Will the UN get involved in Syria?

Deaths as Syria troops hit Daraa: rights activist

(AFP) – 23 hours ago

NICOSIA — A number of people were killed and wounded as Syrian troops swept into the flashpoint southern town of Daraa with tanks and snipers on Monday, rights activists reached by telephone said.

They said a 3,000-strong military force swarmed into Daraa early Monday, with tanks taking up positions in the town centre and snipers deploying on rooftops.

The activists said they were not able to count the casualties as the snipers made it impossible to reach them.

"Bodies are lying in the streets and we can't recover them," one activist said.

Syria Escalates Crackdown as Tanks Go to Restive City
By ANTHONY SHADID
Published: April 25, 2011


BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Syrian Army stormed the restive city of Dara’a with tanks and soldiers and helped detain dozens in towns across the country Monday in an escalation of the crackdown on Syria’s five-week-old uprising, according to residents and human rights activists. They said at least 25 people had been killed in Dara’a, with reports of bodies strewn in the streets.

Damn I wish I knew how to post articles on this foram!

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal says the death toll in Misrata is at least 600 – and climbing by the hour.

The Syrian government is continuing a bloody crackdown on protesters on Tuesday, apparently signaling a harrowing new chapter in the turmoil, which has already killed nearly 400 people, Anthony Shadid reports from Beirut.

The violence has drawn growing international concern and condemnation. Western nations are considering sanctions against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, and the Obama administration is urging Americans to leave Syria immediately “while commercial transportation is readily available.”

Gunfire was again reported in the restive southern city of Dara’a on Tuesday morning, where the bodies of the dead still lay unclaimed in the streets, after a brutal government crackdown on Monday on protests against the Assad government, residents said.

A video that is said to have been recorded in Dara’a on Tuesday shows what appears to be a peaceful protest, with a tank and security forces seen in the distance. The protest is disrupted by gunfire, apparently coming from the security forces. No casualties are seen in this video footage, which was posted by horanson1, a Youtube user in the United Arab Emirates:

The former Republican presidential candidate spoke as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had collected the names of at least 453 civilians killed during almost six weeks of pro-democracy protests in Syria and the United Nations' to human rights body agreed to discuss how to end the violence.

The regime's crackdown appears to have only emboldened protesters who started their revolt with calls for modest reforms, but are now increasingly demanding Assad's downfall.

The U.N.'s Human Rights Council said Wednesday that would hold a special session on Syria Friday to try to stop Assad's forces from gunning down his people.

The U.S. requested the meeting, backed by council members Belgium, Britain, France, Hungary, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Korea, Moldova, Senegal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and Zambia. The U.N. appealed Tuesday to Assad to withdraw his forces.

For those who keep asking why there should be an international intervention in Libya but not in Syria, here is one answer: Russia and China have blocked an attempt to have the United Nations Security Council from making any statement at all about the political repression in Syria, which has left an estimated 350-450 persons dead, most of them protesters rather than police or troops.

Moreover, Lebanon also opposed having a statement made, and no Arab country approached the UNSC to do something about Syria.

Russia argued that the situation in Syria is purely domestic and does not threaten international order.

France did lead a charge to get the UNSC to take a strong stand against the use of military means to repress dissent in Syria, but it was blocked. I don’t see how this disparity in the treatment of the two countries can be laid at the feet of “Western hypcrisy.” Surely if anything it is “Eurasian hypocrisy,” insofar as Russia and China declined to stop the condemnation of Libya or the call for a no-fly zone, but they have stopped so much as a slap on the wrist for Syria.

Of course, as bad as the situation in Syria is, it isn’t so far comparable to Libya, where the loss of life is in the thousands, not hundreds, and 30 tanks were lined up to fire on non-combatant crowds demonstrating in downtown Zawiya and Misrata.

The Baath regime’s crackdown in Deraa has in any case provoked the resignations of 200 members of the ruling Baath Party, most of them living in or near Deraa. Resigning from the authoritarian ruling party in protest was unheard of until this week.

This Aljazeera English report says that soldiers, armor and snipers are now everywhere in the southern city of Deraa, which has been invaded. There have also been defections from the officer corps to the dissenters, as in Deraa.

Syrians Take to Streets Despite Recent Crackdown
By ANTHONY SHADID
Published: April 29, 2011

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Thousands of Syrians took to the streets of several towns and cities Friday in what organizers had proclaimed a “Friday of Rage” against the government’s bloody crackdown of a six-week uprising that has begun to reshape politics in one of the Arab world’s most authoritarian countries, activists said.

At least three people were killed, the activists said. The toll pales before the deaths a week earlier, when at least 112 people were killed in the uprising’s bloodiest day, but activists said some phone lines and cellphone networks were cut, making information incomplete.

The turnout Friday was seen as a test of whether the government’s crackdown this week on Dara’a, one of the most restive towns, would dissuade demonstrators from returning to the streets. Though reports were largely anecdotal, activists said they believed that at least some form of protest took place in 34 towns and cities — including Kurdish regions in the east and the capital, Damascus, a symbol of the Assad family’s four decades of rule.

“With our blood, with our souls, we will sacrifice for you, Dara’a,” demonstrators chanted in Homs, the site of some of the biggest protests in the uprising against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

World condemns latest Syrian horror
Updated May 27, 2012 13:23:50/the AGE

Video: UN observers inspect bodies from horrific massacre at Houla, Syria
Related Story: Scores killed in Syria ahead of Annan visit
Related Story: Lebanon on edge as Syrian conflict spills over
Related Story: Regime forces fire on massive Syrian protests
Related Story: Assad says poll proves Syrians back regime
Map: Syrian Arab Republic

Calls are mounting for the international community to take urgent action on Syria after reports of a horrific massacre by regime forces that killed dozens of people, including many children.

Britain said it was in urgent talks with allied countries on "a strong international response" while France said it was making plans to host a Friends of Syria meeting following the latest deadly violence. ....

......UN monitors said the bodies of more than 90 people were found in the town of Houla after activists reported a massacre by president Bashar al-Assad's forces on Friday, one of the bloodiest episodes in the 14 months since his regime launched a brutal crackdown on opponents.

The UN mission chief in Syria, Major General Robert Mood, condemned what he described as a "brutal tragedy" in Houla, where he said 92 bodies, including those of more than 32 children, had been counted.

"Those using violence for their own agendas will create more instability, more unpredictability and may lead the country to civil war," Major General Mood told reporters in Damascus, describing the violence as "indiscriminate and disproportionate."

Amateur videos posted on YouTube, apparently from Houla in Homs province, showed horrifying images of children lying dead on a floor. Some were badly mangled, with their skulls rent by shrapnel.

"We are consulting urgently with our allies on a strong international response, including at the UN Security Council, the EU and UN human rights bodies," British foreign secretary William Hague said in a statement.

He said London would seek an urgent session of the Security Council in coming days in response to "credible and horrific reports that a large number of civilians have been massacred" by Syrian forces in Houla.

"Our urgent priority is to establish a full account of this appalling crime and to move swiftly to ensure that those responsible are identified and held to account," he said.

Mr Hague called for the Syrian regime to cease all military operations in accordance with a peace plan brokered by UN special envoy Kofi Annan, and to allow monitors "full and immediate access" to Houla and other conflict areas.

Video: UN observer mission chief Major General Robert Mood condemns the violence in Houla (ABC News)

'Beyond humanity'

The rebel Free Syrian Army said after the killings that it was no longer committed to the UN-backed peace plan for Syria unless there was prompt UN intervention to protect civilians.

A member of the opposition Syrian National Council, Ausama Monajed, condemned the surge in violence:

"It is beyond humanity what we've seen last night, what Assad militiamen are capable of doing and are willing to do to retain their grip on power," he said.

"It is utterly unacceptable that this is happening on the UN monitoring mission watch."

The plan drawn up by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan technically began on April 12, but violence and bloodshed have not stopped and a ceasefire that formed part of the plan has been breached daily.

France's new foreign minister Laurent Fabius said he was making immediate arrangements for the Friends of Syria nations - which include Britain but not key UN players China and Russia - to meet in Paris.

"I condemn the atrocities committed daily by Bashar al-Assad on his own people," Mr Fabius said. "With these new crimes his murderous regime plunges Syria further into horror and threatens regional stability."

Mr Fabius said he would speak to Mr Annan on Sunday, adding: "In the face of horror, the international community must mobilise still further to stop the martyrdom of the Syrian people."

German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle said he was "shocked and horrified" at the killings.

"It is appalling that the Syrian regime does not put an end to the brutal violence against its own people," Mr Westerwelle said in a statement.

"Those responsible for this crime must be punished."

ABC/AFP


Photo: Children protest against Syria's president at Talbiseh, near Homs. (Reuters: Shaam News Network/handout)