DAMASCUS: Syrian forces yesterday stepped up their deadly crackdown on dissent, with activists reporting almost 100 dead in two days, as violence spiked ahead of a bid to condemn Damascus at the UN Security Council. The head of the Arab League monitoring mission in Syria said the unrest had soared “in a significant way,” especially in the flashpoint central cities of Homs and Hama and in the northern Idlib region since Tuesday. “The situation at present, in terms of violence, does not help prepare the atmosphere … to get all sides to sit at the negotiating table,” General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa Al-Dabi said in a statement.
Syrian forces yesterday kept up a raid on Homs, where dozens have been killed, as Western and Arab nations rushed to unveil a draft UN resolution that would condemn a crackdown that has killed more than 5,400 since March. The pre-dawn assault on Homs, and reports of similar offensives against Hama and other cities, came hours after the United Nations said it could no longer keep track of the death toll. The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said security forces killed at least 23 civilians yesterday, while 12 soldiers were killed in attacks on the military.
The Britain-based watchdog said 12 people were killed in the southern province of Daraa, five in Aleppo, northern Syria, four in Homs, one in the Damascus area and another in Hama. The killings in Aleppo were the first reported in Syria’s second largest city since the anti-regime uprising broke out in mid-March. Six soldiers died in a car bomb attack on a security checkpoint in the city of Idlib and another six were killed in Daraa province in clashes with army deserters, the Observatory’s Rami Abdel Rahman said.
The Syrian National Council, the biggest opposition umbrella group, condemned the offensives against opposition strongholds and said it was in contact with members of the Security Council to press for strong condemnation. The latest wave in the government crackdown, now in its 11th month, comes as the West tries to ride diplomatic momentum sparked by last weekend’s surprise call by the Arab League for President Bashar Al-Assad to step down.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia will recognize the Syrian National Council as the “official representative” of the Syrian people, a senior member of the opposition group said in remarks published yesterday. “Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal told an SNC delegation he met in Cairo last week the kingdom will recognize the Council as the official representative of the Syrian people,” SNC executive council member Ahmad Ramadan told Kuwait’s Al-Rai newspaper.
He did not say when Riyadh will make the move or whether it will be joined by its five partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which this week announced that it was following Saudi Arabia’s lead in pulling out its representatives from a widely criticized Arab League observer mission to Syria. Ramadan, who attended the meeting, quoted Prince Saud as saying that Arab governments are convinced that it was the Syrian government that caused the observer mission to fail.
In another development, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, has effectively abandoned his headquarters in the Syrian capital, Damascus, diplomatic and intelligence sources said yesterday. “Meshaal is not staying in Syria as he used to do. He is almost out all the time,” said a diplomat in the region who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A regional intelligence source, who also did not wish to be identified, said: “He’s not going back to Syria. That’s the decision he’s made. There’s still a Hamas presence there, but it’s insignificant.” Damascus is isolated following a bloody, 10-month uprising against the rule of President Bashar Al-Assad and is not secure, the diplomat said, adding that Meshaal was no longer able to receive international visitors there.
Analysts say Meshaal was also embarrassed by Assad’s violent crackdown, with more than 5,000 people reported killed. Many victims of the security forces have been Sunni Muslims allied to the Muslim Brotherhood, whose support Meshaal relies on. Assad is backed mainly by his minority Alawite sect and other minorities. The sources said Meshaal would not publicly shut down the political headquarters of Hamas in Syria, where it has long been hosted by Assad and by his father before him. – Agencies
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