23 Killed as Syria Offers Amnesty for Arms Surrender
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Syrian troops killed at least 23 people Friday when demonstrators took to the streets denouncing "despots and tyrants," as world powers cast doubt on the regime's commitment to an Arab peace deal.
Troops raked several residential neighborhoods of Homs -- a city of some one million people that has been at the frontline of protests raging since mid-March -- with heavy machineguns mounted on tanks, a watchdog said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 23 people were killed across Syria, nine of them in Homs.
Further north in Hama, four civilians were shot dead, while seven people were killed in the town of Kanaker, outside the capital, and a protester was shot dead by security forces in Damascus.
Two more people were killed, one of them an army deserter, when troops opened fire on a group of people trying to slip across the border into Jordan, the Britain-based Observatory said.
Four policemen were also wounded, two critically, in clashes with an "armed terrorist group" in Kanaker, the state-run SANA news agency reported, adding that one of the gunmen was killed in the fighting.
The agency also denied reports that dozens of people were arrested in Banias, quoting the governor of Tartous where the Mediterranean coastal city is located.
Earlier the Observatory said that "four children closely related to Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman" were among those seized in Banias.
Video footage posted on YouTube showed dozens of demonstrators, some masked, marching through the historic Midan neighborhood of Damascus, chanting anti-Assad slogans.
Protesters in Harasta just outside Damascus, described Assad as a "liar" who has no intention of implementing the Arab roadmap.
Demonstrators also chanted: "Allah will overcome tyrants and despots" -- echoing the slogan of Friday's protests which activists called to "validate" whether the government was implementing terms of the Arab peace deal.
The United States and France slammed Syria for pressing on with its crackdown on dissent and failing to heed to the hard-won agreement that calls for tanks to be withdrawn from protest hubs in a bid to end nearly eight months of bloodshed.
Members of the U.N. Human Rights Council meanwhile said they seek to "shine a spotlight" on violations in Syria as a U.N. commission of inquiry prepared to file later this month a report on the violence-wracked country.
France said Syria was breaking its commitments to the Arab deal by continuing a deadly crackdown on protesters, and cast doubt on President Bashar al-Assad's dedication to the deal.
There has been enormous skepticism inside and outside Syria about the regime's readiness to call off its troops and enter meaningful negotiations with the opposition as it promised under the deal unveiled on Wednesday.
"The continuing repression can only strengthen the international community's doubts about the Syrian regime's sincerity to implement the Arab League peace plan," French foreign ministry deputy spokesman Romain Nadal said in Paris.
In Washington U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Thursday said: "We have not seen any evidence that the Assad regime intends to live up to the commitments that it's made."
On Friday she also expressed skepticism of an amnesty announced by the interior ministry to mark the end of the annual Muslim hajj, or pilgrimage, and the start Sunday of Eid al-Adha feast.
"I wouldn't advise anybody to turn themselves in to regime authorities at the moment," said Nuland amid apparent concerns for the welfare of those who might do so.
State media reported that anyone heeding the ministry's call to surrender weapons at the nearest police station "will walk free ... and receive an amnesty."
The interior ministry set a deadline from Saturday to November 12 but warned the offer was not valid for anyone having committed "murder."
Syrian authorities have used force to crush almost daily anti-regime protests since mid-March, and more than 3,000 people have been killed according to U.N. estimates.
Pro-democracy protesters insist their campaign is peaceful while the government says it has been battling "armed terrorist groups."
The Arab League meanwhile took Syria to task and said foreign correspondents should apply to Syrian authorities to enter the country, since unfettered media access was part of the deal Damascus approved.
04 November 2011, 13:54
05
The Arab League will have to react... Mmmm... Sure! By doing what? Another "bad boy Bashar, bad boy" speech??
There will never be any kind of concrete action from the Arab League, just because too much is at stake in the region because of Syria.
So people will continue to be killed and jailed. And the western countries will keep barking because they are too afraid of the consequences on their dear israel - who, meanwhile, is building more and more hate against it.
Middle East has always been a time bomb... Except that now we have a better idea of where the countdown stands...
04 November 2011, 15:02
02
Why do these people in the Arab League and the UN keep going to Damascus to get Assad's "word" on anything? Don't they know that Assad's word is meaningless?
I think that the effort is made more to save face for the Arab League or the UN than it is to get Assad to end his murderous ways. If the regional and international community did nothing as one of its "members" bathes in the blood of its citizens, its unseemly and embarassing for the community that it does not at least try to discipline of of its members.
So this is face saving for the Arab League and the UN in light of the Assad Regime's atrocities in light of the fact that neither organziation intends to do anything that would cause Assad to be ousted.
We have the Shia Crescent running north from Iran to Iraq, Syria and to Hezbollistan in Lebanon and now the Sunni Crescent running from Libya to Tunisia, Egypt and where will it end? In Syria? Assad has diagnosed the problem with his tetonic plates analogy. We must act
04 November 2011, 18:41
02
The people of Syria and their army will nave to take care of Assad and his gang
04 November 2011, 19:10
03
The Arab league itself will not do anything......that is true, but they provice a paper shield for China and Russia to hide behind. They can't save ASSad forever. They will sell him, vote against him in the UN and move on.
04 November 2011, 20:06
02
Is easier to turn a wolf into eating grass than to change Assad and his murderous regime!
These are typical solutions used by the regime to buy time in the hopes that things might change.
04 November 2011, 21:27
01
The killings committed today by Assad's regime are the answer to the Arab League. Assad has no intention of adhering to a piece of paper when he feels his hold on power threatened.
The onus is now on the Arab League and the UN. They have dared Assad to cross the line that they have made in the sand, and Assad has crossed it, daring the international community to call his bluff. If we fail to act in the face of this provocation by the Assad Regime, great damage will have been done to international order.
We must act now. It is not simply a domestic matter anymore, the action of the Arab League, Assad's breaking of the agreement, has regionalized the Syrian Issue and if the Arab League fails to act, as we know that it will, then the Syrian Issue will have been internationalized and international action must be taken to remove this regime that is flaunting all civilized behavior.
04 November 2011, 21:38
02
you all got it wrong! all leaders of M8 are saying that the crisis is over in syria! assad has overcome it (= arslane the latest comment!) it only concerns a few cities which represent nothing every where else is calm and people are still behind their beloved leader!
so believe them! don t they always say the truth to their supporters?
come on guys! listen to these responsible leaders of M8....
04 November 2011, 21:49
02
Peace....you are correct. I believe even Nassy himself said the same thing. So did pajama boy.
After 8 months of killing you would think that ASSad would realize that there is no going back, and no one believes him.
the M8 crowd better realize that not only are things not over, but the next chapter is about to start. As soon as the Arab league timeline is over, ASSad will start heading down at a faster pace.
All of these pro-ASSad pro-M8, pro-Hezz propaganda iditots better get used to it.
Let ASSad and the Hezz send their killers into Lebanon. That is what they are going to do. If this is the earthquake ASSad has planned then let it happen if it means getting rid of him. We all knew he would not go out without mass murder. Let him get out one way or the pother and leave Nassy alone in his rat hole exposed to a new hostile border.
05 November 2011, 04:41
00
2 Words to everyone living in Lebanon and Syria. Begin arming yourselves now before it is too late. By next summer, both Countries will have major problems and developments. You have been alerted and warned.
