Shoes thrown at Iran President Ahmadinejad in Egypt

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Cairo on Tuesday, the first by an Iranian leader in more than three decades, highlights efforts by Egypt's Islamist leader to thaw long frigid ties between the two regional heavyweights.

Although the official welcome was warm, there was unscripted discord from Sunni protesters angry over Iran's support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, as well as decades of sectarian animosity between Shiite-led Iran and the region's Sunni majority.

At one point, Ahmadinejad was forced to flee an ancient mosque in downtown Cairo after a Syrian protester took off his shoes and threw them at him.

ater, anti-Iranian protesters raised their shoes up while blocking the main gates to Al-Azhar, the Sunni world's most prestigious religious institution, where Egypt's most prominent cleric chided Ahmadinejad for interfering in the affairs of Sunni nations.

The protests illustrate the limits to how far and how quickly Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi can go in reaching out to Iran: His Sunni allies at home view mainly Shiite Iran as a bitter rival, and Cairo can't afford to alienate Washington and Gulf Arab states who seek to isolate Tehran.

The three-day visit, centered around an Islamic summit, was an attempt by Morsi to strike an independent foreign policy and reassert Egypt's historic regional leadership role following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, a close US ally who shared Washington's deep suspicions of Tehran. Such a visit by an Iranian leader would have been unthinkable under Mubarak.

Morsi gave Ahmadinejad a red-carpet welcome on the tarmac at Cairo airport, shaking his hand, hugging and exchanging a kiss on each check.

The two leaders then sat down for a 20-minute talk that focused on the civil war in Syria, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. Iran is Damascus' closest regional ally, while Egypt is among those that have called on Assad to step down.

Still, the chasm inherited from 34 years of bitter relations and the rift between overwhelmingly Sunni Egypt and Iran's Shiite leadership were on display.

Sunni-Shiite tensions dominated talks between Ahmadinejad and Egypt's most prominent cleric, Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb, who upbraided the Iranian leader on a string of issues and warned against Iranian interference in Gulf nations, particularly Bahrain, where the ruling Sunni minority has faced protests by the Shiite majority.

El-Tayeb said attempts to spread Shiite Islam in mainly Sunni Arab nations were unacceptable and called for a halt to bloodshed in Syria, where Tehran's ally Assad has been battling rebels, according to a statement by Al-Azhar about the meeting.

The Sunni cleric also demanded that Ahmadinejad speak out against insults hurled at the first caliphs who succeeded the Prophet Muhammad and other figures close to the prophet in the 7th century. Those figures are widely resented among Shiites because they are seen as having pushed aside Ali, the prophet's son-in-law, who Shiites consider his rightful successor. The dispute over succession is at the root of the centuries-old split between Islam's Shiite and Sunni sects.

The meeting was "tense," acknowledged an aide to the sheik, Hussein al-Shafie, speaking at a news conference with Ahmadinejad that el-Tayeb did not attend.

Earlier, a Syrian man was arrested by police after he hurled his shoes at the Iranian leader outside the ancient al-Hussein mosque in downtown Cairo, according to security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Ahmadinejad's visit came nearly six months after another historic first: a trip by Morsi to Tehran, where disdain for Egypt led the ruling regime to name one of its streets after the ringleader of the assassination team that gunned down President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

Egypt was once closely allied to Iran's former ruling shah. The two countries severed relations after the 1979 Islamic Revolution brought a clerical rule to power in Iran and Egypt offered refuge to the deposed shah. Ahmadinejad's visit to Al-Azhar brought him not far from a grandiose Cairo mosque where the shah - despised by Iran's clerical rulers - is buried.

Relations further deteriorated after Egypt's peace treaty with Israel.

"For the first time, we are witnessing breaking of ice between the two countries," said political analyst Rafaat Sayed Ahmed.

Ultraconservative Islamists known as Salafis, who view Morsi as too pragmatic and compromising but ally with him in the face of secular opposition, see Iran as Sunni Islam's greatest enemy. Salafi clerics often rail against Shiites and Iran in their sermons.

On Tuesday, Egypt's hard-line Daawa Salafiya, which is the foundation of the main Salafi political party Al-Nour, released a statement calling on Morsi to confront Ahmadinejad on Tehran's support for the Syrian regime and make clear that "Egypt is committed to the protection of all Sunni nations."

Egypt-Iran diplomatic overtures have raised concerns among Sunni Gulf nations, who are keeping a close eye on the Iranian leader's visit. The Gulf states accuse Iran of supporting Shiite minorities in the Gulf and harbor concerns about Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

Gulf countries, especially the United Arab Emirates, have made little effort to hide their enmity to the new Egyptian government out of fear the Islamists will export Egypt's revolution to their countries. The UAE has cracked down on Egyptian expatriates for links to Morsi's fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood and has given refuge to former Egyptian regime members.

Morsi and the Brotherhood have sought to ease Gulf concerns, stressing that the security of the Gulf nations - which Egypt has relied upon for financial aid to help prop up its faltering economy - is directly linked to Cairo's own.

Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr Kamel reiterated that on Tuesday, saying "Egypt's relationship with Iran will never come at the expense of Gulf nations."

Morsi's government has presented the moves to improve ties as a policy of greater independence from the United States. He may also have geopolitical considerations: Gulf powerhouses Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are cool to Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and his rule, and several experts said Morsi wants to keep the option of ties with Iran open as an alternative.

Israel to Regret Attacking Syria: Iran's Security Chief

Iran's head of supreme national security council Saed Jalili said here Monday that Israel will regret its recent attack on a Syrian military research center.

Speaking at a press conference Monday at the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Jalili said that as Israel had regretted previous wars and aggressions, it will also regret its attack on Wednesday, adding that the Syrian government and people are serious in that regard.

His remarks came against the backdrop of the Israeli airstrike that hit a Syrian military research center in the Jumraia suburb of the capital Damascus on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Jalili, who arrived in Syria on Saturday to discuss the Israeli attack, said that Iran will capitalize on all its relationships in the international circles to support Syria, adding Syria is an important part of the Islamic world, which " will never permit any aggression on it."

The Israeli attack "has proven its failure to stir up internal differences in Syria," he said. "The Zionist enemy, its allies and tools are trying to hit the resistance in the area" as they have realized that there is a "genuine chance for a unity around the idea of resistance."

Jalili pointed out that Syria is espousing the path of resistance and has defended its causes "and subsequently it would be an aim for the enemies who will go on with avenging it."

On the crisis in Syria, Jalili reasserted that the solution for the crisis in Syria can only be "Syrian," emphasizing the " democratic means and national dialogue" as the way out.

"We have stressed, from the very beginning, that terrorism and violence could not be conducive to bringing in stability in this country," he said, adding that supporting the Syrian people could not be done through undermining the infrastructure but rather through national dialogue.

"We believe that the political program outlined recently by Syrian President Bashar a-Assad will pose the appropriate base for dialogue," he stressed, adding that "foreign intervention, terrorist practices and violent acts are all condemned."

On Sunday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said during his meeting with Jalili that Syria is capable of repulsing any aggression that might target its people, thanks to the strength of its military and the awareness of its people.

During the meeting, Assad stressed that "this aggression reveals the real role Israel is playing in cooperation with external hostile powers and their tools on the Syrian ground to destabilize the stability of Syria."

Although the details surrounding the rare air raid are still murky, Syria threatened Thursday to retaliate for the brazen attack, and its main regional ally Iran said there will be repercussions for the Jewish state over the air raid.

Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak confirmed the airstrike on Sunday at a time the United Nations called for self-restraint.

Syria said the bombed facility in Jurmaya had been repeatedly targeted by rebels who failed to storm it, adding that Israel did what the rebels could not.

U.S. officials said the Israeli airstrike targeted a convoy carrying anti-aircraft weapons and heading form Syria to Lebanon. Syria denied the claim and said the air raid targeted a research center for scientific purposes.

Syria opposition chief invited to Moscow

The head of Syria's main opposition coalition has been invited to Moscow after having his first direct talks with Russia's foreign minister.

Sergei Lavrov and Moaz al-Khatib, who leads Syrian National Coalition, met on the sidelines of an international security conference in Munich.

Moscow is a long-time ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Later, Mr Lavrov met US Vice-President Joe Biden and UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.

Mr Biden told the conference it was "no secret" that Moscow and Washington had "serious differences" on issues such as Syria.

But he added: "We can all agree... on the increasingly desperate plight of the Syrian people and the responsibility of the international community to address that plight."

After meeting Mr Lavrov, Mr Khatib said: "Russia has a certain vision but we welcome negotiations to alleviate the crisis. There are lots of details that need to be discussed."

The crisis in Syria urgently requires agreement between Russia and the United States if any UN-backed diplomatic initiative is to make headway, says the BBC's Jonathan Marcus in Munich.

However, our correspondent adds, the two are still as far apart as ever.

Mr Lavrov told the conference Mr Biden's insistence that the Syrian leader step down was counterproductive.

"The persistence of those who say that priority number one is the removal of President Assad - I think it's the single biggest reason for the continued tragedy in Syria," he said.

More than 60,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Assad began 22 months ago, the UN says.

Syrian President has failed to keep promises: UN chief

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said it is troubling that Syrian President Bashar al Assad has not kept his word on ending violence against civilians in his country.

Ban said Assad had conveyed to him in a telephonic conversation that military operations against protesters had stopped and that the UN humanitarian assistance assessment team would be able to visit different places in the country.

"This is what he clearly told me when I had the telephone talk with him...It is troubling that he has not kept his word," Ban told reporters.

The UN chief said world leaders have urged Assad to "immediately halt military operations that are killing his own people, and he assured me (he would) do that."

Ban said he ‘sincerely’ hoped Assad would pay heed to calls by the international community to bring an end to the months-long violence in his country.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Council met for a "special session" on Tuesday to discuss sending another commission to Syria to investigate possible crimes against humanity in the government s crackdown on protesters.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay presented to the Council in Geneva findings of a mission to Syria by her office covering the period from March 15 to July 15.

The draft resolution, which the Council is debating, calls on the Syrian authorities to fully cooperate with a new "independent international commission of inquiry" into alleged violations of international law.

The commission, to be appointed by the Council, would cover the period from July and report back by November end.

It would call on the Syrian government to immediately halt "all human rights violations," including "the continued indiscriminate attacks" on its people.

Pillay said more than 2,200 people have been killed since mass protests began in mid-March, with more than 350 people reportedly killed in Syria since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

U.S. May Call for Syria’s Assad to Step Down Amid Violence

The Obama administration may call on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down soon, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

Though the U.S. is concerned about the possibility of civil war in Syria, it is more focused on the prospect of sectarian violence promoted by the Assad government and the chance that the Syrian situation will spark instability in the wider Middle East, said the official, who asked not to be identified because the administration is still discussing the issue and considering the timing of a possible announcement about Assad.

A call for Assad to quit would be the strongest U.S. condemnation of his crackdown on dissenters who began an uprising five months ago. The demonstrations are the biggest challenge to Assad’s rule since he inherited power from his father 11 years ago. Human-rights activists who have compiled the names of the dead say Assad’s forces have killed more than 2,400 protesters and detained thousands since mid-March.

Assad yesterday responded to growing criticism about the crackdown by admitting “some mistakes” were made by his security forces in the “initial stages” of unrest. Diplomats representing Brazil, India and South Africa -- a bloc in the United Nations Security Council reluctant to punish Assad -- said in an e-mailed statement that they met in Damascus with the Syrian leader, who told them “efforts were under way to prevent” the mistakes from recurring.

U.S. Freeze

Their appeal to both sides for an end to the violence came as European nations renewed a push for a UN resolution against the bloodshed and the U.S. imposed new financial sanctions on Syrian banks and telecommunications. Pushing back, Syria’s UN ambassador, Bashar Ja’afari, drew parallels between Prime Minister David Cameron’s response to U.K. riots and Syria’s approach to armed “gangs.”

Assad’s admission of errors at the onset of the protests in March doesn’t address the escalation in violence over the past week, said a western diplomat who isn’t authorized to speak publicly. At least four people were killed today in the northern province of Idlib, while one person died yesterday in the Damascus suburb of Saqba and another in the town of Nawa in Daraa province, Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, said by telephone from Damascus.

Deaths During Ramadan

At least 20 anti-government protesters were killed yesterday in Deir al-Zour, Homs and Idlib provinces in the second week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, said Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria. Protesters took to the streets late yesterday after breaking their Ramadan fasts and completing evening prayers in Homs, Deir al-Zour, Latakia, suburbs of Damascus and Daraa, Merhi said.

Merhi dismissed government assertions that the army had withdrawn from Hama, which came under assault on July 31, the eve of Ramadan, by tanks, heavy machine-gun fire and armored vehicles. More than 300 people have been killed, mostly in Hama, since security forces escalated the crackdown last week, according to activists.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who visited Assad two days ago, said today he hadn’t received evidence that tanks re-entered Hama late yesterday. Turkey contacted the governor of Hama late yesterday after seeing reports that the armed forces had returned to the city, and was told by the official that there were no tanks or heavy weapons there, Davutoglu said in televised comments from Ankara.

Signs of Tanks

Turkish journalists crossed the border into Syria today to report on conditions as part of an agreement between Davutoglu and Assad that included Turkey’s demand for the cessation of violence. Their work was restricted and they were escorted by Syrian officials on an indirect route to Hama, Turkey’s state- run Anatolia news service said.

Tanks were seen today about 20 kilometers (12 miles) outside Hama, Anatolia said. Buildings in the city were marked by artillery fire and the streets had signs of tank treads, it said.

Momentum may be building for bolder steps to stop Assad after Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Damascus this week and Turkey said its neighbor is entering a “critical” period.

The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, said Syria would be better off without Assad, repeating the Obama administration’s stance that the leader has lost legitimacy. The New York Times today cited a U.S. diplomatic official as saying the administration doesn’t expect Assad to remain in power and doesn’t rule out a civil war once he falls.

‘It’s the System’

“To the U.S., getting Assad out now would maybe save lives and avoid bigger regional pressures later,” said Theodore Karasik, director of research at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis. “However, even if he steps aside, that won’t take care of the problem because it’s not just the person, it’s the system itself.”

While further action is needed, getting the Security Council “on board” in light of Russia-led opposition may prove difficult, said George A. Lopez, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame who was on a UN panel of experts monitoring compliance with sanctions. “Only massive and tight arms embargo, oil sanctions and further financial freezes can work now,” he said.

Russia has indicated it isn’t convinced that a UN resolution is needed to stop the repression of protesters.

“What we are telling them is that they need to have serious reforms as soon as possible,” Russia’s UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, told reporters yesterday. “We realize that it takes time. Especially in a dramatic situation like this, you cannot carry out reforms overnight. We see encouraging signs.”

In Washington, the Treasury Department said it will freeze the assets of the Commercial Bank of Syria and a subsidiary, the Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank, as well as mobile-phone company Syriatel.

“We are taking aim at the financial infrastructure that is helping provide support” to Assad, said David S. Cohen, U.S. undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

Syrian protesters demand action to halt killings by Bashar al-Assad regime

Syrian protesters in Hama chanting their resistance song, 'Come on Bashar, leave' amid escalating violence from regime troops.

Syrian opposition activists have appealed to the international community to increase pressure on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad as condemnation mounts over escalating bloodshed.

Omar Habal from the central city of Hama, where four more people were reportedly killed by shellfire on Monday, said protestors wanted foreign governments to withdraw their ambassadors from Damascus and expel Syrian diplomats from their capitals in response to a brutal crackdown in which more than 100 people were killed across Syria on Sunday.

"We want action but not military intervention, we don't need that," Habal told the Guardian by telephone. "We need pressure, strong political pressure."

The appeal came as the UN security council was preparing to meet in New York to discuss the crisis after rare condemnation of the violence by Russia, a long-time ally of Syria, as well as unusually harsh words from the leaders of its neighbour Turkey.

The US, Britain and France have all used strong language to condemn events on Sunday, the eve of Ramadan and the bloodiest day of the uprising so far.

Syria's opposition is divided, with some groups calling for the overthrow of the Assad regime while others still hope the president will launch genuine reforms.

Foreign governments say that Assad has lost legitimacy but have not explicitly and directly called for his overthrow.

"The international community needs to act quickly to prevent further atrocities in Syria," said Ausama Monajed, a leading exiled dissident. "What are they waiting for? A million Syrians to be killed? It is shameful by any standard to see human beings being shot and killed and not a single condemnation from the UN Security Council. What message does that send to brutal dictators?"

The EU announced on Monday that it had imposed travel bans and assets freezes on five unnamed Syrian officials, but measures imposed on 30 other senior figures have been shrugged off in Damascus.
Russia said it was "seriously concerned" about the level of casualties but implied government and opposition were equally at fault. "The use of force against civilians and representatives of state structures is unacceptable and must cease," the foreign ministry statement said. Western diplomats said it was unclear whether this meant Moscow was dropping its objections condemning Syria.

China has also been reluctant to back the US, Britain and France in demanding punitive gestures, let alone action. Moscow and Beijing are unhappy at the way their support for the UN at the start of the Libya crisis was turned into a mandate for a Nato bombing campaign they now see as pursuing regime change.
India, South Africa and Brazil have also opposed a resolution.

William Hague, Britain's foreign secretary, said he wanted a resolution to condemn the Syrian violence and admitted there was no possibility of military action of the type seen in Libya. "There is no prospect of a legal, morally sanctioned military intervention."

Syrian forces 'ordered to shoot to kill'

 

  Syrian security forces have reportedly killed more than 1,400 people and detained 10,000 others since March

Defectors of Syria’s security forces have described receiving orders from their superiors to fire live rounds at protesters to disperse them, according to Human Rights Watch.

The New York-based rights body released a statement on Saturday detailing interviews with eight soldiers and four members of secret security agencies it said had defected to the opposition since anti-government protests erupted in March.

The interviewees said they had participated in the government crackdown in the Syrian cities of Deraa, Izraa, Baniyas, Homs, Jisr al-Shughur, Aleppo, and Damascus, the capital.

The soldiers also reported participating in and witnessing the shooting and wounding of dozens of protesters, and the arbitrary arrests and detentions of hundreds of civilians.

All the interviewees told HRW that their superiors had told them that they were fighting infiltrators, salafists, and terrorists, but were surprised to encounter unarmed protesters instead. They said they were ordered to fire on the civilians, including children, in a number of instances.

The defectors also reported that those who refused orders to shoot on protesters ran the risk of being shot themselves. One of them said they witnessed a military officer shoot and kill two soldiers in Deraa for rejecting orders.

Syria's government has not responded to the allegations.

Human Rights Watch interviewed the defectors in person in Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan. Most of the interviewees gave testimony on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

"The testimony of these defectors provides further evidence that the killing of protesters was no accident but a result of a deliberate policy by senior figures in Syria to use deadly force to disperse protesters," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

"Syrian soldiers and officials should know that they too have not just a right but a duty to refuse such unlawful orders, and that those who deliberately kill or injure peaceful protesters will be subject to prosecution."

"The accounts of soldiers who were horrified enough at their commanders’ orders and deceit to flee should send a message to the UN and other countries that they need to do more to put a stop to these brutal attacks on civilians," Whitson said.

Syrian security forces have killed more than 1,400 people and detained 10,000 others since March, according to Syrian rights groups.

Member of Syria's secret police - Homs

One member of Syria’s secret police - referred to locally as mukhabarat - told HRW he was deployed in Homs, Syria’s third largest city, on April 19, to help security forces violently disperse tens of thousands of protesters staging a sit-in in the central Clock Tower Square.

"The protesters had sat down in the square. We were told to disperse them with violence if needed. We were there with air force security, army, and shabbiha (armed supporters of the government who do not belong to security forces). At around 3:30am, we got an order... to shoot at the protesters. We were shooting for more than half an hour."

"There were dozens and dozens of people killed and wounded. Thirty minutes later, earth diggers and fire trucks arrived. The diggers lifted the bodies and put them in a truck. I don’t know where they took them. The wounded ended up at the military hospital in Homs. And then the fire trucks started cleaning the square."

Soldier of Presidential Guard - Damascus

A conscript who was a member of the Presidential Guard recounted how he was deployed on April 18 to Harasta, a suburb of Damascus, to quell a protest.

"They gave each one of us a Kalashnikov (rifle) with two magazines, and there was more ammunition in the vehicles. They also gave us electric tasers. They told us we were being sent to fight the gangs because security services needed reinforcement. We were surprised (when we got to Harasta) because we couldn’t see any gangs, just civilians, including some women and children, in the street, and members of the mukhabarat firing at them.

"I was in a group with five other soldiers from my unit. We received clear orders to shoot at civilians from the Presidential Guard officers and from the 4th military battalion, although normally we don't get orders from other units.

"The exact orders were "load and shoot." There were no conditions, no prerequisites. We got closer to the demonstrators, and when we were some five metres away, the officers shouted "fire!" At that moment, the five of us defected and ran over to the demonstrators’ side throwing our weapons to them while running away."

Sergeant Raqeeb Awwal - Al-Hara

Raqeeb Awwal, a first sergeant, who was posted in the southern town of al-Hara, near Deraa, described the orders his squad received when the army circled the town on May 10.

"Snipers were on rooftops. Their orders were, 'If anyone goes out on the street, detain or shoot'. I recall watching a guy go out to smoke outside and then being shot and killed by a sniper."

He also described the arrest campaign against protesters, including children, in the town.

"We surrounded the town for days. I saw how the snipers would shoot on anyone who went out of his house. Then we moved in. The mukhabarat who were with us had lists of people to arrest.

"They had details: this person tore a poster of the president or this person shouted "with excitement" at an anti-government protest. I saw many of those detained and some looked as young as 12.

"Six buses came and took the detained. We then gathered all the motorbikes in the town’s centre, and a tank crushed them. We talked among ourselves about how some soldiers stole gold and money from houses. In one house, a colleague told me that they found one million Syrian pounds (around $20,000) and his commanding officer decided to confiscate the money saying it was being used to purchase weapons even though my colleague told me there was no such evidence.

He added that the army opened fire in the coastal town of Bayda on members of security services wearing civilian clothes because they mistook their identity. Other defectors reported that security services later dressed in army clothes to avoid such shootings.

Sniper - Izraa

A conscript trained as a sniper was deployed in Izraa, a town near Deraa, on April 25, three days after security forces had shot 28 protesters over two days, told HRW:

"I was in Squad 14 of the 4th Regiment. We were around 300 soldiers deployed to Izraa. I had heard so much about foreign armed groups that I was eager to fight them.

"But then [we received] the following orders: 'Don’t shoot at the armed civilians (Syrian secret police). They are with us. Shoot at the people whom they shoot at'.

"We were all shocked after hearing his words, as we had imagined that the people were killed by foreign armed groups, not by the security forces. We realised that our orders were to shoot at our own people."

Soldier - Deraa

A soldier who was deployed for a month in Daraa before defecting on June 1, said:

"We received orders to kill protesters. Some military refused the orders and were shot with a handgun. Two were killed in front of me, by someone in the rank of lieutenant (muqaddam). I don’t know his name. He said they were traitors."

Soldier of Special Forces - Baniyas and Markeb

A member of regiment 45 in the Special Forces, deployed in the coastal areas of Baniyas and Markeb, told HRW about the arrest campaign he witnessed in the village of Markeb:

"We had around 400 names of people whom we wanted to detain. We went to the village. Then a woman’s protest came out refusing the entry of the army (we had not yet detained anyone) inside the village.

"We started going into homes. We would break into closed houses. We detained so many people. Some men tried to escape through a side road in a valley. But the army opened fire on those trying to escape. We brought those detained to the center of the village, stepping on them and insulting them.

"A security officer stood on a man, yelling "Who is your god? (Say) Bashar al-Asad." We had so many detainees in the area that we used the Banyas stadium as a detention facility."

The soldier also said that the security forces detained children.

"I saw the list of wanted individuals. So many were born in 1993, 1994, 1995. Mere teenagers," he said.

"We later entered Baniyas and also detained men and children. By the end of our first day in Baniyas, I asked an officer how many detainees we had taken that day; he said around 2,500 in Baniyas alone, all taken to the Baniyas stadium. People would get beaten in the bus on the way there and in the stadium as well."

Lieutenant - Damascus

A lieutenant in squad 14, posted in Damascus, described the briefing:

"Each morning we had guidance briefings. They would tell us there are gangs and infiltrators. They would show us pictures of dead soldiers and security forces."

Soldier - Damascus

Soldiers were reportedly not allowed to watch television in private to avoid any of them watching TV channels that aired anti-government information. Officers could watch television but only Syrian state television and Dunya TV, a pro-government channel owned by Rami Makhlouf, a cousin and close ally of President Bashar al-Asad.

A conscript doing his military service in Damascus said:

"Every night they used to summon us in a stadium-like place in the military barrack and make us watch Dunya TV from a big TV screen. It was all scenes from Deraa showing people killed by what they reported as foreign armed groups.

"Officers would repeatedly tell us that there is a 'foreign plot' going on in Deraa. Watching Dunya TV every night between 20:00 and 22:00, we had the firm belief that there is a foreign conspiracy against which we need to fight and protect our people."

Soldier of Special Missions Unit - Aleppo

A member of the Special Missions Unit, an elite unit under the jurisdiction of the Interior Ministry, described his unit’s role in cracking down on university students in Aleppo:

"We were sent to the university dorms to arrest people, with a simple order: 'Go in and detain'.

"We must have detained more than 200 people in one day around late April and early May. We wanted to scare them and other students to prevent them from protesting again. Our job was to detain the students and take them to the branches of the mukhabarat, mostly Military Intelligence.

"We would beat people all the way to the bus. We didn’t know what would happen to the detainees after we dropped them off with the mukhabarat."

Syria troops kill 22 in Hama crackdown

Syrian troops killed at least 22 people in a crackdown they launched in the flashpoint central city of Hama, a human rights group said Wednesday.

"At least 22 people were killed in Hama and more than 80 wounded, some of them seriously," Ammar Qurabi of the National Organisation for Human Rights said.

"The wounded are being treated in two hospitals in Hama," he said in a statement, adding that troops had entered the Al-Hurani hospital.

"A large number of Hama residents have fled either to the nearby town of Al-Salamiya or twoards Damascus," Qurabi said.

The US State Department on Tuesday urged the Syrian regime to withdraw its forces from Hama, a city of 800,000 people that saw a massive anti-government demonstration by as many as half a million people last Friday.

"We urge the government of Syria to immediately halt its intimidation and arrest campaign, to pull its security forces back from Hama and other cities, and to allow Syrians to express their opinions freely so that a genuine transition to democracy can take place," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said.

Hama governor sacked: Syrian state TV

Scene from Friday's huge protest rally in Hama.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has removed the governor of Hama, one of the provinces at the heart of the ongoing protests, according to state television.

The sacking of Ahmad Khaled Abdel Aziz was announced on Saturday, a day after more than 400,000 people reportedly turned out in Hama city demanding the ouster of Assad and his government.

People filled the square around the central Clock Tower in what activists said was the biggest demonstration since the uprising began in March.

"Here we are, the germs of Syria," a local activist said, referring to Assad's speech in which he characterised the protesters as "germs" that Syria must inoculate itself against. "But we are big germs in huge numbers."

He said there was no visible security presence in Hama, only checkpoints at the entrances. "There's not even traffic police," he told Al Jazeera.

The opposition has deep roots in Hama, a city of 700,000. In 1982, under the rule of Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, the army stormed the city to crush a revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood, leaving about 20,000 people dead.

Syrian forces killed 28 civilians on Friday, a day of massive anti-regime rallies, the AFP reported.
Most of Friday's victims were killed in the Idlib province, where all week troops backed by tanks and armoured personnel carriers have swept through villages to crush dissent against Assad's government.
"Sixteen people were killed" in Idlib on Friday, Ammar Qorabi, the head of the National Organisation for Human Rights, told AFP on Saturday.

Another 10 people were killed when security forces opened fire to disperse protests in several cities, including eight in the central protest hub of Homs and two in the Damascus neighbourhood of Qadam.
More than 1,360 civilians have been killed in the government's crackdown against pro-democracy protests since mid-March, according to human rights groups.

Syria forces storm border town near Turkey

Syrian troops and gunmen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad stormed a town near the Turkish border Saturday, burning houses and arresting dozens, witnesses said, in a persistent military campaign to crush popular revolt.

The latest assault followed another Friday of protests, which have grown in size and scope over the last three months, despite Assad's violent clampdown on public dissent. Activists said security forces shot dead 19 protesters Friday.

"They came at 7 a.m. to Bdama. I counted nine tanks, 10 armored carriers, 20 jeeps and 10 buses. I saw shabbiha (pro-Assad gunmen) setting fire to two houses," said Saria Hammouda, a lawyer living in the border town in the Jisr al-Shughour region, where thousands of Syrians had fled to Turkey after the army clamped down on the area this month.

Bdama is one of the nerve centers providing food and supplies to several thousand other Syrians who have escaped the violence from frontier villages but chose to take shelter temporarily in fields on the Syrian side of the boundary.

"Bdama's residents don't dare take bread to the refugees and the refugees are fearful of arrests if they go into Bdama for food," Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters.

Another witness said government troops were also burning crops on nearby hillsides in an apparent scorched earth policy.

European powers initiated a detente with Assad before the unrest to try to draw the Syrian leader away from Iran and also stabilize Lebanon..

But they now say Damascus should face tougher sanctions over the violence against demonstrators seeking more political freedoms and an end to corruption and poverty.
Syrian rights groups say at least 1,300 civilians have been killed and 10,000 people detained since March. One group has said more than 300 soldiers and police have also been killed.

"SECURITY GRIP IS WEAKENING"S

Tens of thousands rallied across Syria Friday, defying Assad's repression and ignoring a pledge that his tycoon cousin Rami Makhlouf, a symbol of corruption among the elite, would renounce his business empire and channel his wealth to charity.

People rallied in the southern province of Deraa where the revolt began, in the Kurdish northeast, the province of Deir al-Zor near Iraq's Sunni heartland, the city of Hama north of Damascus, on the coast and in suburbs of the capital itself.

"The security grip is weakening because the protests are growing in numbers and spreading. More people are risking their lives to demonstrate. The Syrian people realize that this is an opportunity for liberty that comes once in hundreds of years," opposition figure Walid al-Bunni told Reuters from Damascus.

The Local Coordination Committees, a main activist group linked to protesters, said 10 demonstrators were killed on Friday in Homs, a merchant city of 1 million people in central Syria.

State television said a policeman was killed by gunmen.

One protester was also reported killed in the northern commercial hub of Aleppo, the first to die there in the unrest.

Thousands of people turned up to a funeral of a dead protester in Deir al-Zor, chanting anti-government slogans, Abdulrahman said.

The state news agency said nine people, including civilians and police, were killed in attacks by gunmen. Syria blames armed gangs and Islamists, backed by foreign powers, for the violence.

The Syrian government has barred most international journalists from the country, making it difficult to verify accounts from activists and officials.

Two towns on the main Damascus-Aleppo highway north of Homs were also encircled by troops and tanks, residents said, five days after the army retook Jisr al-Shughour, ending thousands fleeing across the border into Turkey.

Refugees from the northwestern region said troops and gunmen loyal to Assad known as "shabbiha" were pressing on with a scorched earthed campaign in the hill farm area by burning crops, ransacking houses and shooting randomly.

The International Federation for Human Rights and the U.S.-based Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies said in a statement that, according to local sources, Syrian forces had killed more than 130 people and arrested over 2,000 in Jisr al-Shughour and surrounding villages over the last few days.

The number of refugees who have crossed over into Turkey from Syria has reached 10,114, and another 10,000 were sheltering by the border just inside Syria, according to Turkish officials.

Journalists were given a brief tour of the Boynuyogun refugee camp in Hatay, where some 3,500 people were living in 600 tents.

One refugee described how security forces clamped down on anti-Assad demonstrations.
"We wrote anti-regime slogans on the walls. Then the government reacted by erasing the slogans and they arrested the guy who tore down Assad's picture," said a 26-year-old man from Jisr al-Shughour who said his name was Mohammed.

Another refugee named Adam said security forces arrested people in the middle of the night a couple of weeks after the demonstrations.

"They came to my house ... they started hitting me with the butts of their rifles on my back and head. They said "Is this the freedom you're asking for?'"
SECURITY COUNCIL DEADLOCK

Assad has responded to the unrest with a mix of military repression and political gestures aimed at placating protesters.

He has faced international condemnation over the bloodshed, and has seen the first signs of cracks in his security forces after a clash in Jisr al-Shughour earlier this month in which the government said 120 security personnel were killed.

There have been no mass desertions from the military, but the loyalty of Sunni Muslim conscripts might waver if the crackdown on mainly Sunni protesters continues.

Assad's family and many military commanders are members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. In a spillover of the unrest into Lebanon, Sunni and Alawite gunmen clashed in the northern city of Tripoli and four people were killed.

After all this bloodshed, there is no going back for Syria

Most Syrians did not want regime change until the state opened fire. Now they will not settle for less than democracy.

Syrian children hold a vigil for 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib, who activists say was tortured and killed by Syrian security forces. Photograph: Jamal Saidi/Reuters

Last January Syria seemed to belong with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states as the least likely candidates for revolution. If President Bashar al-Assad had run in a real election, he may well have won. It's difficult to remember today that most Syrians did credit, if grudgingly, the regime with ensuring security and prosecuting a vaguely nationalist foreign policy. It's that desire for security, the overwhelming fear of Iraq-style chaos, that keeps a section of Syrian society loyal to the regime even now.

To start with, although they were inspired by Tunisia and Egypt, most protesters didn't aim for regime change. The first demonstration, in the commercial heart of Damascus, was a response to police brutality. That ended peacefully, but when Deraa protested over the arrest of schoolchildren the regime spilt blood. Outraged, communities all over the country took to the streets and met greater violence, swelling the crowds further. A vicious circle began. All the intelligence and nationalist pretensions peeled away from the government to reveal a dark and thuggish core.

Worse still, the president spoke of reforms, of ending the state of emergency and abolishing the hated state security courts. Even as he spoke the slaughter intensified. There was no surer way of destroying his credibility. The torrent of horror stories – children tortured to death, women shot, residential areas shelled – destroyed the regime's legitimacy.

The state's extraordinary stupidity suggests either panic or dissension in the inner circle, of which Bashar may only be the figurehead. Syrians debate which arrangement of Assads and Makhloufs (Bashar's mother's family) composes the actual power structure. In any case, Syria's leaders can count on support from the Republican Guard and the army's upper echelons. Yet lower- and middle-ranking defections will increase as the regime seeks to crush the provinces.

So what next? There is a roadmap to a happy ending. The grassroots local co-ordination committees call for the president's immediate resignation, and a joint civilian and military council to oversee a six-month transition to a pluralist democracy. "The new Syria will be a republic and a civil state that belongs to all Syrians," reads the LCC statement, "and not to an individual, family or party. It will not be inherited from fathers to sons. All Syrians will be equal in rights and duties without discrimination."

If the transition began today it could work, but the chances of the regime bowing out gracefully are close to zero. This means the chaos will expand.

So far, despite Syria's often difficult history and the regime's divide-and-rule tactics, sectarian war appears unlikely. When 100,000 people marched in Hama last Friday they chanted: "From Qardaha to Sanamein, the Syrians are one people." Qardaha is the home town of the Assads, in Alawi country. Sanamein is a poor Sunni village near Deraa where many have been killed. And the chant was raised in Hama, the city taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood in 1982, and the site of a massacre when the regime took the city back. Such slogans of national unity show a new level of maturity and intelligence among Syrians, but these qualities will be challenged as the slaughter continues.

Western intervention is improbable – Nato is overstretched and a Syrian adventure requires a commitment to potential regional war – and wouldn't be welcomed by Syrians anyway. In Iraq intervention triggered civil war.

Turkish intervention is another matter. Celebrating the third-term re-election of his AK party on Sunday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, greeted "those who are focused on Turkey with great excitement … all capitals of neighbouring countries". In light of the Arab awakening, Turkey's "zero problems with neighbours" policy is about to be overturned. On Tuesday Erdogan again told Assad to stop the repression and implement reforms. The day before he'd expressed willingness to work with Britain towards a UN resolution condemning Syria. But it's facts on the ground that will count. If many more refugees join the 8,500 who have fled to Turkey, Erdogan may order a limited occupation of Syrian territory to establish a "safe haven". That – the regime's inability to hold a section of the homeland – may prove a tipping point. It could also offer Syria its Benghazi, a base for organised resistance.

If the first enemy of Syrian democrats is the Syrian regime, and the second the spectre of sectarian violence, the third is represented by external forces seeking to take advantage of events. The Syrian economy may not be far from collapse. Any future government may be particularly easy to bribe in future years.

Saudi Arabia is funnelling cash to Egypt's ruling military council. It remains to be seen what the catch is. Saudi money could play an important role in the new Syria too, and so could a motley crew of exiles – the president's uncle Rifaat al-Assad, organiser of the 1982 Hama massacre, and ex-regime figure Abdul-Halim Khaddam, as well as the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, which has an unpleasant sectarian history and agenda. There's also a contingent of US-based liberals, some of whom play into neoconservative hands.

It's easy to envisage a Saudi deal with Syrian Sunni officers and the Muslim Brotherhood, and a partially democratic, "moderate Islamist" regime presiding over tame social programmes, untrammelled economic liberalisation, and passivity over the occupied Golan Heights. Israel and the west may tacitly support such an outcome, because a properly democratic Syria alongside a properly democratic Egypt would constitute the greatest imaginable challenge to Israel's subjugation of the Palestinians.

It's unlikely that Syrians, after sacrificing so much blood, would want to settle for such a deal.

Lastnight World

4,300 flee Syria crackdown: Turkey

Foreign Ministry deputy undersecretary of Turkey, Halit Cevik said on Saturday 4,300 Syrians, from the northern town of Jisr al-Shoughour, have fled to Turkey to escape a crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad, fearing revenge from security forces. Activists and witnesses said that thousands more are sheltering near the border.

Eight teens jailed for rape, robbery

HANOI: A court in Vietnam’s capital has sentenced 8 teenagers to up to 30 years in jail for luring women into hotel rooms and then gang raping and robbing them. Tuoi Tre newspaper said that a 15-year-old girl was sentenced to 12 years, while her 19-year-old boyfriend was given 30 years. Six other boys were given from four years to 30 years on the same charges.

US condemns 'brutality and violence' in Syria

The US has strongly condemned Syria's "outrageous use of violence" against anti-government protesters.

The White House said the government was leading Syria down a "dangerous path" and called for "an immediate end to the brutality and violence".

Activists say at least 32 people were killed in fresh clashes on Friday.

The violence came as government forces moved into the town of Jisr al-Shughour, where it said 120 security personnel had earlier been killed.

Hundreds of civilians have fled north into Turkey to escape the assault.

Assad 'unavailable'

In a statement, White House spokesman Jay Carney repeated calls for the Syrian security forces to exercise restraint.

"The Syrian government is leading Syria on a dangerous path," he said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile, described the use of military force as "unacceptable".

A spokesman for Mr Ban said he was "keen to speak to" Syria's president, but that Bashar al-Assad had repeatedly been "unavailable" in recent days.

Syria has prevented foreign journalists, including those from the BBC, from entering the country, making it difficult to independently verify reports from there

In the most serious of Friday's incidents, anti-government activists said about 15 people had died in the northern province of Idlib.

They said most of the deaths were in Maarat al-Numan, where tanks and helicopters are said to have fired on protesters who had taken to the streets after prayers.

State TV and opposition figures said police stations in the town had been attacked by protesters.

Correspondents say it is the first reported use of air power to quell protests in Syria's three-month uprising.

'Mutiny'

Both state media and activists on the ground also reported troops and tanks advancing on Jisr al-Shughour.

Resident of Jisr al-Shughour have been fleeing to camps in Turkey

Most residents are believed to have abandoned the town.

The government blamed "armed groups" for the deaths of 120 security personnel in Jisr al-Shughour earlier this week, but some reports said the troops were shot after a mutiny.

Syrian TV said troops had arrived at the gates of the town after securing nearby villages, and that they had killed or captured a number of armed men.

Activists said they had blasted the town with tank fire, but the BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon says there is little indication as to how much resistance the troops are facing in an area whose population has largely fled.

Witnesses said troops had been bulldozing homes and torching crops and fields.

"They said they even killed animals," one man who had fled Jisr al-Shughour told AP news agency.

"The people have no weapons, they can't defend themselves. The only thing they can do is escape."

The Syrian government says local people requested military intervention to restore order.

'Slaughtered like lambs'

There were reports of large demonstrations against President Assad in many parts of Syria after prayers on Friday.

Security forces are reported to have opened fire in some areas - activists said there were deaths in the coastal town of Latakia, in Deraa in the south, and in a suburb of Damascus.

Friday protests have become a regular event since March, but government efforts to quash them have escalated in recent weeks.

Human rights groups say more than 1,300 people have died in the crackdown, mostly unarmed civilians. The government denies this and says about 500 security forces have died.

More than 3,000 Syrians - mostly women and children - have crossed the border into Turkey to escape the violence, many of them from Jisr al-Shughour. An unknown number of people are thought to have fled to other locations within Syria.

"People were not going to sit and be slaughtered like lambs," one refugee in Turkey told Reuters news agency.

Some of those arriving at the temporary camps have serious gunshot injuries - including a Syrian Red Crescent worker who said he was shot in the back as he tried to help the injured in Jisr al-Shughour.

With the unrest showing no sign of abating, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has set up a new camp in Turkey capable of housing up to 5,000 people.

Syrians vow new protests

Pro-democracy activists are vowing to stage more protests against President Bashar al-Assad, as his regime comes under mounting international pressure over accusations of massacres.

The Syrian opposition on Thursday urged renewed demonstrations under the slogan "Friday of the Tribes", using a Facebook page to spread their call.

Hundreds of people meanwhile were fleeing Jisr al-Shughur in northwest Syria across the border to Turkey, after reports that a convoy of troops and tanks was converging on the flashpoint town.

The number of Syrians who have fled to Turkey has risen to 2,500, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday.

After pouring in through openings in barbed wire fences or unguarded stretches of the border, several dozen refugees were hospitalised with injuries reportedly sustained during security crackdowns.

Some of them alleged that Iranian forces in black uniforms had helped crush the pro-democracy protests.

"There were police officers in plain clothes, but also Iranian soldiers," said Mustafa, one of dozens of young Syrian men being treated for gunshot wounds in Turkish hospitals.

"We asked them not to shoot but they did not speak Arabic," said the 23-year-old salesman, shot in the leg and arm on May 20 when security forces fired on demonstrators in the northwestern city of Idlib.

"They had beards. Wearing a beard is forbidden in the Syrian army," he said.

Britain, meanwhile, said it stood by allegations that Iran was helping Syria crush the protests, after the British envoy in Tehran was summoned to the foreign ministry over the claims.

Syria says 120 police and soldiers were killed this week in Jisr al-Shughur by "armed gangs". Activists spoke of a mutiny by some security forces.

Adding to pressure on Damascus, the UN atomic watchdog voted on Thursday to report Syria to the UN Security Council in New York over allegations it built an undeclared nuclear reactor that was then destroyed by Israeli bombs.

At a closed-door meeting in Vienna of the International Atomic Energy Agency, most countries backed a resolution proposed by the United States, diplomats at the meeting said.

Russia and China, among the countries which voted against, said in statements earlier they saw no reason for such action.

But the US hailed the IAEA's "significant" decision.

"Syria has stonewalled and obstructed the efforts of the IAEA to investigate the nuclear reactor for years," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

At the UN Security Council, Western powers have begun debating a draft resolution put forward by Britain and France demanding an end to the violence and an arms embargo on Syria.

"The attitude of Syria is unacceptable," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Thursday, at an international meeting in Abu Dhabi on the Libya conflict.

"One cannot continue massacring the civilian population under the pretext that this population aspires to have more freedom and democracy," Juppe told AFP.

Russia, long considered an ally of Damascus as well as a major arms supplier, has made it clear it opposes any Security Council resolution on Syria.

"The situation in this country, in our opinion, does not pose a threat to international peace and security," foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said, Russian state media reported.

Syria's foreign ministry, meanwhile, said Damascus was "determined to pursue reforms under the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad.

"It will authorise no external interference on this subject."

In Geneva, Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said: "We are receiving an increasing number of alarming reports pointing to the Syrian government's continuing efforts to ruthlessly crush civilian protests."

Eyewitness reports said the military convoy heading to Jisr al-Shughur had left the city of Aleppo along the main Aleppo-Idlib highway and one demonstrator was killed as he, with others, threw stones at the convoy.

At least 60 transporters carrying tanks and armoured vehicles, plus more than 10 lorries packed with soldiers, were seen on the route.

Human rights groups say more than 1,100 people have been killed throughout the country since the protests erupted in mid-March.

Pillay said activists were now reporting that up to 10,000 people had been detained. Damascus has disputed allegations of rights violations.

New Move to Condemn Syria in U.N.

Britain and France circulated a revised draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday that would condemn the Syrian government for using force against its own civilians, but would scrupulously avoid a call for military action or any sanctions against the Syrian government.

A vote on the resolution was expected in the coming days, diplomats said.

An attempt by European members of the Security Council to condemn Syria at the United Nations has been rebuffed in recent weeks. The willingness to intervene in the region has dissipated after the intervention in Libya by NATO, acting on a Security Council resolution condemning the violence against the opposition to the rule of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. China and Russia, both veto-wielding permanent members of the 15-member Security Council, have been resistant to support even a media statement condemning Syria, fearing that it could be a prelude to a similarly aggressive intervention.

Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, said Wednesday that Russia did not support a resolution on Syria. “We are not persuaded it can help establish dialogue and reach a political settlement,” he said. “We’re concerned it will have the opposite effect.”

United Nations diplomats said Russia, a powerful ally of Syria, was using the situation in Libya as a justification to oppose action in Syria, arguing that NATO’s risky intervention in Libya, under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians, had gone too far and risked becoming a protracted stalemate.

Similar reservations have also been expressed by other members of the council, including South Africa, India and Brazil.

Voicing American support for a resolution condemning the violence used by the Syrian government against its own people, Susan E. Rice, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, said Wednesday that some countries on the Security Council were disingenuously using Libya as a pretext not to pass a resolution on Syria. “We will be on the right side of history,” she said.

French and British diplomats said Wednesday that they had revised the language of the original resolution with the aim of making it politically untenable for Russia or China to block it.

The new draft, which diplomats said had been amended only slightly, condemns the Syrian government for using force against its own civilians but falls short of calling for an arms embargo or other sanctions. It notes that the “widespread and systematic attacks currently taking place in Syria by the authorities against its people may amount to crimes against humanity” under international law.

14 Palestinians shot dead in Syrian refugee camp

Eye witnesses say security guards opened fire on angry mourners who attacked Palestinian faction leaders in Yarmouk refugee camp near Damascus.

Palestinian security guards reportedly killed 14 Palestinians Monday in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria. According to witnesses, an angry crowd of mourners began to charge toward leaders of Palestinian factions, prompting their security guards to open fire. The mourners accused the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) of ndangering their lives during Sunday's protest on Israel's border, by encouraging them to put themselves in the line of fire. 

The crowd chanted slogans against Maher al-Taher, PFLP spokesman and politburo member, and set fire to the PFLP headquarters. There are additional reports that Khaled Meshal, Hamas political leader in Damascus, arrived at the camp but was forced to leave. PFLP leadership claims that outside forces are behind the riot, and that some of those killed are PLFP activists. 

Syria said on Monday that 23 people were killed in Sunday's "Naksa Day" rally, commemorating 44 years since the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel captured Syria's Golan Heights in that conflict, as well as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Official Syrian news agency SANA quoted Health Minister Wael al-Halki as saying the death toll included a woman and a child, adding that another 350 people suffered gunshot wounds.

The Israeli Defense Force continued Tuesday o amass forces on the border between  Israel and Syria, mainly in response to arnings of further protests to mark the  4th anniversary of the battles over East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War.

Syria warns of crackdown on 'armed groups'

Syria warns of crackdown on 'armed groups' Government threatens to retaliate after blaming "armed groups" for the deaths of 120 officers in country's north.

Syrian authorities will crack down on "armed groups" the government says have killed 120 members of its security forces in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour, the country's interior minister has said.

"The state will act firmly, with force and in line with the law. It will not stay arms folded in the face of armed attacks on the security of the homeland," Mohammed Ibrahim al- Shaar, the Syrian interior minister, said in a televised statement on Monday. 

Syrian state television reported that the security forces who came under attack were on their way to the town in response to calls for help from residents, and that they died in an ambush and an explosion at a post office.

"The armed groups are using weapons and grenades ... the people in Jisr al-Shughour are urging the army to intervene speedily," state TV said. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Reem Haddad, Syria's information ministry spokesperson, said "this afternoon 40 security officers were killed, and 80 have died since Friday". 

The international media is banned from covering the uprising in Syria, making it nearly impossible to verify the state- controlled media's claims. 

Military operations owever, an activist in Jisr al-Shughour, who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, said that the situation in the city was "quiet" on Monday after the previous day's violence.

"[On Monday] we didn't have any particular events, the situation was calm. But we had some news that there was a group of rmed forces headed towards us," he said. 

"The Syrian television is always against the street. If we have hundreds of demonstrators, the Syrian TV will say dozens. There is a big gap between the media in Syria and what is happening in the street."

Syrian security forces have been conducting military operations in Jisr al-Shughour for several days as part of a crackdown on anti- government protests. "The area there has been witnessing many clashes for the past few days," Al Jazeera's Rula Amin reported from Beirut in Lebanon. 

"It is very difficult to verify the two different versions of these events. "The official version of what is happening is that there are armed groups roaming the area ... that army and the security forces are facing hundreds of armed gangs, and this is a large number. Obviously the protests and confrontation between the protesters and the security police has taken a new turn." 

"From the activists and the protesters, we know they have been keen on emphasising the protests are peaceful." Our correspondent said over the past two days "we have seen on Facebook and Twitter debates even within those activists and opposition figures on the new phenomenon of some of the protesters resorting to arms, attacking the security forces, sometimes with weapons". 'Armed rebellion' An activist told Reuters that police and members of the security forces in Jisr al- Shughour were killed by gunmen. "Some people in some areas have taken up arms," he said. 

"The situation is grave, what is happening is an armed rebellion. I oppose violence from whatever side it comes from." Fares Braizat, a Middle East analyst, told Al Jazeera there was a "war of pictures and a war of the media" going on in Syria. "Now the only available version for viewers in Syria and outside Syria is the official version coming from Syrian TV or the Syrian official state agency," he said. He said that following a massacre that took place in the Jisr al-Shughour area in the 1980s, "the people of this area have a longstanding revenge that they want to take out against the Syrian regime.

"So if violence escalates to unprecedented levels ... I think this is where the regime wants the process to be. I think the regime has for the past weeks been trying to turn this into a sectarian war."

France to seek UN vote Rights groups say more than 1,100 civilians have been killed and at least 10,000 arrested in Syria since protests against Bashar al- Assad's rule erupted in mid-March. 

The Syrian government insists the unrest is the work of "armed terrorist gangs" backed by Islamists and foreign agitators. Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, on Monday said that his country was ready to approach the United Nations Security ouncil to vote on a draft resolution condemning the Syrian government for its violent crackdown on protests. "The situation is very clear. In Syria, the process of reform is dead and we think that Bashar has lost his legitimacy to rule the country," Juppe told a Washington think- tank after a day of talks with US officials including Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state. 

He said that there was a "risk" that Russia would use its veto to block the motion. An earlier initiative to persuade the council to issue a statement criticising Syria collapsed in May when Russia, China and

India opposed it.

Six human rights groups within Syria issued a joint statement on Monday condemning "the excessive use of force to disperse peaceful gatherings of unarmed Syrian citizens".

They also demanded an independent and transparent commission of inquiry "to unmask those responsible for the violence". 

Top Syrian officials hit with sanctions

Syrian women shower troops with petals and rice as they pull out of Daraa.

The European Union slapped sanctions on 13 top Syrian officials, including President Bashar al-Assad's brother, for "violence against demonstrators," it announced Tuesday.


Maher al-Assad, the president's youngest brother, is commander of the army's 4th Division and "principal overseer" of the crackdown against protesters, the EU said.

The head of Syrian intelligence, Ali Mamlouk, and Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Chaar were also sanctioned, along with 10 other intelligence, security and business officials.

Their assets in Europe are being frozen, and they're now subject to an arms embargo and travel ban.
Syria has been cracking down forcefully for weeks on anti-government protesters inspired by the "Arab Spring" sweeping across the region.

Protesters have demanded the immediate release of political prisoners, lifting of emergency and martial law, and withdrawal of intelligence forces from Syrian cities.

Syrian officials describe the protesters as "conspirators" promoting "sedition."
On Tuesday, Syrian presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban told The New York Times that she believed the government had gotten the upper hand. "I hope we are witnessing the end of the story," she said. "I think now we've passed the most dangerous moment. I hope so, I think so."

State-run news agency SANA reported on the interview with the headline: "Dr. Shaaban: We are witnessing the end of the story."

The Times said that for the story, a reporter was allowed into Syria for only a few hours.
SANA also reported Tuesday that 2,684 "rioters" had "surrendered" and been released after pledging "not to repeat any action against the security of the citizen and the homeland."

Also, four "martyrs from the army forces, who were targeted by extremist terrorist groups in Homs," were buried, SANA reported Tuesday.

Last month, al-Assad lifted the country's 48-year-old state of emergency and abolished the state security court, both of which were key demands of the demonstrators. But anti-government protests have continued, with activists alleging massive human rights abuses and calling for political and economic reforms.

Security forces have relied heavily on the army and the regime's guard to disperse demonstrations.
Syrian security forces have been using soccer stadiums as makeshift prisons in at least two cities -- Banias and Daraa, the center of the uprising -- after raiding homes and arresting hundreds of residents, the directors of two human rights organizations said Monday.

In addition, security forces burst into homes and took residents into custody in the Damascus suburb of Modemiyah, where there were reports of gunfire Monday, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

And in the city of Homs, a doctor said tanks were dispersed and security checkpoints were set up at the entrance to each suburb, with security forces, often backed by secret police, searching anyone passing through. The security presence was so heavy that people were afraid to demonstrate, the resident said.

The witness in Homs said he knew several people killed in demonstrations Friday who could not be buried, because security forces were not allowing funerals out of fear they might turn into demonstrations.

The doctor said he has seen several public buildings, including two health centers and a school, transformed into command and control centers for the Syrian security forces and military. Dozens of people have "disappeared," and their families believe they have been arbitrarily detained, the doctor said.

A U.N. humanitarian assessment team due to enter Syria was stopped, despite having previously been given permission by authorities, a U.N. spokesman said Monday. The mission was set to visit the southern city of Daraa.

U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said Monday the United Nations was trying to clarify why it wasn't able to enter.

More than 400 people have been arrested in Banias since Saturday, Abdul-Rahman said, adding that authorities had converted the Mediterranean city's soccer stadium into a prison to house them.
In Daraa, another human rights organization observed a similar situation.

"In Daraa, there have been so many arbitrary arrests in recent days that the army and security forces are using schools and the city's soccer stadium as makeshift prison facilities," said Ammar Qurabi, chairman of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria.

The heads of both organizations are not in Syria but remain in close contact with activists and protesters there.

Amnesty International said Friday that more than 540 people have been killed by Syrian security forces and that many activists in pro-reform protests "have been forced into hiding after receiving threats from Syrian authorities." On Monday, Amnesty said at least 48 people were killed by security forces in Syria "in the last four days," according to local and international human rights activists.

Syrian tanks and troops 'enter flashpoint Baniyas city'

Troops and tanks are reported to have swept into the Syrian city of Baniyas, a centre of anti-government protests.

They entered in three places and were heading towards the Sunni districts of the coastal city, human rights activists told news agencies.

Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon said he had been unable to confirm the reports as communications to the city appeared to have been cut.

The US has warned Damascus to end its brutal crackdown on protesters.

The White House said on Friday it would take "additional steps" if President Bashar al-Assad did not take steps to end the bloodshed.

More than 500 people are thought to have been killed in the uprising since mid-March.

At least 21 people were reportedly killed in Homs, Hama and other cities on Friday, in what protesters had vowed would be a "day of defiance".

No reports can be verified independently, as foreign journalists are not allowed into Syria.

'Preparing to attack'

 

Human rights activists told news agencies that Syrian troops and tanks stormed Baniyas in the early hours of Saturday.

They said the armed units were advancing on the Sunni Muslim areas of the city from three directions - steering clear of neighbourhoods of the minority Alawite sect, to which the president and his family belong.

"Residents are reporting the sound of heavy gunfire and seeing Syrian navy boats off the Baniyas coast. Sunni and mixed neighbourhoods are totally besieged now," one rights campaigner, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters news agency.

The AFP news agency reported that protesters had formed human chains to try to stop the military operation.

Hundreds of families were said to be fleeing Baniyas on Friday, with one activist telling the AFP: "It looks like they are preparing to attack the town".

Many feared the city - which has witnessed some of the most persistent demonstrations - would come under siege like Deraa in the south where the uprising erupted seven weeks ago.

The Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies (DCHRS) accused the government of carrying out "10 days of massacres" as it attempted to take back Deraa.

Five killed in Homs in Syria

Protests have erupted in several Syrian cities despite the deployment of large numbers of troops, witnesses say.

Six people have been killed - five in Homs and one in Hama - while a prominent dissident has been arrested, human rights activists say.

Thousands of protesters clashed with security forces outside a mosque in central Damascus after Friday prayers.

More than 500 people are thought to have been killed in seven weeks as the government attempts to quell protests.

At least 2,500 people have been detained during the violent crackdown, which the US has described as "barbaric".

Protesters had vowed to make Friday a "day of defiance".

Meanwhile, troops and tanks have withdrawn from the southern city of Deraa, where a human rights group says security forces carried out a 10-day "massacre".

The European Union is to impose travel bans and asset freezes on 14 senior Syrian figures, EU officials say. The sanctions will come into force later this month.
The EU put Syria under an arms embargo last month.
Meanwhile, the UN says Syria has agreed to allow UN humanitarian teams into the country.

Stones and bullets In Friday's protests, five people were killed during a demonstration in Homs, Syria's third city and scene of a bloody crackdown last month, and one in Hama, which lies to the north, activists said.
"Five bodies were picked up in the Bab al-Sibaa area [of Homs]. There are scores of injured protesters," one told the Reuters news agency.

Prominent dissident Riyad Sayf - who has spent years in prison since President Bashar al-Assad came to power - was arrested, activists said.

There were reports of other protests, including in the Damascus suburb of Saqba, the town of Tal, north of the capital, and Baniyas.

In Tal, witnesses told Reuters news agency that security forces had fired at protesters.
Earlier, troops - including tanks - were deployed in a number of cities and towns in anticipation of renewed protests.

Numerous checkpoints were set up in Damascus and elsewhere, witnesses say. A heavy troop presence was reported in Homs, nearby Rastan, and the coastal city of Baniyas.

Hundreds of families were said to be fleeing Baniyas, fearing the city - like Deraa - could come under siege.
"It looks like they are preparing to attack the town, like they did in Deraa," one activist told the AFP news agency by telephone from the town.

Challenge to Assad Across Syria, protesters are calling for greater political rights and personal freedoms. Some are calling for the downfall of the regime of President Assad.

The unrest in Syria poses the most serious challenge to Mr Assad since he succeeded his father, Hafez, in 2000.

Foreign journalists are not allowed to enter the country, so it is difficult to verify the reports of deaths.
But one doctor, who planned to join those demonstrating, said the "indiscriminate killings and inhumane arrests have generated total disgust among the average Syrian".

"Soldiers with rifles no longer deter people. The propaganda that this regime is the only guarantor of stability no longer washes," he was quoted as telling the Reuters news agency.

Appeals A Red Cross team has arrived in Deraa carrying medical supplies and humanitarian aid.
The head of the Damascus office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Deraa "is a priority for us, because it is the city that has been hardest hit by the ongoing violence".

A UN humanitarian team is also expected to visit the city, following an appeal to President Assad by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

In Washington, state department spokesman Mark Toner said the US continued to "press Assad's regime to desist in its violent behaviour".

"We abhor the violence there," he told reporters.

"I think I called it barbaric, the measures that were taken the other day against the citizens of Deraa, and we urge Syria to end these kinds of actions against innocent civilians who are simply expressing their aspirations for a democratic future."

The Damascus Centre for Human Rights Studies (DCHRS) labelled the killings in Deraa a "massacre", saying snipers and anti-aircraft machine guns had been used to fire on unarmed civilians. Recent amateur video appeared to show dozens of unarmed protesters being shot and bleeding to death on the streets.
The Syrian government says it is taking action against "elements of terrorist groups... to restore security, peace and stability".