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Re: Syria
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world...osition-groups
Syrian opposition plans 'decisive' meeting to unite opposition groups
Phil Sands
Sep 7, 2011
DAMASCUS // Syrian opposition groups plan to hold what the organisers say will be a "decisive" meeting in Damascus this month that could see the Muslim Brotherhood join a united pro-democracy platform alongside leading secular dissidents.
In addition, a different coalition of opposition groups - writers, academics, journalists and political thinkers - is soon to announce, perhaps as early as this week, plans to strengthen the anti-regime movement.
These steps come after an extended period of quiet from opposition figures and old-guard dissidents based in Syria, following a brief flurry of activity in June.
Hussein Oudat, a Damascus-based publisher and founding member of the National Board of Coordination (NBC), said the group would hold a conference before the end of this month, which he predicted would be the biggest opposition meeting on Syrian soil since the Baath party seized power in the 1960s.
The NBC was established in Damascus in June by prominent activists and dissidents, including Aref Dalila, Hasan Abdul Azeem, Hazem Nahar and Mr Oudat.
"It will bring together the established political parties working on the ground in Syria and they will elect a leadership council to represent them," he said. "The NBC is now in discussions with Islamic currents, including the Muslim Brotherhood, and we anticipate them taking part. For that reason, we expect it to be a decisive meeting for the opposition."
The Muslim Brotherhood is technically still a banned organisation in Syria, with membership punishable by death. That has forced the movement underground, making it hard to gauge how influential it is and how closely its leadership-in-exile reflects the opinions of members inside Syria.
Its leaders insist they have left behind more militant ideologies of the 1980s and now embrace the principles of a multiparty democracy that protects minority rights and guarantees a circulation of power.
Dissident groups advocating peaceful regime change from inside Syria are broadly split between young street protesters and older, well-established activists who have spent decades struggling against an autocratic security state. Most have been jailed for their political activity. There is also a growing number of former regime figures calling for a shift to democracy.
While hundreds of thousands of street demonstrators and the local committees organising them have posed the most serious threat to President Bashar Al Assad's rule, established political parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood, are also playing a part in the uprising.
Prominent dissidents involved in June's Semiramis Hotel meeting - the first public opposition gathering in Syria in years and the first since the March uprising began - said they expected to announce the formation of a "political current" this week, possibility in the next few days.
"We are working on creating a 'political current' rather than a political party," said Louay Hussein, one of the Semiramis organisers. "We don't have a licence to start a political party and don't expect to be given one so we will have a bloc that is committed to and agreed to the principles of a multiparty democracy, transfer of power, rule of law and so on."
Mr Hussein said the group would not try to present itself as leaders of the anti-regime movement but would try to appeal to the so-called silent bloc - the majority of Syrians who have neither openly joined the revolutionaries nor come out in firm support of the regime.
"Still the majority of the county is not fully with the protesters in the streets but it is also increasingly unhappy with the regime," he said. "We are six months into this uprising now and still there is no politics. The regime is not really involved in dialogue. There is nothing called politics in this country, just empty talk."
Opposition groups outside of Syria, widely viewed with suspicion by those inside the country, have held a series of meetings and conferences in Turkey and Europe, in an effort to present a unified front. A host of coalitions and leadership committees have been established, but none have been able to claim control over street protesters.
More than 2,000 civilians have been killed by security forces since March, according to human-rights monitors and the United Nations, which last month condemned the Syrian authorities for breaking international laws banning torture and murder of political activists.
Mr Al Assad insists his country is facing a violent Islamic insurgency, backed by Syria's international enemies, with insurgents killing more than 400 security officers.
He has promised a series of political reforms, including parliamentary elections loosely scheduled for February, but has refused to cease deadly security operations against protesters and has ruled out standing down, more than a decade after he inherited power from his father, Hafez Al Assad.
Anti-regime protests are now an almost daily occurrence in Syria, despite the arrests of tens of thousands of dissidents and the deployment of military units across the country.
psands@thenational.ae
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Re: Syria
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...119171,00.html
Arabs to meet on Syria after League visit delayed
Published: 09.07.11, 15:17 / Israel News
Arab foreign ministers meet in Cairo next week to discuss Syria after a visit by the Arab League chief to Damascus to convey concerns over its crackdown on popular unrest was delayed, Arab diplomats said on Wednesday.
Arab governments broke months of silence at a meeting at the Arab League in Cairo last week, demanding Syria stop the bloodshed, and decided to send League chief Nabil Elaraby to Damascus to push for political and economic reforms. (Reuters)
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Re: Syria
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=309007
Arab League chief to visit Syria on Saturday
September 7, 2011
The Arab League said Wednesday that its secretary general, Nabil al-Arabi, will visit Syria on Saturday, three days later than originally planned amid a deadly crackdown on an anti-regime protests in the country.
"It was decided that the Arab League secretary general will visit Syria on Saturday during a telephone conversation between [Arabi], Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem and Syria's envoy at the League," the pan-Arab group's deputy leader, Ahmed Ben Helli, told reporters in Cairo.
Arabi had been scheduled to visit Syria on Wednesday, but the regime in Damascus postponed the trip at the 11th-hour "due to circumstances beyond our control."
He had been commissioned by the 22-member bloc to travel to Damascus with a 13-point document outlining proposals to end the government's bloody crackdown on dissent and push Syria to launch reforms.
Assad’s troops have cracked down on protests against almost five decades of Baath Party rule which broke out mid-March, killing over 2,200 people and triggering a torrent of international condemnation.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
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Re: Syria
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=308975
France sees “crimes against humanity” in Syria
September 7, 2011
France on Wednesday accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime of committing crimes against humanity and expressed hope that Russia would soon join sanctions against its old regional ally.
"The Syrian regime has committed crimes against humanity," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said during talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
"The way it [the Syrian regime] suppressed the popular protests is unacceptable," France's top diplomat said after a round of Moscow meetings that included talks with President Dmitry Medvedev.
Juppe was accompanied by French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet for delicate negotiations that also touched on recent disagreements over Libya and the phased withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan.
But both sides acknowledged that one of their most immediate disagreements concerned finding a peaceful solution to a Syria crisis that comes on the heels of a Libya war that also deeply upset Moscow.
"I hope Russia will back us in the Security Council even if our positions do not yet fully agree," Juppe said in reference to Russia's past decisions to block UN condemnation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.
Juppe said the Syrian authorities should be sent "a powerful signal that such actions cannot continue."
But Lavrov gave no signs of being ready to ease a Russian position that last week saw Moscow lash the European Union for imposing a crippling oil embargo on the Arab state.
Moscow has instead been calling for political dialogue and urging world powers to put more pressure on the opposition to engage in direct talks with Assad's regime.
Members of the Syrian opposition will meet Mikhail Margelov -- the upper house of parliament's foreign affairs committee chief who represents Medvedev in Africa -- on Friday in a bid to convince Russia to be more forceful with Assad.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
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Re: Syria
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...78601H20110907
Syrian forces attack Homs, Arabs send envoy
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
AMMAN | Wed Sep 7, 2011 6:53pm EDT
(Reuters) - Syrian forces backed by tanks killed at least 20 civilians in the city of Homs on Wednesday in one of the fiercest military assaults on urban centres to crush six months of pro-democracy protests, activists and residents said.
Residents said the assault concentrated on old districts that have seen daily street demonstrations demanding the removal of President Bashar al-Assad.
It came as the Arab League said that its secretary general will visit Syria on Saturday and Arab foreign ministers will meet next week to convey concerns over the crackdown.
"Military helicopters are flying overhead and snipers are shooting from rooftops at anything. Tank machinegun fire is coming at us like rain," a resident of the Bab Sbaaa district who did not want to be further identified told Reuters by satellite phone.
Human rights campaigners say Syria's ruling hierarchy has stepped up efforts to crush demonstrations in recent weeks, including more frequent military raids, targeted assassinations of protest leaders and the arrest of thousands of Syrians.
Assad, 45, has repeatedly said he is facing a foreign conspiracy to divide Syria. The authorities blame what they describe as terrorists for the bloodshed, and say 500 police and soldiers have been killed, with the military deployed to protect the public.
The official state news agency said that "armed terrorist groups" killed eight security personnel in Homs on Wednesday and "assaulted civilians and security forces and attacked public and private property."
"Specialized security organs dealt with these terrorist groups and a clash with them occurred which resulted in five security forces wounded and the killing of five armed men wanted for murder and theft and kidnapping, as well as the arrest of several of them," the agency said.
Homs, hometown of Assad's wife Asma, is on the main northern highway 165 km (100 miles) from Damascus. Old districts such as Bab Sbaa, Bab Dreib and Bab Hut have seen the biggest daily protests to demand that Assad step down. Their maze-like streets help protesters escape security forces, activists and residents said.
Residents of the nearby town of Rastan posted a YouTube video apparently showing 12 defecting soldiers in military fatigues appearing from a balcony of a commercial building to ecstatic cheers and applause of protesters.
"We will be one hand to bring down Bashar and every traitor," said one soldier from a microphone in the video.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby had originally been expected to travel to Damascus on Wednesday. Arab diplomats said the visit was delayed at Syria's request.
An Arab diplomatic source said Syrian authorities delayed the visit after Elaraby met Syrian opposition members and because of a leaked Qatari proposal for possible demands that Arab states would make to Assad. The Qatari proposal had not yet been adopted, the source said.
Louay Hussein, a prominent opposition figure, told Reuters that the Arab League initiative had not stopped the attack on Homs from being "more random and severely repressive than what we had seen before," leading to more calls for armed resistance.
He pointed to another YouTube video purportedly filmed in Homs this week, which showed several soldiers in uniform next to light tank shooting a man lying on the street several times over. One soldier congratulates another for continuing to fire at the body, saying: "You are truly a beast."
A local group, the Homs City Neighborhoods Union, said most telephone lines and Internet connections with Homs had been cut.
Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000, has promised change, including a multi-party parliamentary election by February, but independent lawyers said a new political parties law kept an old majority quota system for farmers and workers whose representation is controlled by the state.
Tanks and troops moved into Homs four months ago and occupied the main square in the city to try to end protests demanding the removal of Assad, who is from the minority Alawite sect in the mainly Sunni Muslim country.
Alawites dominate senior ranks of Syria's security forces and core army units that have besieged towns and cities.
Most of the casualties reported in Homs since the army deployed there have been caused by assaults on Sunni areas, but activists have also reported the deaths of several Alawite residents in apparent revenge killings.
Activists and residents have also reported an increasing number of defections among the mostly Sunni rank and file military in Homs and its surrounding countryside.
Syrian authorities, which have barred most independent media from the country since the uprising began in March, say there have been no desertions from the military.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday it was seeking access to thousands of demonstrators believed to be in informal detention centers. A day earlier, the ICRC announced Syria had opened a prison for the first time.
Human rights campaigners say Syrian forces have arrested tens of thousands of people during the uprising, with many being housed in security police buildings off-limits to the ICRC.
The European Union, which imposed a ban on purchases of Syrian oil on September 3, was working on a new round of sanctions, the French foreign ministry said on Tuesday, to target entities that enable the "daily repression" of civilians.
Syria's finance minister said in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday that Syria can sidestep European and U.S. import bans by selling its oil to Russia or China, but economic growth and overall exports have suffered.
(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny in Beirut and William Maclean in London and Erika Solomon in Dubai; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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Re: Syria
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=309451
Arab League chief says Syrian events have “direct impact” on Lebanon
September 8, 2011
Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi said that Damascus holds “a key position” in the Middle East and warned that Syrian events have a “direct impact” on Lebanon and Iraq.
“Syria is not Libya… The country holds a key position in the region, [and] what happens there has a direct impact on Lebanon and Iraq,” Arabi said in an interview with German Der Spiegel newspaper published on Wednesday.
He added that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad promised to introduce changes in his country, but added, “I have not seen any reforms [yet].”
Asked if he supports a regime change in Syria, Arabi said that “it is something for the Syrian people to decide for themselves.”
“No one can dictate to a sovereign nation how it should change.”
Arabi also said that “only the United Nations has the right to make decisions on the use of force” in Syria.
“The Arab League has no mandate to bring about change by force in a member state.”
Assad’s troops have cracked down on protests against almost five decades of Baath Party rule which broke out mid-March, killing over 2,200 people and triggering a torrent of international condemnation.
-NOW Lebanon
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Re: Syria
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=309484
Syrian activists call for UN protection
September 8, 2011
Syrian pro-democracy activists on Thursday called for the United Nations to send international observers to Syria.
"The Syrian people calls on the United Nations to adopt a resolution to set up a permanent observer mission in Syria," activists said on their Facebook page, "Syrian Revolution 2011."
"We demand access to the international media, we demand the protection of civilians," they said, also calling for fresh demonstrations on Friday, the Muslim day of rest and prayers.
The UN Security Council on August 3 condemned Syria's deadly attacks on civilians and called for those responsible to be held "accountable."
The United Nations says 2,200 people have been killed, most of them civilians, since democracy protests flared in Syria in mid-March.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
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Re: Syria
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=309536
Syrian expats demonstrate in Saudi Arabia
September 8, 2011
Dozens of Syrians living in Saudi Arabia demonstrated in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Thursday against the Damascus authorities' crackdown on anti-government protests, witnesses said.
Police deployed around the venue in Al-Nawras Park on the city's Corniche but did not intervene even though demonstrations are outlawed in the conservative Gulf kingdom.
The demonstrators, most of whom had come with their families, held prayers in memory of the more than 2,200 people who have died in the Syrian crackdown, according to UN figures.
"We want to draw attention to the continuing massacres being perpetrated in our country, which make it impossible for our children to go back for the new school year," one activist told AFP, calling for international protection for Syrian civilians.
Syrian expatriates held similar demonstrations last month in both Jeddah and Riyadh. In the capital, the police intervened and made dozens of arrests.
"The 164 Syrians who were arrested in Riyadh as they gathered to show their appreciation for the tough line taken by [Saudi] King Abdullah [bin Abdel Aziz] with the Damascus authorities have all been released," the activist said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
On August 8, the king recalled the Saudi ambassador in Damascus for consultations and called on the Syrian authorities to "halt the death machine... before it's too late."
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
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Re: Syria
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=237312
'Assad declares state of war, opposition calls for protest'
By JPOST.COM STAFF
09/09/2011 13:13
"Al-Quds" reports new Syrian military operation seeks to "eliminate armed rebellion proclaimed by terrorists against civilians and the army."
Syrian President Bashar Assad declared a state of war on Wednesday and issued a general mobilization of troops, Al-Quds newspaper reported Thursday evening.
Operation "Bayrak al-Assad" was implemented secretly, and is a "major military operation" requiring full mobilization of military forces in Syria for concentrated offensives on cities across the country in order to eliminate "terrorists who threaten us," according to the report.
On Friday Syria broadcast terrorists confessing to building bombs in order to attack civilians and Syrian forces in Latakia, Israel Radio reported.
Additionally, Syrian opposition leaders called on protesters to organize large demonstrations this, and every, Friday, according to the report.
Syria's new military operation is an escalation of President Bashar Assad's violent crackdown against what some call "pro-democracy activists" and others call "terrorists," which began in March.
This order implies a significant difference between the peacetime efforts carried out by Syrian military forces since March to round up terrorists trying to undermine the Syrian regime, and the newly declared state of war.
The stated goal of the new offensive, which required the mobilization and full preparedness of the Syrian military, is "the elimination of armed rebellion, proclaimed by terrorist organizations against the civilian population and elements of the army and security forces for several months," according to the Al Quds report.
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Re: Syria
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=310000
US to “accelerate” UN efforts against Syria
September 9, 2011
The United States will next week ramp-up work on a UN Security Council resolution targeting Syria, the State Department said Friday, amid opposition from other member states to approve a forceful resolution.
"We're looking at accelerating that work next week," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said in reference to a draft resolution likely to include sanctions.
"We are consulting in New York, these consultations will continue," she said.
Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of UN Security Council, has opposed attempts by Western governments to push through a Security Council resolution targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and, together with China, boycotted a Council meeting on sanctions against Damascus.
Moscow has, meanwhile, circulated an alternative draft resolution calling on Assad to implement reforms, but not stand down.
Earlier September month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also vowed that "the Libyan scenario won't be repeated," in reference to NATO intervention in the North African country that began as a UN Security Council resolution.
In recent weeks, however, international pressure on the regime has intensified with European Union sanctions targeting Syria's oil and gas exports.
The United Nations says 2,200 people have been killed in Syria, mostly civilians, since democracy protests flared in mid-March.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
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Re: Syria
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=310430
Syrian group says top activist “severely” beaten
September 11, 2011
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that prominent rights campaigner Najati Tayara is in "very bad" condition after he was "severely" beaten at a Homs prison.
The Britain-based observatory said in a statement received by AFP in Nicosia that it "has learned that investigators at the so-called 'Polish' prison in Homs severely beat Tayara on Friday.”
"He is in a very bad health condition. He has been moved to the military intelligence division in Damascus," it added.
Tayara, 66, was arrested in Homs on May 12, a day after he reported that shelling and gunfire had rocked the city, the third largest city in Syria.
"He was referred to court on charges of harming the prestige of the state," the statement said, adding that he was released from Homs central prison on August 31 but later arrested by intelligence officials.
"The Observatory holds the Syrian authorities responsible for any danger that threatens the life of Tayara," the rights advocacy group said.
"It condemns the continued arbitrary arrests of opponents and activists, and calls for their immediate release."
The United Nations says more than 2,200 people - mostly civilians - have been killed in a crackdown on almost daily protests by pro-democracy and anti-regime demonstrators in Syria since mid-March. Rights groups say more than 10,000 people have been jailed.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
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Re: Syria
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...78A1X020110911
U.N. push for Syria rights team blocked: official
By Isabel Coles
ABU DHABI | Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:15am EDT
(Reuters) - Syria has repeatedly blocked United Nations requests to admit human rights monitors, said a U.N. official who stressed that regional bodies such as the Arab League are key to reaching a long-term political solution to the crisis.
U.N. humanitarian affairs chief Valerie Amos said the organization had made clear it was "extremely concerned" about reports of human rights violations, but that the Syrian government had denied entry to rights investigators.
"The requests have repeatedly been made for a human rights mission into Syria. It hasn't yet happened but they have been made repeatedly," Amos told Reuters in an interview.
She added that a U.N. mission entered Syria last month but with only limited access.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe earlier on Sunday called the U.N.'s failure to agree on a resolution against President Bashar al-Assad's administration a 'scandal', but Amos said mediating the situation was not the U.N.'s responsibility alone.
"It's not just about the U.N... I do think that regional organizations like the Arab League are absolutely critical in relation to this, particularly in relation to any longer-term political reform and political developments," Amos said.
The Arab League has told Assad the violence must stop, but has not taken as hard a line as it did on Libya, where it backed a "no-fly zone."
Assad has sent in tanks and security forces to crush months of protests by activists demanding an end to his family's 41-year rule. The United Nations says more than 2,200 civilians have been killed since the clampdown began in March.
In a marked shift in rhetoric, Syrian protesters on Friday took to the streets calling for international protection to stop civilian killings in what has become one of the bloodiest crackdowns on popular uprisings sweeping the Middle East and North Africa.
Arab League head Nabil Elaraby visited Syria on Saturday and agreed with Assad on a series of measures to help end the violence. Elaraby said he would present these measures to Arab foreign ministers for discussion.
Last month, a U.N. humanitarian mission allowed into Syria found there was an urgent need to protect civilians from excessive use of force, though the delegation was not given unfettered access.
"We were able to go in, but they were accompanied at every stage and because of the large crowds they weren't able in every place to speak to the people that they wanted to speak to," Amos said.
(Editing by David Cowell)
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Re: Syria
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=310582
Mansour: Lebanon will not support decisions condemning Syria
September 11, 2011
Minister of Foreign Affairs Adnan Mansour said on Sunday that Lebanon will not support any decision that condemns Syria, in reference to a potential UN Security Council draft resolution against the Damascus regime.
The cabinet’s decision is “clear” and Lebanon will not support any decision that harms Syria’s stability and security, Mansour told New TV.
He also commended Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai’s recent statements on Syria, calling them responsible.
The Patriarch said on Thursday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is “open-minded” and should be given more chances to implement reforms.
“Rai’s statements are those of a responsible man who maturely looks into the future.”
Commenting on criticisms against the Patriarch, Mansour said Lebanon is a democratic country and others’ opinions should be accepted.
Many figures, particularly March 14 Christians, have criticized Rai’s statements that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is “open-minded” and should be given more chances to implement reforms.
Assad’s troops have cracked down on protests against almost five decades of Baath Party rule which broke out mid-March, killing over 2,200 people and triggering a torrent of international condemnation.
-NOW Lebanon
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Re: Syria
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=310599
GCC: Syria must stop 'killing machine'
September 11, 2011
The Gulf Cooperation Council on Sunday urged Syria to immediately stop its "killing machine" against anti-regime protesters, and reiterated its demand for serious reforms.
Ending a meeting in Jeddah, the six GCC foreign ministers issued a statement calling for "an immediate end to the killing machine" in Syria.
The group of oil-rich Arab monarchies also urged "the immediate implementation of serious reforms that meet the aspirations of the Syrian" people.
Last month, GCC states Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain recalled their envoys from Damascus to protest against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on anti-regime protests that erupted in March.
The United Nations says more than 2,200 people have been killed since then.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
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Re: Syria
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=310549
Woman shot dead in Syria, activists say
September 11, 2011
A woman was shot dead in eastern Syria on Sunday and a teenager died of wounds suffered at a funeral in the capital Damascus on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"A 40-year-old woman was killed at noon on Sunday by a stray bullet as security forces were tracking wanted people in the town of Abu Kamal," the Britain-based rights group cited an activist in Deir Az-Zour province as saying.
The Observatory also told AFP in Nicosia that a youth had died of wounds received on Saturday when security forces opened fire on mourners at the funeral of an activist in Darayya, near Damascus.
"A 17-year-old succumbed to his wounds on Sunday after security forces the day before fired on a crowd at the funeral of Ghiyath Matar," it said.
Matar, 26, had been a key player in organizing protests against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and died in detention after being tortured, according to the international watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW).
His body, which was returned to his family on Saturday after his arrest on September 6, bore bruises on the chest and signs of injuries to the face, activists cited by HRW said.
Matar disappeared on the same day as one of his friends, Yahya Sharbaji. The two were detained in a car after a chase by security forces in the Sehnaya district of the capital, according to a relative.
The latest deaths come after security forces killed at least 12 people on Saturday in their ongoing bid to crush anti-regime dissent, activists said, and as the Arab League announced an agreement with Assad on long-promised reforms.
The United Nations says more than 2,200 people - mostly civilians - have been killed in a crackdown on almost daily protests by pro-democracy and anti-regime demonstrators in Syria since mid-March.
Rights groups say more than 10,000 people are behind bars.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
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Re: Syria
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...121165,00.html
UN: Death toll in Syria unrest at least 2,600
Human Rights commissioner says figure based on 'reliable sources on the ground'. Assad aide: 1,400 dead
News agencies
Published: 09.12.11, 12:58 / Israel News
The United Nations' top human rights official says the death toll from six months of unrest in Syria has reached at least 2,600.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says the figure is based on "reliable sources on the ground."
Meanwhile, Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to President Bashar Assad, said that a total of 1,400 people have died in the unrest: 700 opposition activists and 700 police dead.
Pillay spoke Monday at the opening of a three-week meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The council last month held an urgent meeting on Syria at which it voted overwhelmingly to demand that Syria end its bloody crackdown against anti-government protesters.
Also on Monday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that he saw no need for additional pressure on Syria, signalling Russia will not support Western efforts to impose UN sanctions on Assad.
"At the moment there is already a large number of sanctions against Syria, from the European Union and the United States, and so additional pressure now is absolutely not needed in this direction," Medvedev said at a briefing with British Prime Minister David Cameron in the Kremlin.
On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Allain Juppe described as a "scandal" the failure of the United Nations so far to agree a resolution against the violent crackdowns on dissidents in Syria.
"I think it's a scandal not to have a clear position of the UN in such a terrible crisis," Juppe told reporters on Sunday on a visit to Australia. He made the comment when asked about Russian resistance to a draft resolution late last month that called for sanctions against Syrian President Bashar Assad.
"We think that the regime has lost its legitimacy. We think that it's too late to implement a level of reform. We should adopt in New York a very clear resolution condemning the violence," Juppe added.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
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Re: Syria
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=310793
UN inaction over Syria crackdown a “scandal,” France says
September 12, 2011
The United Nations' failure to take a clear position on the bloody repression of demonstrations in Syria is "a scandal", the French Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
Recalling that according to the UN at least 2,600 people have been killed in Syria, ministry spokesperson Bernard Valero also slammed the "revolting murder" of a protest organizer, Ghiyath Matar, while in Syrian detention.
Arrested on September 6, Matar, age 26, died in detention after being tortured, rights group Human Rights Watch said, adding that the body had bruises on his chest and signs of facial injuries.
"How long with the international community remain blind and dumb in the face of this endless sequence of crimes? That's the question we're asking today," Valero said.
"The blocking of a joint position at the United Nations Security Council is a scandal," Valero said.
The United States said on Friday that it would this week ramp up work on a UN Security Council resolution targeting Syria, amid opposition from other member states to approve a forceful resolution.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday told British Prime Minister David Cameron it would be a mistake to put more pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Medvedev said that the difference between Russia's approach to its traditional regional ally to that taken by the West was "not dramatic".
But he stressed that any punitive actions must be applied equally to both sides of the Syria conflict because the opposition was continuing to oppose calls to engage Assad in direct talks.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
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Re: Syria
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=310795
Syria ready to meet inspectors, UN atomic agency says
September 12, 2011
The UN atomic agency said Monday Syria is ready to meet inspectors in Damascus next month to discuss a desert site bombed by Israel in 2007 and thought to have been a secret nuclear facility.
Syria in a letter "stated its readiness to have a meeting with agency safeguards staff in Damascus in October," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Yukiya Amano told a regular meeting of its board in Vienna.
"Syria's letter stated that the purpose of the meeting would be 'to agree on an action plan to resolve the surrounding issues in regards to the Deir az-Zour site,'" Amano said, according to the text of his remarks.
On June 9, the IAEA decided to report Syria's to the UN Security Council after concluding that the site was "very likely" an undeclared reactor. There are also suspicions it was built with help from North Korea.
Amano said that the nuclear watchdog has proposed the meeting takes place on October 10-11.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
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Re: Syria
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=310940
Russian lawmakers to visit Damascus
September 12, 2011
A Russian parliamentary delegation is to visit Syria to review the situation in the country, which has been rocked by protests for six months, a Syrian official said on Monday.
"Both sides agreed to the suggestion that members of the Russian parliament visit different parts of Syria with the aim of obtaining an independent and credible account of the way things stand in Syria," Reem Haddad, head of the foreign press section in Syria's information ministry, told AFP.
She did not specify a date for such a visit, which was decided upon during a meeting between a political and media adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and members of Russia's Federation Council, the country's upper house of parliament.
"The Russian stance is positive," Haddad said. "The meetings were cordial and the Russians are united in saying that the media cannot pass judgment without visiting the country."
Since the start of the protests in Syria earlier this year, the foreign press have largely been barred from visiting or travelling within Syria.
Haddad's remarks came after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday defended the Syrian regime against sanctions for its crackdown on protesters and warned British Prime Minister David Cameron of the dangers of such a move.
Cameron met Medvedev for talks focusing on Syria and bilateral disputes as global frustration mounted with Russia's continued support of its ally despite Assad's months-long repression of nationwide protests.
A visiting aide to Assad said 1,400 people - half of them Syrian security and army forces - had died in violence since the demonstrations erupted in mid-March and rejected an estimate of 2,600 deaths from UN human rights chief Navi Pillay.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
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Re: Syria
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...122226,00.html
Syrian troops attack funeral after US envoy visits
Published: 09.14.11, 13:25 / Israel News
Activists say Syrian security forces attacked a gathering of mourners just hours after US Ambassador Robert Ford expressed his condolences to the family of a rights activist killed last week.
Mustafa Osso of the Local Coordination Committees network says the attack occurred on Tuesday night, after Ford and several other ambassadors had left the gathering in the Damascus suburb of Daraya.
Osso says troops fired tear gas at the tent with mourners and relatives of Ghayath Mattar following his funeral. No one was hurt. (AP)