Onrust in Syri� #3 - Nog steeds demonstraties

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Syria death toll rises as threats of force become more explicity

At least three killed and many more wounded in shootings in port city of Banias amid reports army was moving in

Human rights groups have warned over the rising death toll in Syria as security forces moved to quell a growing and sustained series of protests in cities across the country.

At least three people were shot dead and scores more wounded in shootings in the port city of Banias on Sunday amid reports that the army, already deployed in Deraa and Latakia, was being deployed.

Human rights groups named Ayman Soliman, Nizar Higazy and Muhammad al-Dayegh as those killed after Sunday prayers, while a further person was in a critical condition after being shot during earlier unrest the same day.

The fresh violence came as Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, said in a statement that the country was "on course to comprehensive reform".

But protesters rejected the claims, pointing to an apparent warning by the government of further violence issued amid Friday's protests, the largest and most deadly yet.

A statement carried by the state news agency Sana said: "There is no more room for leniency or tolerance" in "preserving security of the country and protecting the general order".

This would be done "according to the law which specified the conditions for using weapons". Up until now the government has not admitted to using force, blaming the crackdown on outsiders.

As night fell on Sunday, Banias, which has a major oil refinery, was cordoned off; mourners took to the streets in Douma; and a sit-in was going on in Deraa.

The National Organisation for Human Rights said 37 people were killed across Syria on Friday, including 27 in Deraa, three in Homs, three in Harasta and one in Douma, bringing the total death toll to more than 200 since 18 March.

On Saturday there were reports of violent clashes between mourners and security forces. One witness in Deraa told the Guardian that security forces had been "shooting randomly" as mass funerals went on. It was not clear whether anyone died in those clashes, but activists say they are increasingly concerned that there will be a major crackdown this week.

There are also concerns over access to medical care being blocked amid interruptions to communications in parts of Banias, Latakia and Deraa.

"Pharmacists in Banias are being told by security to shut early and to report those who purchase goods to treat the injured," said Wissam Tarif, a local human rights monitor. "We are also worried about the government's intentions in Deraa."

A nationwide violent crackdown by security forces has been complicated in Banias and Latakia by reports of involvement by the shabiha, a violent group with links to the ruling Assad family. But the government has denied the group's involvement, blaming unrest on "spiteful individuals, outsiders and those who were compelled by known foreign parties".

On Saturday Barack Obama condemned Friday's crackdown as "abhorrent". But activists and protesters have grown increasingly frustrated by a muted international response which has seen regional countries rally to Assad's side.

A cycle of violence may now have taken hold which would escalate if the government refuses to meet protesters' demands, said Ayman Abdel Nour, a Syrian dissident living in Dubai. But he added: "We are still not seeing enough people from all governorates and segments of society coming out to allow them to tip the balance."

Assad has attempted to keep protest numbers down by issuing concessions to appease specific groups such as Kurds and conservative Muslims. But he has failed to put an end to emergency law or release political prisoners – two of the protesters' demands. Many people in Damascus, which has been calm, have expressed anxiety and even anger at the continued unrest as a threat to stability.

But there are small signs of growing unhappiness among formerly loyalists. An editor at the state-run newspaper Tishreen, Samira Masalma, was sacked after she criticised the shootings on al-Jazeera television.

There have also been reports of some army and security forces refusing to shoot at protesters.

The Guardian could not independently verify these reports.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk(...)oldiers-shot-protest

Witnesses claim soldiers who disobeyed orders in Banias were shot by security services as crackdown on protests intensifies

Syrian soldiers have been shot by security forces after refusing to fire on protesters, witnesses said, as a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations intensified.

Witnesses told al-Jazeera and the BBC that some soldiers had refused to shoot after the army moved into Banias in the wake of intense protests on Friday.

Human rights monitors named Mourad Hejjo, a conscript from Madaya village, as one of those shot by security snipers. "His family and town are saying he refused to shoot at his people," said Wassim Tarif, a local human rights monitor.

Footage on YouTube shows an injured soldier saying he was shot in the back by security forces, while another video shows the funeral of Muhammad Awad Qunbar, who sources said was killed for refusing to fire on protesters. Signs of defections will be worrying to Syria's regime. State media reported a different version of events, claiming nine soldiers had been killed in an ambush by an armed group in Banias.

Activists said not all soldiers reported dead or injured were shot after refusing to fire. "We are investigating reports that some people have personal weapons and used them in self-defence," said Tarif.

The reports came as a leading Syrian opposition figure said pro-government gunmen had attacked two villages close to Banias, 25 miles south of Latakia, which has become the latest focus of violence since protests on Friday. Haitham al-Maleh told AP attackers were using automatic rifles in Bayda and Beit Jnad.

Human rights organisations said at least five protesters in Banias had been killed since Sunday including one on Tuesday. In Bayda witnesses reported that security thugs had beaten up men in the central square, and rights groups said hundreds of people had been arrested, including students who took part in an unprecedented rally at Damascus University on Monday.

Violence in the port cities of Banias and Latakia has become increasingly messy as locals report the involvement of pro-government thugs and private militias. One witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said "shabiha" (pro-government thugs) had attacked in cars decorated with photos of the president, Bashar al-Assad, on Sunday. Residents of Banias said there was a shortage of bread, and electricity and communications were intermittent.

Syria's leading pro-democracy group, the Damascus Declaration, urged the Arab League to impose sanctions on the regime and said the death toll from more than three weeks of unrest had topped 200.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest against Assad's authoritarian rule. Assad blames the violence on armed gangs and has vowed to crush unrest. He has made a series of overtures to appease anger, including sacking officials and granting Syrian nationality to thousands of Kurds, a long-ostracised minority. But the gestures have failed to satisfy protesters, who demand political freedoms and an end to the decades-old emergency laws that allow the regime to arrest people without charge.

On Tuesday Human Rights Watch condemned security forces for barring access to medical care. UK citizens were warned against "all but essential" travel to Syria and all travel to Banias, where residents are now holding a three-day strike.

فيديو0064.3gp

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Op vrijdag 15 april 2011 19:45 schreef Drifter__ het volgende:
Ik maak mij zorgen om CLF. Is ie nog online gekomen sinds zijn bezoek aan Syri�?

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Syria's silent majority will determine next step as protests grow

Syria's protest movement is far from uniform, and divisions are becoming apparent as it gathers momentum

It was an episode that at any other time in Syria's history might have gone unnoticed. A month ago, a group of Syrian children, aged between 10 and 13, daubed anti-regime graffiti on a wall in a dusty town near the Jordan border. The security forces made some arrests. Relatives of the children protested. They were insulted and beaten.

Syrians have become used to this kind of brutality during the 11-year rule of Bashar al-Assad. But amid the revolt sweeping the Arab world, the incident quickly turned explosive. "It was unintentional," said Omar, 29, who identified himself as a family friend of the children in the original protest. "They saw on television Egypt and Tunisia and copied it."

In the month since then, protests have swirled around Syria, raising questions about the durability of the Assad regime. A rally in Deraa ended with six people being killed by security forces. The movement spread to other areas – Homs, the Damascus suburb Douma, Aleppo and Latakia in the north, Banias on the coast. Every time the security services tried to quash the protests, it merely provoked more unrest. The number of protests has increased ever since, as has the death toll, which is now estimated at more than 200.

Assad has tried waving threadbare olive branches: on Thursday he offered a prisoner release and appointed a new cabinet. But on Friday security forces used teargas to prevent thousands of protesters from marching towards Damascus's main Abbasside Square, while thousands once again took to the streets in a number of towns and cities from Deraa to Banias.

"We have always felt repression and lack of dignity but felt scared to do anything. Deraa changed that," said Mohammed, a 22-year-old student from the Damascus suburb of Madamiya where early on protests spilled out of mosques in solidarity with the "martyrs" of Deraa.

So who are the forces ranged against the Syrian president and can they follow the example of Tunisia and Egypt in ridding the region of another despot?

As in Egypt and Tunisia, latent anger has been simmering for years in Syria over a lack of jobs, corruption and nepotism and political repression at the hands of unaccountable security services.

Over the past three years prices have shot up, adding to economic woes, while a burgeoning youth population connected to the world through television and the internet has seen life outside. "The killing of people caused something to snap," said Mohammed. "As soon as I chanted for freedom and Deraa I felt like a human being for the first time in my life."

People like Mohammed form the majority of the protest movement – apolitical, informed, frustrated, mostly between 20 and 40 and largely male. There is much to complain about: a poor education system that fails to equip them for the job market, the nepotism and cronyism that disqualifies them from many opportunities, an inability to marry because they cannot afford a house.

Women have been less visible, though this week they turned out in their hundreds to call for the release of men rounded up in Beida. "We no longer trust the president," said one of the women, who did not want to be named. "We lack freedoms and corruption is everywhere, and the youths have demonstrated to address these issues peacefully. They [the security forces] faced them with fire."

She pointed out that her brother was summoned by the Syrian intelligence 30 years ago and has never returned home. "We do not know if he's dead or alive," she said.

This cohort has been bolstered by a small but budding group of lawyers, artists and aid workers engaged in social activism; teaching Iraqi refugees or taking food to victims of Syria's drought. "I have long been trying to organise protests," said one activist and former NGO worker in Damascus, who is subject to a travel ban, one of the Assad regime's tools of repression. "But until now people have been too scared – Egypt, Tunisia and Libya gave us inspiration whilst the killings caused anger to outweigh fear."

Activists like him have helped to organise further protests through a series of secret chatrooms online, and others such as Razan Zeitouneh and Wissam Tarif, two outspoken human rights activists who unusually go by their real names, seek to document the violence and garner media attention. In the last fortnight, members of the Damascus Declaration, a grouping of liberal and Islamist activists, have thrown their weight behind the protesters.

The movement is far from uniform, and divisions are becoming apparent as it grows. Calls for toppling Assad and defacing billboards of him are on the rise, but some protesters have specific demands. In Douma, some have called for the release of political prisoners and an end to shootings, while Mohammed says he wants "freedom" but is not yet sure what that means – "If good reforms are made, that may be enough."

And it would be wrong to say the movement is rampant or widespread. It may count many tens of thousands of supporters. But Syria is a country of more than 20 million people. And there may be as many Assad loyalists as there are protesters, people who through genuine admiration or fear of the alternative support the president.

Despite protesters from the Sunni majority being joined by some Kurds, Christians and reportedly Alawites from Assad's minority sect, they and many other Sunnis fear the rise of conservative Islam if Syria's secular state were to fall. Others look to Iraq and Lebanon as a forewarning. "We may not agree with everything, but the president has kept it safe for us," said one Christian in Damascus's Old City. A young female Muslim added: "He is young and understands us and is struggling against a regime he unintentionally inherited from his father."

Amid a standoff between protesters and the government, what comes next will depend on the large silent majority, including Sunni businessmen and religious figures. Almost all have the same aspirations to a life with dignity and without repression and for a chance to have more control over their lives and their country.

"I changed my mind after the speech he [Assad] gave," said Abdullah, a 30-year-old office worker who described himself as previously neutral. "I am thinking of joining the protest because I don't think he will – or even can – make changes." Kurds turned out to rally last week despite Assad's move to grant citizenship to tens of thousands of stateless Kurds.

But others say protesting is not the way. "Protests have not been about people changing their opinions but breaking the shackles stopping them from expressing them," said Ahmed, a 20-year-old from the impoverished eastern region. "I feel the same but I want to study and change things peacefully."

Assad can fall back on a regime apparatus that, despite occasional reports of reluctance by army conscripts to open fire on protesters, is loyal. The family has populated the upper echelons of the military and intelligence with Alawites who fear persecution if a Sunni majority takes hold.

There are also Sunni loyalists in the regime who through a system of carefully doled out benefits are discouraged from leaving Assad's side. Each time they take to the streets, Syria's protesters know they have a hard battle ahead with an unpredictable end.

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Syria: 'Don't kill more than 20 protesters in one day'

March 23 Syrian intelligence document details strategy to counter rebel sentiment, create links between rebels, "Zionist regime."

A document allegedly drafted by top Syrian intelligence officers, which details strict guidelines for carrying out rebel assassinations, infiltrating anti-regime organizations and distributing propaganda sound bites and images, has been published on Facebook.

Among the instructions handed down to security forces was an order to limit the number of protesters killed in one day to 20 people. The limited killing, the document says, was necessary in order to control international anger about the Assad regime's use of force against civilians, Israel Radio reported.

The document calls for anti-rebel forces to create links between government protesters and the US and Israel. In a translated version published in an msnbc.com report on Wednesday, a media campaign connecting "the anti-regime demonstrations and protests to figures hated by the Syrian populace such as the usual Saudi and Lebanese figures, and connecting the lot of them to Zionism and to America" is laid out.

Syrian President Bashar Assad is referred to as "our highest symbol" in the text.

The document is divided into two sections: A "detailed plan" and a breakdown of a potential revolutions "political economic factor."

The "detailed plan" involves "an intensive media campaign accusing the protesters and the enemies of being agents of Saudi Arabia, Israel and America," banning journalists from protest sites, and planting plain-clothes security and "eyewitnesses" in political hot spots to deliver rehearsed quotations and feedback.

Details of "political economic factor" include staged marches in support of Assad, lowering the prices of fuel and food in order to bolster public support, and agreeing to "some of the Kurdish demands."

The veracity of the document could not be verified by US officials, who were in possession of the document. The Syrian embassy refused to comment.