Syrian Protests Continue Despite Crackdown, More Deaths, and Promises of Elections, August 7, 2011

Syrian Protests Continue Despite Crackdown, More Deaths, and Promises of Elections

August 7, 2011

Syrian tanks storm eastern city, defying U.N. appeal

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Suleiman al-Khalidi

AMMAN | Sun Aug 7, 2011, 6:30am EDT

AMMAN (Reuters) -

Syrian troops killed 20 people in a tank assault on the eastern city of Dair El-Zoar on Sunday, an activist group said, despite a direct U.N. appeal to President Bashar al-Assad to stop using military force against civilians.

The assault on Dair El-Zoar, capital of a restive oil-producing province, began exactly a week after Assad sent the army to seize control of the city of Hama, a focal point of nearly five months of protest against his autocratic rule.

The Syrian Revolution Coordinating Union said most casualties in Sunday's attack on Dair El-Zoar were in al-Joura district in the west of the city.

A resident told Reuters: "Early this morning columns of army tanks and bulldozers, under cover of heavy rounds of gunfire, stormed into the western and northern entrances of the city and dismantled barricades set up by residents.

"A dozen tanks are taking position in the main square in Jubaila market in the northern sector of Deir al-Zor," the resident, who gave his name as Abu Bakr, said by telephone.

Syria has barred most independent media since the start of the uprising against Assad, making it hard to verify accounts from residents, activists and authorities.

The military assault on Dair El-Zoar, about 400 km (250 miles) north-east of Damascus, was launched a day after U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told Assad he was alarmed by the escalating violence and demanded he rein in the army.

"In a phone conversation with President Assad...the Secretary General expressed his strong concern and that of the international community at the mounting violence and death toll in Syria over the past days," the U.N. press office said.

Ban "urged the president to stop the use of military force against civilians immediately," it added.

Residents of Dair El-Zoar, situated on the Euphrates river in a province bordering Iraq's Sunni heartland, had been bracing for an assault on their city.

A video posted on the Internet last week showed a tribal meeting discussing preparations for armed resistance to any military move against them.

Several hours after the tanks moved in, explosions could be heard during telephone calls to residents in al-Joura.

Abu Bakr, from the Jubaila area which has seen some of the largest anti-Assad demonstrations in recent weeks, said mosque loudspeakers were blaring "Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)."

TURKISH MESSAGE

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who built close ties with Assad before the uprising, said on Saturday his foreign minister would visit Damascus on Tuesday to deliver a message to Syria. Turkey has grown increasingly critical of Assad and a senior minister last week called the attack on Hama an atrocity.

Tanks and armored vehicles deployed throughout Hama on Saturday, a resident said, after a week-long assault which one activist group said had killed 300 civilians.

Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad, crushed an armed Islamist uprising in Hama nearly 30 years ago, killing many thousands of people and razing parts of the city's old quarter.

Syrian authorities blame the violence on gunmen and religious extremists they say have killed 500 police and soldiers since March. They say the army swept into Hama to confront "armed terrorist groups" attacking civilians and sabotaging property, and that 20 soldiers have been killed.

Hama stands as a symbol of defiance to the Assad family due to the 1982 uprising and because, until Bashar al-Assad sent in the tanks to crush the latest protests, it was the scene of some of the biggest demonstrations against his rule, with more than 100,000 gathering on Fridays to chant for his overthrow.

In their first public comments about the bloodshed, Gulf Arab States expressed the "greatest concern and regret" on Saturday over the "increasing violence and excessive use of force" in Syria, but did not directly criticize Assad.

Seeking to contain their own domestic dissent, and wary of any turmoil on their northern flank, the wealthy oil exporting Gulf states had previously kept silent on Syria.

A statement by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council called for "an immediate end to violent actions and any armed activity, an end to the spilling of blood, recourse to wisdom, and carrying out serious, necessary reforms."

Rights groups say Syrian security forces have killed at least 1,600 civilians since the start of the protests, inspired by Arab uprisings which overthrew leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

(Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Syrian soldiers kill 4 in tank assaults

Ma'an, August 7, 2011, 13:14

DAMASCUS (AFP) --

Syrian security forces backed by tanks killed at least four civilians as they moved to crush democracy protests in a central town and the flashpoint eastern city of Dair El-Zoar on Sunday, an activist said.

The crackdown came only hours after the government vowed to hold "free" elections by the year's end, and following a personal appeal by UN chief Ban Ki-moon to President Bashar Al-Assad to halt the bloodshed.

"About 25 tanks and troop carriers entered Hula and carried out military operations that killed four," Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights, told AFP in Nicosia by telephone.

The death toll from the assault on Hula, a town in the central province of Homs, was likely to rise as many people were seriously wounded in the assault, said Abdul Rahman.

Another two people died in the northwestern city of Idlib from gunshot wounds they suffered when security forces fired on protesters during massive protests late on Saturday, he said.

Hundreds of tanks and armored cars have been deployed in Dair El-Zoar, he said, adding that many residents had fled in fear of the assault on the city, the largest in eastern Syria with more than half a million people.

"Shelling has been heard in several areas" of Dair El-Zoar, said Abdul Rahman, adding later that a sweeping campaign of arrests followed with "dozens" of people being taken into custody.

The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, which has been organizing democracy protests on the ground, said the army had entered nine areas of Dair El-Zoar, which was rocked by "very strong explosions."

Syria's government has sought to crush the democracy movement with brutal force, leaving at least 2,038 people dead, including 389 members of the security forces, according to the Britain-based Observatory.

On Saturday, security forces in Damascus arrested prominent opposition figure and former political prisoner Walid Al-Bunni and his two sons, said Abdel Rahman.

The assaults on Hula and Dair El-Zoar came after Ban finally managed to reach Assad who had been refusing to take his phone calls, urging the Syrian president to immediately end the military campaign.

"In a phone conversation with President Assad of Syria today, the secretary general expressed his strong concern and that of the international community at the mounting violence and death toll in Syria over the past days," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said late Saturday.

Ban "reflected to the Syrian president the clear message sent by the Security Council and urged the president to stop the use of military force against civilians immediately," Nesirky said.

Ban's call followed a pledge by the US, French and German leaders to consider new steps to punish Syria after security forces killed more than 30 people on the first Friday of Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of fasting.

Foreign Minister Walid Al-Mu'allim said on Saturday that elections to a new parliament would be held by the end of 2011, as he met with foreign ambassadors posted to Damascus.

"Syria will hold free and transparent elections that will give birth to a parliament representing the aspirations of the Syrian people," Mu'allim said.

The foreign minister stressed "the commitment of the Syrian leadership to the continued reform process and implementation of measures announced by President Assad."

The embattled president issued a decree on Thursday allowing opposition political parties.

In April, he ordered an end to five decades of draconian emergency rule and abolished the feared state security courts, while in June he said talks could lead to a new constitution and end his Baath party's monopoly on power.

But the concessions have been largely dismissed by the opposition as too late and a ploy to appease protesters.

The Syrian protesters have been calling for greater freedoms since mid-March, inspired by Arab uprisings that ousted the autocratic leaders of Tunisia and Egypt at the start of the year.

Assad's regime has become increasingly isolated, with allies like Turkey and Russia calling for an end to the bloody crackdown.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev spoke forcefully about the situation this week, calling on Assad to "carry out urgent reforms," warning otherwise "a sad fate awaits him and in the end we will have to take some decisions."

And Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is to visit Syria on Tuesday with the message that Ankara "has run out of patience" with the ongoing violence, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Syria vows 'free elections' as pressure grows

Ma'an, 06/08/2011 22:37

Syria vowed on Saturday to hold "free and transparent" elections by the end of 2011 as Arab states in the Gulf joined a chorus of Western pressure over its deadly suppression of anti-regime protests.

An activist, meanwhile, said hundreds of tanks and armored cars had been deployed in the northeastern city of Deir Ezzor and around Homs in central Syria.

"Syria will hold free and transparent elections that will give birth to a parliament representing the aspirations of the Syrian people," Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said in a meeting with ambassadors posted to Damascus.

"The general elections will be held before the end of the year," Muallem said, quoted by the official SANA news agency.

The foreign minister stressed "the commitment of the Syrian leadership to the continued reform process and implementation of measures announced by President (Bashar Al-) Assad."

The embattled president issued a decree on Thursday allowing opposition political parties, but the move was largely dismissed by the opposition as a ploy to appease protesters.

The oil-rich Arab monarchies of the Gulf on Saturday turned up the heat on Damascus, with the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council calling in a statement for an "immediate end to violence... and bloodshed."

They urged a "resort to wisdom and introducing serious and necessary reforms."

Their call followed a pledge by the US, French and German leaders to consider new steps to punish Syria after a deadly crackdown on the first Friday of Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of fasting.

President Barack Obama spoke separately to France's Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel as Western nations cranked up pressure on Assad.

They "condemned the Assad regime's continued use of indiscriminate violence," the White House said. They "also agreed to consider additional steps to pressure the Assad regime and support the Syrian people."

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, in an interview to be published on Sunday, said Assad no longer has a future in Syrian politics.

"I don't believe that Assad has a political future ahead of him which is supported by the Syrian people," Westerwelle told the newspaper Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

The Syrian government has sought to crush the democracy movement with brutal force, killing around 1,650 civilians and arresting thousands of dissenters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory, told AFP by telephone that around 250 tanks and armored cars were deployed in four districts of Deir Ezzor on Saturday.

The tanks were also posted around the airport in Deir Ezzor, many of whose residents started to flee the city from Wednesday, fearing imminent military action.

In Homs, "many armored cars and other army vehicles have been posted in the Bab al-Sibaa district," Abdel Rahman said, adding that activists in the city reported gunfire from early morning.

In the latest bloodshed, Abdel Karim Rihawi, who heads the Syrian League for the Defense of Human Rights, said 22 people were killed on Friday, including seven after the special evening prayers for Ramadan.

Seven of the fatalities were in Irbin, three in Damir and one in Maadamiya, all near Damascus, he said by telephone. Three others were killed in Homs and one other in Nawa, southern Syria.

SANA, meanwhile, said two members of the security forces were killed and eight wounded on Friday in an ambush on a road in the northwestern Idlib region, near the Turkish border.

On Friday, communications were completely cut off as the army stepped up an operation to crush dissent in Hama, the central city where security forces killed at least 30 civilians and wounded dozens more earlier in the week.

More than 1,000 families have fled the city, according to Abdel Rahman.

"Thousands of demonstrators marched in Deir Ezzor, Daraa and Qamishli in support of the city of Hama despite the extreme heat" on Friday, said Rihawi, adding they numbered 30,000 in Deir Ezzor alone.

The call for Friday's protests came from activists on Facebook group The Syrian Revolution 2011, a driving force behind the demonstrations that have been calling for greater freedoms since mid-March.

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