Persian Realm

Syrian opposition plan for a future without Assad

After the fall (bbc, VIDEO)

Against a backdrop of growing armed revolt in Syria alongside street protests, the main opposition group is planning for a future without President Bashar al-Assad, its leader tells the BBC's Paul Wood in an interview.

Ahmed, a 20-year-old former soldier in the Syrian army had shot at protesters, he told me. But he had had no choice.

"We had security officers standing right behind us... They ordered us to open fire," he said.

"Some of us shot in the air, some on the ground, but one of us refused to shoot at all. He laid his gun on the ground.

"A security officer killed him there and then."

He said he had seen more than a dozen such summary executions before being captured in an ambush by the "Free Army", made up of former soldiers who have defected to the opposition. 

Syria monitors 'must act or quit'

Syria monitors 'must act or quit' (bbc)

The leader of the main Syrian opposition group has said the Arab League observer mission should either prove itself or leave Syria.

Dr Burhan Ghalioun told the BBC that western countries should establish a safe area within Syria and enforce a no-fly zone over parts of the country.

At least 12 people were killed across Syria on Wednesday, activists reported.

The UN says more than 5,000 civilians have been killed in a crackdown on anti-government protests since March.

Casualty figures and other details are hard to verify as most foreign media are barred from reporting freely in Syria.

About 100 Arab League observers have been in Syria since last week to monitor compliance to a peace plan brokered by the Arab League. 

Syria 'deceiving' Arab monitors say's opposition

Syria 'deceiving' Arab monitors (bbc)

Opposition activists in Syria have accused the government of deceiving Arab League monitors.

Military vehicles have been replaced to make it look as though the army has left city centres as required by an Arab League peace plan, activists said.

At least 12 people were killed across Syria on Wednesday, according to one activist network.

The UN says more than 5,000 civilians have been killed in a crackdown on anti-government protests since March.

Casualty figures and other details are hard to verify as most foreign media are barred from reporting freely in Syria.

Around 100 Arab League observers have been in Syria since last week to monitor compliance to a peace plan brokered by the Arab League.

"The observers are going to areas known to be loyal to the regime," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told the Associated Press news agency. 

Sarkozy demands Assad step down after 'disgusting' massacres"

Sarkozy demands Assad step down after 'disgusting' massacres "

AFP: France’s president urges Bashar Al-Assad to step down because of the violence committed against his people

France’s president urges Bashar Al-Assad to step down because of the violence committed against his people

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy demanded Tuesday that Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad step down, accusing him of overseeing sickening "massacres" against his own people.

Sarkozy told an audience of French military personnel that the Syrian people should be allowed "to freely choose their own destiny" after facing what he denounced as a brutal repression that inspires "disgust and revulsion".

Syrian army deserters 'kill 18'

Syrian army deserters 'kill 18' !bbc)

At least 18 members of President Bashar al-Assad's security forces are killed by army deserters in Syria, a human rights group says. 

Killing continuing in Syria, says Arab League

Killing continuing in Syria, says Arab League (cnn)

Syrian tanks have withdrawn from residential areas in cities, but snipers are still targeting protesters, and activists are still dying, the head of the Arab League says. 

Is Sudan best placed to bring Syria in from the cold?

Pariah politics (bbc)

Sudan's Islamist government achieved a diplomatic coup when its former military intelligence chief, Gen Mustafa al-Dabi, was appointed to head the Arab League's observer mission to Syria.

Sudan is a pariah in the West, where it is accused of sponsoring terrorism - it harboured al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in the 1990s - and of committing genocide against several ethnic groups in its Darfur region.

Despite this, it has retained its credibility in Africa and the Middle East and has exploited the Arab Spring to its advantage.

Arab League Monitors dispute Syrian sniper incident

Monitors dispute Syrian sniper incident (BBC Video)

Arab League observers in Syria have given apparently conflicting accounts of an incident said to have involved snipers in the restive city of Deraa.

Footage posted online appears to show one official saying he had seen government snipers on rooftops and calling for them to be withdrawn.

However in a BBC interview, the chief of the Arab League mission later denied that the official had seen the snipers.

Violence in Syria has continued unabated despite the monitors' mission.

Jon Donnison reports. 

Will Asma al-Assad take a stand or stand by her man?

Will Asma al-Assad take a stand or stand by her man? 

Everything is sacred

Let's say tanks are withdrawn

...... and the army is back to barracks. But who will disarm the other side ?

70000 Syrians rally against Assad as Arab monitors visit Homs

70000 Syrians rally as Arab monitors visit Homs; tanks seen leaving 

Some 70,000 Syrians took to the streets of Homs as Arab League observers visited the protest hub on Tuesday after reports that at least 34 people had been killed in 24 hours of a crackdown on dissent.

“There are at least 70,000 protesters. They are marching towards the city center and the security forces are trying to stop them. They are firing tear gas,” the Observatory’s Rami Abdelrahman told Reuters.

The protesters seemed to have been emboldened by the visit of the Arab monitors who were in Homs on a mission to assess whether Syria has ended a nine-months of crackdown on protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. 

The official SANA news agency reported meanwhile that saboteurs had blown up a gas pipeline in Homs province, where Assad’s regime has for months been trying to crush dissent and mutinous soldiers.

Fresh Syria violence 'kills 23'

Fresh Syria violence 'kills 23' (bbc)

Activists say 23 people have died in the Syrian city of Homs, hours before the expected arrival of a team of Arab League observers. 

Syria toll rises as observers due

Syria toll rises as observers due (bbc)

More Arab League observers are set to arrive in Syria as human rights activists say at least 13 people are killed in the central city of Homs. At least 13 people died in gunfire and shelling on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

Pope urges end to Syria bloodshed

Pope urges end to Syria bloodshed (bbc)

Pope Benedict XVI uses his traditional Christmas Day message to pray for an end to the bloodshed in Syria. 

Soon

IR will be the lone ranger inthe region!

volunteers from Libya to fight Assad’s regime ?

Syrian dissidents to get arms, volunteers from Libya to fight Assad's 

The new Libyan government is well on its way to help Syrian fighters against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime with arms after a meeting held in Istanbul between the two sides, a newspaper reported Saturday.

A Libyan source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Britain’s Telegraph, that the aid will extend beyond providing the Syrian fighters with arms but that Libya could also offer potential volunteers to help up rebels in their struggle against Assad’s regime. 

“There is something being planned to send weapons and even Libyan fighters to Syria,” said the Libyan source.

The Libyan source also heralded that “there is a military intervention on the way. Within a few weeks you will see.”

According to the newspaper, preliminary discussion about arms supplies dates back to early November 2011, when members of the main opposition group, the Syrian National Council [SNC] visited Libya. 

Libya to arm rebels in Syria

Libya to arm rebels in Syria (Telegraph, London; Associated Press)

MISRATA, Libya: Syrian rebels have held secret talks with Libya's new authorities , aiming to secure weapons and money for their insurgency ... 

Syria 'suicide attacks kill 30'

Syria 'suicide attacks kill 30' (bbc) 

The Syrian government says more than 30 people have been killed in two suicide car bombings outside security service facilities in the capital, Damascus.

State TV earlier said suspected al-Qaeda militants had targeted bases of the General Security Directorate and another agency in the Kafr Sousa area.

But opposition activists said the government had staged the attacks to influence an Arab League observer team.

John Simpson Say's Syria 'inching towards civil war'

Syria 'inching towards civil war' (VIDEO BBC)

Syria's main opposition coalition has called for emergency meetings of the UN Security Council and the Arab League to discuss the intensifying violence in the north-west of the country.

The Syrian National Council, which is based outside Syria, says about 250 people have been killed since Monday.

A human rights group has accused the Syrian authorities of carrying out an "organised massacre" in Idlib province.

John Simpson's report contains some disturbing images.

Syria opposition cites 'acts of genocide'

Syria opposition cites 'acts of genocide' (CNN)

Syria's major opposition group condemned Bashar al-Assad's regime Wednesday for "brutal massacres" this week and urged the U.N. Security Council to protect civilians against "acts of genocide."

"The regime is using children as human shields so that tanks and armored vehicles can storm residential areas," said the Syrian National Council, which said that about 250 people have died over a 48-hour period.

"Incidents of gruesome murders have been recorded," the council said Wednesday, including the killings of four brothers and the beheading of a sheikh, whose head was hung above a mosque entrance. Both incidents occurred in Idlib, and the council says "acts of genocide" are occurring in Zawiyah Mountain in Idlib province in the northwest and the city of Homs in the west. 

Syria unrest: Jabal al-Zawiya 'massacres'

In recent days, human rights groups and opposition activists say some 200 people have been killed by Syrian security forces in the hills and villages of the north-western province of Idlib.

Most of those killed in the Jabal al-Zawiya area, 40km (25 miles) south-west of the provincial capital Idlib, have reportedly been army defectors.

In what activists say was one of the deadliest massacres of the nine-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, up to 70 soldiers were mown down by machine-guns on Monday after hundreds fled their positions between the villages of Kafrouaid and Kansafra.

Syria 'massacre': UN urged to act

Syria 'massacre': UN urged to act (bbc)   The Syrian opposition calls for emergency meetings of the UN Security Council and the Arab League to discuss an alleged massacre in Syria's north-west.

'Nearly 200' die in Syria clashes

'Nearly 200' die in Syria clashes (bbc)

Almost 200 people have died in two days of clashes in Syria, activists say, as the violence there intensifies.

Two activist groups put Tuesday's toll at 84 - the majority in Idlib province in the north-west.

Video has emerged of a young boy, whose body was apparently torn in half by shelling in the city of Homs.

The bloodshed comes a day before an advance group of Arab League monitors is due to arrive to oversee the implementation of a peace initiative. 

Syria threatens to execute 'terrorists'

Syria threatens to execute 'terrorists' (CNN VIDEO)

(CNN) -- Dozens more people were reported killed by government troops and police in Syria on Tuesday, a day after what opposition activists said was the single deadliest known day of anti-government protests.

The Local Coordination Committees, an opposition umbrella group, said 78 people died across four Syrian provinces. Most of them were in Idlib, where the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 60 to 70 Syrian army defectors were gunned down Monday as they tried to flee their posts.

The Syrian Observatory's Rami Abdul Rahman said another 40 civilians were killed the same day "across Syria during house-to-house raids, arrests, and clashes between army defectors and the Syrian army."

"Monday may have been a day with the highest death toll in Syria, between 100 and 110 killed in total," he said.

The Syrian government maintains that it is cracking down on armed terrorists who attack security forces and civilians. The activists say the government's brutal crackdown against peaceful protests has led to the deaths. 

I'm afraid it may be too late

Too many people died on both sides, pro- and anti-Assad.

Talking about Arab spring, Tahrir square, truly disturbing.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnFVYewkWEY&skipcontrinter=1

Syria signs Arab League agreement

Syria signs Arab League agreement (bbc)

Syria signs an agreement to allow observers to monitor its implementation of an Arab League initiative to end the crackdown on protests. 

Syria opposition stages congress in Tunisia

Syria opposition stages congress (bbc)

The Syrian National Council, a coalition of groups opposed to President Assad, opens its first congress in Tunisia, as violence in Syria continues. 

Jonathan Head

BBC News, Istanbul

The opposition in Syria has proved remarkably resilient in the face of the heavy firepower used by the Syrian authorities - but it lacks clear leadership.

This was supposed to be provided by the Syrian National Council, which was established in Istanbul in September - but the council's leaders are mostly intellectuals in exile who have limited contact with those organising resistance inside Syria.

They hope that their first congress this weekend will produce a much clearer agreed strategy.

Concern over the readiness of the opposition to take over from President Assad is one factor holding some countries back from endorsing international intervention in Syria.

Fittingly, this congress is being held on the first anniversary of the Arab uprisings, in Tunisia, where they began. 

Russia in surprise UN Syria move

Russia in surprise UN Syria move (bbc)

Russia has circulated a UN Security Council resolution aimed at ending the crisis in Syria, in a move that surprised the Western nations. 

West 'immoral on Syria' -say's Russian FM

West 'immoral on Syria' - Russia (bbc)

Russia's foreign minister has accused the West of an "immoral" stance on Syria, saying it should condemn the opposition as well as security forces.

Sergei Lavrov said opposition groups were trying to provoke a "humanitarian catastrophe" to get foreign help.

The comments came after UN human rights chief Navi Pillay told the Security Council Syria should be referred to the International Criminal Court over its crackdown on the nine-month uprising.

She said 5,000 people had been killed.

In October, Russia and China vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning Syria. The draft, introduced by France and the UK, was supported by other Western countries.

On Tuesday Mr Lavrov defended an alternative text drafted by Russia and China which urges both sides in the conflict to refrain from violence.

He described as "immoral" the position of "those who refuse to exert pressure on the armed, extremist, part of the opposition and at the same time accuse us of blocking the work of the Security Council". 

I think Assad should stop

I think Assad should stop listening to Khameni and resign...

A state of war only serves
as an excuse for domestic tyranny.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Born December 11, 1918