35 Dead as Syrians Rally to Demand U.N. Intervention
Syrian activists on Friday took to the streets across the country in a bid to "internationalize" their cause after the rebel Free Syrian Army urged the Arab League to admit its observer mission is a failure and to turn to the United Nations.
But there has been no let-up in security force fire against demonstrators, with at least 35 people shot dead on Friday, according to the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground.
The LCC said security forces shot dead 14 civilians in the countryside around Damascus, five civilians and three army deserters in the flashpoint central province of Homs, nine civilians in the central province of Hama, three in the northwestern province of Idlib and one in the southern province of Daraa.
In Homs, a 36-year-old was killed by a security force bullet while sitting on his balcony, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Protests were also reported in Syria's second city Aleppo and third city Homs, in the port city of Latakia, and in Douma on the northern outskirts of the capital.
Two loud blasts shook the eastern oil hub of Deir al-Zour, where protests were also held, the Observatory said.
A team of Arab League observers has been in Syria since December 26 trying to assess whether President Bashar al-Assad's regime is complying with a peace accord aimed at ending its deadly crackdown on dissent.
The "Syrian Revolution 2011" group, one of the driving forces on the Internet behind the uprising, called on Facebook for demonstrations on Friday to urge the "internationalization of our cause."
The appeal for people to take to the streets following the main weekly Muslim prayers came ahead of an Arab League meeting Sunday to discuss the mission which has come in for scathing criticism this week.
The head of the rebel Free Syrian Army has called on the Arab League to admit the mission has been a failure and urged the bloc to seek U.N. help to end the bloodshed.
Colonel Riad al-Asaad, in a telephone interview with Agence France Presse on Thursday, said: "We hope they will announce that their mission was a failure.
"We call on the Arab League to step aside and let the United Nations take over responsibility as it is more apt to find solutions."
Asaad charged that the government was misleading the monitors and using all means to circumvent the deal it signed with the League.
"Authorities, for example, transferred prison inmates to army barracks where the observers are not allowed according to the protocol," said the dissident colonel.
"Military vehicles are painted blue and identified as 'anti-terrorist police' to make believe that it's the police" who are battling what the regime calls "armed gangs".
"We, and all the Syrian people, want the United Nations to step in because the Arabs are not capable of taking any real decisions when it comes to Syria," said Asaad.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, who heads an Arab League task force on Syria, has admitted "mistakes" in its almost two-week old mission.
Sheikh Hamad discussed the deadly crackdown with U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon in New York on Wednesday.
A U.N. spokesman said Ban and the sheikh "discussed practical measures by which the United Nations could support the observer mission of the Arab League in Syria."
But the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA quoted Hamad as saying he was seeking U.N. "technical help," "because this is the first time the Arab League is involved in sending monitors, and there are some mistakes."
The United Nations said that U.N. human rights experts could train the Arab monitors.
"This is something that is under discussion with the League of Arab states for the moment," said U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky.
Syrian opposition groups have criticized the monitors and accused the authorities of keeping them under too tight a rein.
The LCC have labeled the mission "unprofessional" and said Assad's regime was finding it easy to deceive the observers.
"Soldiers wear police uniforms, drive repainted military vehicles and change the names of places, but this does not mean the army withdrew from cities and streets, or that the regime is applying the provisions of the Arab protocol," they said.
The LCC say at least 390 people have been killed since the observers began their mission. The U.N. estimates more than 5,000 people have been killed in the crisis since March.
Source: Naharnet
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