The weekend meeting drew more than 200 opposition figures, including leading writer Michel Kilo and Hassan Abdul-Azim, who heads the outlawed Arab Socialist Democratic Union party. It was also notable because it took place inside Syria, rather than in a neighboring country, as most others have.

A statement released after the meeting called on Assad s regime to immediately end its “acts of repression,” and it urged protesters to keep their movement peaceful and not be tempted to take up arms. The opposition members also stuck by an earlier position to oppose international intervention in Syria, though some protesters on the streets have called for unspecified outside help.

The Syrian uprising began in mid-March, amid the wave of protests in the Arab world that have toppled autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Assad has responded with force in a crackdown that the U.N. estimates has killed some 2,600 people.

Syrians show solidarity with compatriots

 Jordan’s Syrian community marked the end of Ramadan on Tuesday (August 30) with a protest and prayers outside their embassy.

Hundreds gathered to pray at the embassy in Amman on the first day of Eid al-Fitr in a show of solidarity with their families back home in Syria. Prayers ended with calls for the ousting of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, after months of anti-government protests and a fierce military crackdown. Those present said Eid was a more sombre occasion this year because of the continued unrest in their home country.

 

“Unfortunately this Eid comes today where our people in Syria are dying. There are more than 3,000 martyrs and hundreds of thousands of detainees, bereaved mothers, and most of the Syrian children have become orphans while before Eid they had their fathers. Our hearts are with them,” said protester.

A Syrian representative said the authorities were pursuing reforms but that they would not allow “terrorism and extremism” to damage the country.

Syria Protesters: Gaddafi Is Gone, Assad Will Follow

BEIRUT – Thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets across Syria Monday after a televised appearance by President Bashar Assad, shouting for him to step down and chanting “Gadhafi is gone, now it’s your turn Bashar!”

Security forces opened fire in the central city of Homs, killing at least one person, a witness said. Crowds there and in several other cities were angered by Assad’s remarks on TV and taunted him with warnings that his regime would be the next to unravel, as Moammar Gadhafi’s 42-year rule was crumbling under a rebel advance in Libya.

Human rights groups say more than 2,000 people have been killed in the government’s crackdown on a five-month-old uprising. The regime has unleashed tanks and snipers in an attempt to stamp out the revolt.

In a now-familiar refrain, Assad on Sunday promised imminent reforms – including parliamentary elections by February – but insisted the unrest was being driven by armed gangs and Islamic militants, not true reform seekers.

He also said he was not worried about security in his country and warned against any Libya-style foreign military intervention. His remarks appeared designed to portray confidence as the regime comes under blistering international condemnation.

On Monday, Syria’s state-run news agency said Assad formed a committee to pave the way for the formation of political groups other than his Baath party, which has held a monopoly in Syria for decades.

The opposition rejected Assad’s remarks, saying they have lost confidence in his promises of reform while his forces open fire on peaceful protesters.

Thousands of people across several Syrian cities took to the streets after the interview.

In the flash point central city of Homs, a hotbed of dissent against the regime, protesters shouted that Assad will follow Gadhafi, whose whereabouts was unknown as rebels claimed to be in control of Libya’s capital.

“Gadhafi is gone, now it’s your turn Bashar!” they shouted, witnesses said.

Also Monday, a U.N. human rights expert says Arab nations agreed to demand that Syria allow an international probe within its borders to see whether crimes against humanity have been committed.

Jean Ziegler, a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s advisory committee, told The Associated Press that Kuwait will make the demand on behalf of Arab nations at the start of the council’s special session Monday.

A witness said a few thousand people converged on the main square in Homs known as Clock Square on Monday after they heard that a U.N. humanitarian team was to visit the city.

He said security forces opened fire on the protesters, killing one and wounding several others.

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

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

In Hama, another central city that has been a hotbed of dissent, pro-regime gunmen fired their guns in celebration after Assad’s appearance, killing two people overnight.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and another activist group called the Local Coordination Committees confirmed the deaths. Both groups cited witness accounts.

In the southern village of Hirak, four people were wounded when security forces opened fire on protesters, according to the observatory.

US urges China, Russia, India to stop Bashar al-Assad

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday urged China, India and Russia to step up pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to curtail his government s brutal crackdown on protests.

In an interview with CBS News, Clinton suggested that China and India impose energy sanctions on Syria while she urged Russia to stop selling arms to Damascus, which has been a customer for decades from Moscow.

“What we really need to do to put the pressure on Assad is to sanction the oil and gas industry. And we want to see Europe take more steps in that direction,” Clinton said.

“And we want to China take steps with us. We want to see India, because India and China have large energy investments inside of Syria. We want to see Russia cease selling arms to the Assad regime,” the chief US diplomat said.

Clinton s spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters earlier that she did not know when Russia last made an arms delivery to Russia.

But when asked if Washington had asked Russia to stop arms sales, Nuland replied: “We have repeatedly, yes, and over many, many years and more than one administration.”

Clinton meanwhile welcomed the fact that China and Russia, after refusing to condemn Syria, backed a UN Security Council statement last week denouncing the Syrian regime.

Syria, Iran seek local fixes to region

DAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iran”s interim Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi agreed on Monday that the troubles of the Middle East should be solved internally by the region”s countries, a local news agency reported.

Salehi arrived in Damascus on Sunday to discuss the Lebanese political crisis with Syrian officials.

The two men discussed “the latest regional developments” and international efforts to “find solutions to challenges facing countries of the region,” the news agency said after the meeting.

The news agency reported Assad and Salehi emphasised “the importance that solutions come from inside these countries according to their peoples” interests to help maintain their security and stability”.

External efforts to mediate Lebanon”s political quagmire have yielded little, with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar all failing.

A national unity government led by Western-backed caretaker prime minister Saad Hariri collapsed on January 12 when 11 ministers from the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies resigned.

The walkout capped a long-running dispute over a UN-backed investigation into the 2005 assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri, the incumbent”s father.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has said he expects the Netherlands-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon to implicate high-ranking members of his militant movement in the Hariri murder and has warned of grave repercussions.

Nasrallah has vowed to include all parties in a Hezbollah-led government, but both he and Hariri refuse to serve under each other.

Former prime minister Najib Mikati has put himself forward as a compromise candidate to try to form a government.

Assad and Salehi said they were “satisfied” with the formation of a unity government in Iraq, “stressing the importance of expanding the dialogue to all Iraqi” parties, the news agency reported.

The meeting also addressed “ways to strengthen scientific and technological cooperation between Syria and Iran”.

On Sunday night, Salehi held talks with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem.

He then met the exiled leader of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, Palestinian sources said.

The secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), Ahmed Jibril, and a representative of Islamic Jihad, Ziad Nakhal, also attended the meeting, the sources said.

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