Three killed as thousands of Syrians march against Assad

By Khaled Oweis

AMMAN | Sat Aug 27, 2011 10:28am EDT

AMMAN (Reuters) -

Syrian forces killed at least three protesters on Saturday as tens of thousands of people marched again to demand the removal of President Bashar al-Assad on a major religious occasion, activists and residents said.

Syria's ally Iran said Assad needed to respond to the "legitimate demands of the people" after five months of protests and Arab League foreign ministers were expected to call on him to stop military operations against protests, a delegate said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), citing witnesses, said more demonstrations had broken out in Damascus overnight and on Saturday morning than at any time since the pro-democracy uprising erupted in March.

Two of the three were killed as Assad's forces fired live ammunition to disperse demonstrators streaming from mosques in the city of Qusair and Latakia port after al-Qadr prayers, the night Muslims believe the Prophet received the Koran.

At the al-Rifai mosque in the upscale Damascus district of Kfar Sousa, where the main secret police headquarters are located, witnesses said hundreds of security police and militiamen loyal to Assad attacked worshippers who tried to demonstrate as al-Qadr prayers finished around dawn.

"Some of the 'amn' (security) went on the roof and began firing from their AK-47s to scare the crowd. Around 10 people were wounded, with two hit by bullets in the neck and chest," a cleric who lives in the area told Reuters by phone.

SOHR, headed by dissident Rami Abdelrahman, said Syrian forces fired at a funeral turned protest on Saturday in the town of Kfar Roumeh in the northwestern Idlib province bordering Turkey, wounding at least ten.

The organization said another man was killed in raids and house-to-house arrests in the nearby town of Kfar Nubul.

"Besides the killings, another tragedy in Syria is the tens of thousands of people arrested since the beginning of uprising, many of whose whereabouts are unknown," Abdelrahman told Reuters.

IRAN SAYS ASSAD MUST ACT

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Assad and other leaders needed to respond to their people.

"We believe developments in the region's countries stem from dissatisfaction and discontent of the peoples in those countries," ISNA news agency quoted him as saying.

"The governments must be responsive to the legitimate demands of the people in these countries, be it Syria, Yemen or other countries," he said.

A delegate to the Arab League in Cairo said Arab foreign ministers would step up pressure on Assad later on Saturday with a demand he end the crackdown on demonstrators.

"There has been an agreement in talks held between the Arab states on...pressuring the Syrian regime to completely stop the military operations and withdraw its forces," the delegate said, adding ministers would discuss sending a mission to Damascus.

The United Nations says 2,200 people have been killed since Assad sent in tanks and troops to crush months of street demonstrations calling for an end to his family's 41-year rule.

Syrian authorities have blamed armed "terrorist groups" for the bloodshed and say 500 police and army have been killed. They have expelled most independent journalists, making it difficult to verify events on the ground.

The United States and EU have urged Assad to step down but their push at the U.N. to impose Security Council sanctions on Syria over its crackdown has met resistance from Russia and China, diplomats said.

Russia has a naval base in Syria and is one of its main arms suppliers. One proposed sanction is an arms embargo while other sanctions would freeze the assets of Assad and his associates.

Assad himself would be excluded from a proposed travel ban on his relatives and associates to allow him an escape route.

The proposed U.N. measures are not as severe as U.S. sanctions in place and a proposed expansion of EU steps against Damascus that would forbid the import of Syrian oil.

The Syrian National Human Rights Organization (SNHRO), headed by opposition figure Ammar Qurabi, said nearly 100 civilians were killed by security forces in the week to Friday "in another bloody week."

The uprising has shattered Syria's economy, hitting investment and the tourism industry, forcing businesses to lay off workers.

Any power shakeup in Syria would have major regional repercussions. Assad, from Syria's minority Alawite sect, still has alliances with the country's influential Sunni business class and a loyalist core in the army and security service.

WIDESPREAD PROTEST

Since Ramadan began on August 1, tanks have entered the cities of Hama, scene of a 1982 massacre by the military, Deir al-Zor and Latakia on the Mediterranean coast.

During a protest overnight in the Damascus suburb of Hajar al-Aswad, home to refugees from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, demonstrators chanted: "The people want the execution of the president."

Similar demonstrations were reported in other Damascus suburbs such as Douma and Qadam. Protests were also seen in Homs, hometown of Assad's wife Asma, the ancient desert city of Palmyra, Hama, and the eastern province of Hasakeh.

A YouTube video showed marchers shouting "Death but not humiliation" in the provincial capital of Idlib. They carried the old Syrian green and white flag of the republic before the Baath Party took power in a 1963 coup, ushering in almost five decades of minority Alawite rule.

On Friday, residents of Deir al-Zor said security forces opened fire to disperse scores of protesters, killing two of them on the spot. Another youth was taken to hospital with serious gunshot wounds and died later, a witness said.

Nine other protesters were killed across the country on Friday, the SNHRO said, including in the southern town of Nawa. State television said two gunmen were killed in Deir al-Zor.

(Additional reporting by Patrick Worsnip at the United Nations and Hashem Kalantari in Tehran; Editing by Dominic Evans and Rosalind Russell)

3 Killed After Syrian Forces Fire on Protesters

Ben Gilbert | Beirut

Voice of America, August 27, 2011

At least three people are dead as tens of thousands of anti-government protesters filled the streets of several cities on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.
Anti government protesters continue to take to the streets in Syria.

The Syrian government’s security forces continue to arrest and use force in an attempt to stop them.

Calls for the death of President Bashar Assad this Friday replaced calls for his removal from power.

The United Nations estimates that government security forces have killed at least 1,200 mostly unarmed civilians since the uprising began in March. The Assad government says it’s fighting armed gangs and Islamic extremists who are bankrolled by western governments.

Mr. Assad told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that military operations ended on August 17 - a claim challenged by many, including the organization, Human Rights Watch.

"The Syrian authorities somehow still believe that killing your own people, sending tanks into Syrian cities can end the situation. They are committing massive human rights violations," said Nadim Houry, the director of the organization’s Beirut office.

The United Nations security council met again this week to discuss a possible resolution against Syria, but veto wielding member states China and Russia did not attend the session.

The United States has pushed for a tougher stance from the security council, but long time Syrian ally, Russia, Syria's largest arms supplier, has not indicated whether it will support that.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on Syria’s oil, banking and telecommunications sectors.

Activists Report Clashes in Syria

VOA News

August 27, 2011

Syrian activists say government forces targeted people protesting against Bashar al-Assad's government Saturday, a day after demonstrations ended in deadly violence. Activists said security forces targeted protesters Saturday in the capital, Damascus, and the coastal city of Latakia.

They also reported sporadic shooting. It is not clear if there were any casualties. On Friday, rights groups and activists said security forces shot at protesters in areas that included the Damascus suburb of Douma, Dara'a province in the south and the eastern town of Deir Ezzor.

They said at least three people were killed. However, Syria countered by saying "hooded gunmen" opened fire on law enforcement officers in Deir Ezzor, wounding three officers.

The SANA news agency said law enforcement officers responded by shooting and killing two of the gunmen. The news agency also said "gunmen" attacked a security building in Douma, wounding two guards.

The United Nations says more than 2,000 people have died in Syria during the government crackdown. President Assad has blamed much of the violence on what he calls armed "gangs" and "terrorists."

Meanwhile, Russia introduced a U.N. resolution on Syria, calling for the Assad government to halt its crackdown on anti-government protesters, but does not mention the sanctions sought by the U.S. and European nations.

The United States, Britain, France, Germany and Portugal days earlier circulated a stronger resolution that calls for sanctions against Assad, influential members of his family and close associates.

The resolution introduced by Russia on Friday called for an immediate end to all violence, but failed to condemn the perpetrators or punish them.

Separately Friday, a U.N. humanitarian team said there is an "urgent need" to protect Syrian civilians from the use of excessive force. However, the team said there is no countrywide humanitarian crisis in Syria. The group released the findings after wrapping up a five-day visit to the country.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

Syrian civilians need 'urgent protection', says UN report

August 27, 2011

By News Wires (text)

REUTERS -

The first United Nations mission to be allowed into Syria since the regime began its bloody crackdown on a popular uprising reported “an urgent need to protect civilians from the excessive use of force”, the UN has said.

The first U.N. mission to be allowed into Syria since the government's brutal crackdown began in March found that civilians urgently need more protection and feel "under constant threat," the United Nations said on Friday.

After months of refusals, Damascus agreed last week to let the U.N. team into the country and promised that it would have full and unfettered access to all sites, a pledge that U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq suggested was only partly kept.

"A U.N. team has completed a humanitarian mission to Syria, which took place on Aug. 20 to Aug. 25," Haq told reporters.

"The mission concluded that although there's no countrywide humanitarian crisis, there is an urgent need to protect civilians from the excessive use of force," he said.

Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad killed three protesters after Friday prayers in eastern and southern towns, activists said, as demonstrations flared, buoyed by the demise of Muammar Gaddafi's power in Libya.

Assad has sent in tanks and security forces to crush months of demonstrations by activists calling for an end to his family's 41-year rule, witnesses have reported. The United Nations says more than 2,200 civilians have been killed since the clampdown began in March.

Haq said the mission was not able to make an entirely independent assessment of the situation in Syria.

"The constant presence of government officials limited the mission's ability to fully and independently assess the situation," he said.

"However, the people it was able to talk to in areas of previous or ongoing unrest said they felt extremely intimidated and under constant threat," he said.

He also reiterated calls for security forces to "refrain from the excessive use of force against civilians."

Separately, U.N. Security Council diplomats said that Russia and China were resisting a U.S. and European push to impose sanctions on Assad, members of his family and close associates because of the crackdown.

Assad told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier this month that military and police operations had ended. Ban later said it was troubling that Assad had not kept his promise.

SYRIA EU to broaden sanctions against Syria

SYRIA Security forces open fire on protesters near Damascus

SYRIA UN rights body launches inquiry into Syrian violence

Date created : 27/08/2011