Syrian dissidents launch civil disobedience campaign,

Assad denies ordering brutal crackdown

Syrian dissidents launch civil disobedience campaign

Pro-democracy activists in Syria said they had launched a campaign of civil disobedience Thursday, with plans to stage sit-ins at work and close universities in their latest attempt to put pressure on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

By News Wires (text)

AFP – Syrian activists on Thursday launched a campaign of civil disobedience to pile pressure on President Bashar al-Assad, after he drew a stinging rebuke from the US for denying he ordered a deadly crackdown.

Local human rights groups said more than 100 people have been killed in Syria since the weekend, and the UN estimates at least 4,000 have died since March when anti-regime protests erupted.

But in a rare interview with Western media, President Assad questioned the UN toll and denied ordering the killing of protesters, saying only a "crazy person" would do so.

Washington said Assad's remarks showed he was disconnected from reality or himself "crazy," as he comes under mounting global pressure, with Arab nations and Turkey joining the West in pursuing sanctions against his regime.

Despite the rhetoric, activists said there was no let-up in the crackdown with forces loyal to Assad on Thursday killing at least seven civilians, including a woman, in an assault on the restive central city of Homs.

Forces used sniper fire and "arbitrary" shelling in three neighbourhoods of the city, a main hub for dissent that has been besieged for more than two months, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Local Coordination Committees activist network reported separately that Assad's forces used bombs and "heavy and indiscriminate gunfire" in Damascus and northwestern Idlib province.

State news agency SANA said, meanwhile, that "an armed terrorist group targeted in a sabotage operation the pipeline of Tal al-Shor, west of Homs."

The LCC, which organises anti-regime protests on the ground in Syria, appealed for citizens to mobilise for a "dignity strike ... which will lead to the sudden death of this tyrant regime."

The campaign would "snowball... and grow each day of the revolution to reach every home and anyone who wants to live delighted and dignified in his/her country," said an LCC statement received in Nicosia.

Syrian death toll rises

The UN’s top human rights official says her office estimates the death toll in Syria’s nine-month uprising is now “much more” than 4,000. Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, gave the latest figure a day before the global body is due to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis in the country. Pillay told reporters in Geneva on Thursday that evidence emerging of abuses committed by Syrian security forces affirms her call that the country’s leadership should be prosecuted for “crimes against humanity.” (AP)

It urged citizens to begin the action on Sunday -- the first day of the working week in Syria -- starting with sit-ins at work, and the closure of shops and universities, before the shutdown of transportation networks and a general public sector strike.

"The Syrian revolution is... a renaissance against slavery; a scream at the face of humiliation started from the first day as demonstrators cried 'Syrians are not to be humiliated.'

"The echo of this scream will not vanish till it reaches all ears," said the English-language statement, adding the strike was "the first step in an overall civil disobedience" campaign which will overthrow the regime.

In his interview, Assad denied he ordered the killing of thousands of protesters and brushed aside charges that Syrian forces tortured to death a 13-year-old boy, whom rights groups say was shot, burned and castrated in April.

"Every 'brute reaction' was by an individual, not by an institution, that's what you have to know," Assad told US television network ABC News.

"There is a difference between having a policy to crack down and between having some mistakes committed by some officials. There is a big difference."

Assad said he was not responsible for the nine months of bloodshed, declaring: "No government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person."

"There was no command to kill or be brutal," Assad told ABC.

Assad said security forces belonged to "the government" and not him personally.

"I don't own them. I'm president. I don't own the country. So they are not my forces," he said.

Assad's family has ruled Syria with an iron fist for four decades. Assad's brother, Lieutenant Colonel Maher al-Assad, heads the army's Fourth Division, which oversees the capital as well as the elite Republican Guard.

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner dared Assad to back up his assertions by letting in international observers and media, saying there was a "clear campaign against peaceful protesters."

"It either says that he's completely lost any power that he had within Syria, that he's simply a tool or that he's completely disconnected with reality," Toner told reporters Wednesday.

"It's either disconnection, disregard or, as he said, crazy. I don't know," Toner said.

TURKEY - SYRIA Turkey announces new sanctions against Syria

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Date created : 08/12/2011

Assad denies ordering brutal Syrian crackdown

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denied ordering the deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters on Wednesday, claiming that most of the people who died in the unrest over the last nine months were his troops and supporters.

By FRANCE 24 (video)
News Wires (text)

AFP - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denied ordering the killing of thousands of protesters and said "only a crazy person" would target his own people as global pressure mounted Wednesday on his regime.

In a rare interview, Assad said that he was not responsible for the nine months of bloodshed and drew a distinction between himself and the military -- an assertion that the United States called "ludicrous."

"We don't kill our people," Assad told US network ABC. "No government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person."

"There was no command to kill or be brutal," Assad told veteran ABC News interviewer Barbara Walters.

Syrian death toll rises

The UN’s top human rights official says her office estimates the death toll in Syria’s nine-month uprising is now “much more” than 4,000.

Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, gave the latest figure a day before the global body is due to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis in the country.

Pillay told reporters in Geneva on Thursday that evidence emerging of abuses committed by Syrian security forces affirms her call that the country’s leadership should be prosecuted for “crimes against humanity.” (AP)

Assad said that security forces belonged to "the government" and not him personally.

"I don't own them. I'm president. I don't own the country. So they are not my forces," Assad said.

The United Nations estimates that more than 4,000 people have died as Syria cracks down on protesters, who have emerged as the greatest challenge yet to Assad amid a wave of uprisings in the Arab world that have toppled authoritarian leaders in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.

Assad dismissed the death toll, saying: "Who said that the United Nations is a credible institution?"

"Most of the people that have been killed are supporters of the government, not the vice versa," Assad said in English, giving a figure of 1,100 dead soldiers and police.

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner dared Assad to back up his assertions by letting in international observers and media, saying that there was a "clear campaign against peaceful protesters."

"It either says that he's completely lost any power that he had within Syria, that he's simply a tool or that he's completely disconnected with reality," Toner told reporters Wednesday.

"It's either disconnection, disregard or, as he said, crazy. I don't know," Toner said.

Toner, reacting a day earlier to excerpts of the interview, called Assad's denial of responsibility "ludicrous," triggering a rebuke from Syria's foreign ministry which accused him of distorting the remarks.

Syria has come under growing international pressure, with Arab nations and Turkey joining Western powers in pursuing sanctions against Assad.

Turkey, which had close economic ties with Syria, on Wednesday announced a 30 percent tax on goods from the neighboring country. Turkey has already banned transactions with Syria's government and central bank.

Syrian official media said its border forces late Monday thwarted an attempt by 35 gunmen to infiltrate from Turkey. But a Turkish diplomat denied military activity and pledged that the country would not be a springboard for attacks.

The Arab League has suspended Syria and has threatened new sanctions if Assad does not allow in observers. Syria initially refused but at the last minute offered to let in monitors in return for an end to sanctions.

Alistair Burt, the British Foreign Office minister for the Middle East, hailed the efforts by the Arab League and voiced hope for greater action by Russia, the key ally of the Assads since the Soviet era.

"The isolation of Syria will continue and intensify," Burt told AFP as he visited Libya in the wake of the overthrow and killing of leader Moamer Kadhafi.

In the ABC News interview, Assad brushed aside the international pressure, saying: "We've been under sanctions for the last 30, 35 years. It's not something new."

The conflict is said to have taken a heavy toll on children who either took part in protests or were targeted because of their parents' involvement. A UN-appointed investigator said that Syria killed 56 children in November alone.

In one high-profile case, Assad denied charges that Syrian forces tortured to death 13-year-old boy Hamza al-Khatib, who rights groups say was shot, burned and castrated in April.

"Every 'brute reaction' was by an individual, not by an institution, that's what you have to know," Assad said.

"There is a difference between having a policy to crack down and between having some mistakes committed by some officials. There is a big difference."

The United States and France on Tuesday sent their ambassadors back to Syria in hopes that they can shine light on the violence and show solidarity with protesters, weeks after the envoys were pulled out due to safety concerns.

Looking to the post-Assad future, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Tuesday in Geneva with the dissident Syrian National Council and urged the protection of women and minorities.

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Date created : 07/12/2011

Turkey announces new sanctions against Syria

Turkey announced a new set of sanctions against Syria on Wednesday, a move that marks a significant deterioration in the relationship between the two former allies over Syria's deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

By News Wires (text)

AFP - Turkey announced on Wednesday a new set of sanctions against Syria as ties between the two former allies strained further over the Damascus regime's deadly crackdown on opponents.

"We will impose 30 percent tax on goods coming from Syria," Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazici was quoted as saying by the private NTV television.

The Anatolia news agency did not give a precise tax rate but quoted the minister as saying that it would be in compliance with the standards set out by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

"Both they (Syrians) and we are members of the WTO. We will not exceed the standard envisaged by the WTO," Anatolia quoted Yazici as saying.

After suspending a free trade pact with Ankara, Syria began imposing around 30 percent tax on some goods from Turkey, said the minister according to the agency.

The ministry was not immediately available for comment.

On November 30, Turkey announced a raft of punitive sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad's regime for its months-long deadly crackdown on anti-regime protests.

Among the initial measures, Ankara announced an immediate ban on transactions with the Syrian governement and its central bank, as well as a freeze on Syrian government assets in Turkey.

Damascus retaliated by suspending a 2004 free trade agreement reached with Ankara after long negotiations. It also raised import duties at the customs, increased fuel oil prices and delayed truck transports.

"Syria will pay a high cost for these sanctions," Yazici said.

Another measure announced by the minister is a ban on vehicles registered in Syria and over 20 years old.

Turkey has also been seeking alternative routes to bypass Syria for trade with the Middle East.

On Wednesday, Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said the government was considering three alternative routes through Egypt's Alexandria, Lebanon and Iraq.

"Our Plans A, B, C are all ready," said Caglayan.

Frustrated by Syria's retaliatory measures, Caglayan had also signalled Turkey's additional sanctions could be even more severe.

TURKEY - SYRIA Turkey slaps sanctions on Syria

SYRIA-TURKEY Turkish PM calls on Syria’s Assad to step down

Date created : 07/12/2011

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