Syria forces shell Homs, Saudis push U.N. resolution

1 of 12. Demonstrators gather during a protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Homs February 10, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Handout

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Angus MacSwan

AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces unleashed new tank and rocket bombardments on opposition neighborhoods of Homs on Saturday while diplomats sought U.N. backing for an Arab plan to end 11 months of bloodshed in Syria.

Activists said seven people were killed in the latest attacks in a week-long government siege of Homs, a battered city at the heart of the uprising to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

Mohammed Hassan, one opposition campaigner in Homs, told Reuters by satellite telephone that a 55-year-old woman was among those killed by shellfire on the Bab Amro district.

The bloodshed followed a day of violence across Syria on Friday, when bombings targeting security bases killed at least 28 people in Aleppo and rebel fighters battled troops in a Damascus suburb after dark.

Assad has ignored repeated international appeals, the latest from the European Union, to halt his crackdown.

"I am appalled by the reports of the brutal attacks by the Syrian armed forces in Homs. I condemn in the strongest terms these acts perpetrated by the Syrian regime against its own civilian," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.

However, the world is deeply divided over how to end the Syria conflict. On Sunday Russia and China vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution sponsored by Western and Arab states that backed an Arab League call for Assad to step down.

HOMS SUFFERS

The government offensive on opposition-held, mostly Sunni Muslim areas of Homs has killed at least 300 people in the past week, according to activists. Food and medical supplies are running low in blockaded areas, where many people are trapped in their houses, fearful of coming under fire if they step out.

Accounts could not be independently confirmed as Syria restricts access by most foreign journalists.

Youtube footage provided by activists showed a doctor at a field hospital next to the body of the woman. "Shrapnel hit her in the head and completely drained her brain matter," he says.

Big guns also pounded other Sunni neighborhoods in Homs that have been at the forefront of the uprising.

The 46-year old president belongs to the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that has dominated the majority Sunni country since Assad's late father took control in a 1970 coup.

Security forces have also made house-to-house raids in Homs in the last two days. The bodies of three people shot by snipers were pulled from the streets on Saturday, activists said.

YouTube footage from Friday showed two tanks said to be on the edge of Bab Amro, one firing its main gun across a highway.

"The indiscriminate shelling is killing mostly civilians," Fawaz Tello, an Egyptian-based member of the opposition Syrian National Council, told Reuters.

"Assad cannot push his troops into street fighting...so he is content with shelling Homs to bits until civilian losses pressure the Free Syrian Army to withdraw and regime troops can enter these neighborhoods without taking any serious losses."

TROOPS AMBUSHED

Elsewhere in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 soldiers were killed in an ambush by army defectors on Friday in the rebellious Idlib region on the border with Turkey.

The defectors hit a patrol between two villages with hand grenades and roadside bombs, the British-based Observatory said.

In Damascus, Free Syrian Army rebels fought for four hours on Friday night against troops backed by armored vehicles who had entered al-Qaboun neighborhood, activists said.

The fighting between government and rebel soldiers showed how opposition to Assad has increasingly evolved from pro-democracy street protests to armed insurrection.

World powers fear a slide into all-out civil war which could inflame a region already riven by revolts and rivalries from Bahrain and Yemen to Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Gulf Arab states, the United States, Europe and Turkey are leading diplomatic efforts to force Assad to end his 11-year rule. But they have ruled out a military intervention of the kind that helped bring down Libya's Muammar Gaddafi last year.

Assad can count on the support of Russia, Syria's main arms supplier and an ally stretching back to the Soviet era, as well as Iran. Moscow, which is keen to counter U.S. influence in the Middle East, insists foreign powers should not interfere.

Kamel Ayham, a Eurasia Group analyst, said Syria was also the nexus of a regional power struggle, with Assad's fate the focus of competition between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim countries.

At the United Nations, Saudi Arabia circulated a draft resolution backing an Arab peace plan for Syria among members of the General Assembly on Friday, diplomats said. The text echoed the one vetoed by Russia and China in the Security Council.

Like the failed draft, the assembly text "fully supports" the Arab League plan floated last month. The assembly is due to discuss Syria on Monday and vote on the draft later in the week.

Russia and China blocked the Security Council draft, saying it was unbalanced and failed to blame Syria's opposition, along with the government, for violence in which thousands have died.

The United Nations, which says it can no longer tally casualties, estimated in mid-December that the security forces had killed more than 5,000. A week later, the government said armed "terrorists" had killed over 2,000 soldiers and police.

Eurasia's Ayham said the Russian and Chinese vetoes indicated that change was not imminent. As the rebel forces lacked structure and a unified command, Assad would keep the military edge, but would find it hard to stamp out the revolt.

"In the next few months, Syria will transition from civil conflict into civil war. Assad's power and control over the country will diminish and civilian casualties on both sides are expected to rise," Ayham said.

(Additional reporting by Patrick Worsnip at the United Nations and Dominic Evans in Beirut; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

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1:32 AM | 0 comments

Putin's Russia set against regime change in Syria

By Steve Gutterman

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian warnings to the West and its Arab allies to keep their hands off Syria hide a slight chance for compromise on a U.N. resolution aimed at halting bloodshed in the country, but a demand for President Bashar al-Assad to step aside could be a deal-breaker.

With Prime Minister Vladimir Putin facing the biggest protests of his 12-year rule and planning to return to the Kremlin in a March presidential vote, Russia wants to avoid stamping its approval on any regime change engineered from outside.

Moscow has been busy drawing "red lines" as it comes under pressure to stop shielding its old ally Assad and to use its power as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member to push Damascus into ending the crackdown which has killed thousands of civilians.

Russia has erected a wall of noise, emphasizing it opposes sanctions against Syria - a major customer for its arms - and making clear it will block any attempt for the Council to endorse military intervention.

The latest test of Russia's resolve, a new draft resolution backed by Western and Arab powers led by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, does not call for new sanctions or threaten military action - but it does call for Assad to cede power.

The draft says the Council supports an Arab League plan "to facilitate a political transition leading to a democratic, plural political system ... including through the transfer of power from the President and transparent and fair elections."

Moscow could potentially be appeased if the draft's supporters remove the specific reference to the transfer of power by Assad or add a clause ruling out military intervention.

However, it may also demand a clear statement that Assad's more violent opponents share blame for the bloodshed. Russia would also be pleased by the removal of a clause calling for "further measures" if Syria does not comply swiftly, wording that to Moscow smacks of sanctions.

Gennady Gatilov, a deputy foreign minister, said on Friday that Russia would not support a demand for Assad's resignation and warned that a rushed vote would be doomed to failure, indicating Moscow could veto the draft in its current form.

Putin has said little publicly on Syria for months, letting diplomats do the talking, and President Dmitry Medvedev is formally responsible for foreign policy.

But Putin, who is expected to win a six-year Kremlin term despite a drop in popularity from previous highs, is widely believed to be guiding Russia's Syria strategy.

Russia and China used a double veto in October to block a Western-backed draft resolution condemning Assad's government for its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters and opponents, which the United Nations says has killed more than 5,000 people.

Western diplomats say Russia might find it difficult to veto a resolution they say is simply intended to provide support for the Arab League, whose efforts to end the Syrian violence have generally been welcomed by Moscow.

REGIME CHANGE

But Sergei Markov, a university vice president and former lawmaker with Putin's party, predicted Russia would also veto the new Western-Arab resolution if its call for Assad to give up power remains. "For Russia, this is intervention in domestic politics and part of a strategy of regime change," he said.

Russia has adamantly warned the West it would not allow a repeat in Syria of last year's events in Libya, where NATO military intervention helped rebels to drive longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi from power.

Moscow had let the NATO air operation go ahead by abstaining in the U.N. vote that authorized it, but then accused the alliance of overstepping its mandate to protect civilians.

Putin has angrily likened the Libyan resolution to "medieval calls for crusades," and last month suggested Gaddafi was hounded to his death with the help of NATO special forces and U.S. pilotless drones.

Russia has plenty of pragmatic reasons to resist political change in Syria, one of Moscow's strongest footholds in the Middle East since the Soviet era. Syria has been a major client for Russian arms sales and hosts a naval maintenance facility on its Mediterranean coast that is the only base outside the former Soviet Union for Russia's shrunken navy.

More importantly, analysts say, Putin needs to be seen to be standing up to the West and making clear that the internal affairs of sovereign states, including Russia, are off-limits to foreign interference.

The call for Assad to step aside is particularly objectionable for a leader who, since coming to power in 2000, has answered U.S. and European charges that he has rolled back democracy with accusations of Western meddling and told his citizens to guard against efforts to foment revolution in Russia.

PUTIN'S POLITICS

"For Putin, the language is unacceptable, because it sets a precedent," said Vladimir Frolov, president of LEFF Group, a Moscow-based government relations firm.

To many Russians, he said, "Putin would look inconsistent, weak and stupid if he were to authorize the Foreign Ministry to support that. He's been saying the opposite to his supporters on the stump."

Putin has turned to anti-Western rhetoric repeatedly during his campaign for the March 4 vote.

Facing criticism over a December parliamentary vote that many Russians suspect was rigged to favor the ruling party, Putin accused the United States of stirring up a persistent street protest movement that have undermined his authority.

He told students in Siberia on Wednesday that the United States "wants to control everything" and seeks to make other countries its "vassals," not allies.

Russia's warning on Friday indicated that it will seek to remove the reference to the transfer of power. But its insistence that details of a political settlement be worked out in talks seemed to leave little room for compromise.

Russia might be more pliable on other aspects of a resolution if it clearly rules out military intervention, said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs.

But he said Western and Arab states were unlikely to put recourse to the use of force entirely out of reach or bend far enough on the call for Assad to give up power to satisfy Moscow.

With Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar determined to get Assad out of power and Russia opposed, he said, "I cannot really see some resolution that could be agreed by all."

"This is not Libya, it's a completely different situation."

(editing by David Stamp)

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Qatar emir suggests sending Arab troops to Syria

 

1 of 11. Qatar's Amir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani speaks during celebrations marking the first year anniversary of the revolution in Tunis January 14, 2012. Tunisians on Saturday marked the first anniversary of the revolution that started the ''Arab Spring'' with celebrations. The sign reads ''Revolution of freedom and dignity''.

Credit: Reuters/Zoubeir Souissi

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

AMMAN (Reuters) - Qatar has proposed sending Arab troops to halt the bloodshed in Syria, where violence has raged on despite the presence of Arab League monitors sent to check if an Arab peace plan is working.

Asked if he was in favor of Arab nations intervening in Syria, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani told the U.S. broadcaster CBS: "For such a situation to stop the killing ... some troops should go to stop the killing."

The emir, whose country backed last year's NATO campaign that helped Libyan rebels topple Muammar Gaddafi, is the first Arab leader to propose Arab military intervention in Syria where protesters are demanding President Bashar al-Assad stand down.

CBS said on its website that the interview would be broadcast in its "60 Minutes" program Sunday.

Qatar's prime minister heads the Arab League committee on Syria and has said killings have not stopped despite the presence of Arab monitors sent there last month.

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For graphic on Arab League link.reuters.com/pev65s

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In the preview of the interview on the website, the emir did not spell out how any Arab military intervention might work.

There is little appetite in the West for any Libya-style intervention in Syria, although France has talked of a need to set up zones to protect civilians there.

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed since protests against Assad erupted in March. Syrian officials say 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed by armed "terrorists."

In the latest violence, Syrian tanks and troops renewed an assault on the rebel-held hill town of Zabadani near the border with Lebanon Saturday, causing about 40 casualties, an opposition leader said, citing residents reached by telephone.

Kamal al-Labwani said green buses had been brought to the town, suggesting preparations for mass arrests in the town, defended by army deserters and anti-Assad insurgents. It was not immediately clear if the 40 casualties included any dead.

The attack on Zabadani was the biggest against opponents of Assad since the Arab observers began work on December 26.

In the Damascus neighborhood of Qaboun, a resident said security forces killed 17-year old protester Abdel Bassaet Jubbeh when they fired at a night demonstration demanding the removal of Assad.

"He was hit in the chest." The (security police) took six other injured demonstrators from the ground and took them to the Airforce Intelligence complex in Harasta (a Damascus suburb)," said the resident, who gave his name as Sami.

Four civilians died elsewhere, including a 13-year-old boy and a man shot dead in the central city of Homs, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Syria's military held funerals for 16 soldiers killed by armed "terrorists" in the provinces of Homs, Damascus and Idlib in the northwest, the state news agency SANA said.

SANA also said a blast set off by insurgents in Idlib had derailed a freight train carrying fuel to a power station, setting several fuel tankers ablaze and wounding three people.

MORE OBSERVERS READY

There has been no let-up in the conflict despite the Arab observer mission, which has been castigated even by some of its own members for buying Assad more time to crush his foes.

"This is the last week in the month agreed between Syria and the Arab League and will witness a wide deployment of the monitors," said a source at the Cairo-based League, adding that 40 monitors were ready to join the team of about 165 whenever its leader, Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, requested them.

Plans to expand the team were delayed last week after 11 monitors were slightly hurt in an attack on their convoy by a pro-Assad crowd in the port of Latakia Monday. That incident also prompted the monitors to suspend work for two days.

Dabi is due to report to the Arab League Thursday and Arab foreign ministers will then decide whether to continue the mission, or possibly refer Syria to the U.N. Security Council.

The League chief, Nabil Elaraby, said Friday he feared the conflict could slide into civil war.

Armed clashes, now punctuating what began as a non-violent protest movement, have raised fears of a full-scale conflict in Syria, a Sunni Muslim-majority country of 23 million which also has Alawite, Druze, Christian and Kurdish minorities.

Syria, bordering Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Israel, is at the heart of the volatile Middle East, where its closest allies are Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah group.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu, whose country has become one of Assad's fiercest critics after previously courting him, held talks in Beirut with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and other politicians Saturday.

"The Syrian authorities must respond to the legitimate democratic aspirations of the Syrian people," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is also visiting Lebanon, was quoted as saying by the Beirut newspaper an-Nahar the previous day.

He also urged the Security Council, where Russia and China have blocked firm action on Syria, to speak with one voice.

(Additional reporting by Ayman Samir and Tom Perry in Cairo and Dominic Evans in Beirut; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Matthew Jones)

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10:44 AM | 0 comments

Syria faces Arab sanctions deadline over monitors

1 of 4. A cat passes by an army checkpoint in Hula, near Homs November 24, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Handout

By Dominic Evans

BEIRUT | Thu Nov 24, 2011 6:16pm EST

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria faces a Friday deadline to sign an Arab deal allowing monitors into the country or incur sanctions over its crackdown on protests including halting flights, curbing trade and stopping deals with the central bank.

Arab foreign ministers warned in Cairo that unless Syria agreed to let the monitors in to assess progress of an Arab League plan to end eight months of bloodshed, officials would consider imposing sanctions on Saturday.

Under a November 2 Arab League initiative, Syria agreed to withdraw troops from urban centers, release political prisoners, start a dialogue with the opposition and allow monitors and international media into the country.

Since then hundreds of people, including civilians, security forces and army deserters, have been killed as the unrest which the United Nations says has claimed at least 3,500 lives since March continued unabated.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based opposition group, said at least 47 people were killed in Syria on Thursday, including 16 soldiers and 17 army deserters, mostly around the rebellious city of Homs and near the town of Rastan to the north.

The violence has prompted former ally Turkey to bluntly tell President Bashar al-Assad to step down and led France to propose "humanitarian corridors" in Syria to help transport medicines or other supplies to civilians in need.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he would discuss the idea with the Arab League but a source at the 22-member body said the proposal was not brought up at the Cairo meeting.

"In the case that Syria does not sign the protocol ... or that it later violates the commitments that it entails, and does not stop the killing or does not release the detainees ... (Arab League officials) will meet on Saturday to consider sanctions on Syria," the Arab ministers said in a statement.

They said possible sanctions, which were not intended to affect ordinary Syrians, included suspending flights to Syria, stopping dealings with the central bank, freezing Syrian government bank accounts and halting financial dealings.

They could also decide to stop commercial trade with the Syrian government "with the exception of strategic commodities so as not to impact the Syrian people," the statement said.

Syria's economy is already reeling from the eight months of unrest, aggravated by U.S. and European sanctions on oil exports and several state businesses.

"HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS"

After months in which the international community has seemed determined to avoid direct entanglement in a core Middle East country, the diplomatic consensus seems to be changing.

The Arab League suspended Syria's membership two weeks ago, while this week the prime minister of neighboring Turkey - a NATO member with the military wherewithal to mount a cross-border operation - told Assad to quit and said he should be mindful of the fate of fallen dictators such as Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Libya's deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi.

France became the first major power to seek international intervention in Syria when it called for "humanitarian corridors" in Syria to alleviate civilian suffering.

A Western diplomatic source said the French plan, with or without approval from Damascus, could link Syrian civilian centers to the frontiers of Turkey and Lebanon, to the Mediterranean coast or to an airport.

Its aim would enable transport of humanitarian supplies or medicines to a population that is suffering.

Juppe insisted the plan fell short of a military intervention, but acknowledged that humanitarian convoys would need armed protection.

"There are two possible ways: That the international community, Arab League and the United Nations can get the regime to allow these humanitarian corridors," he told French radio. "But if that isn't the case we'd have to look at other solutions ... with international observers."

Asked if humanitarian convoys would need military protection, he said: "Of course... by international observers, but there is no question of military intervention in Syria."

"MOST DANGEROUS PHASE"

The Syrian Observatory said 15 army deserters were killed in clashes with the military west of Rastan and in raids by security forces. Eleven military and security personnel were killed by army deserters in the city of Houla, it said.

Alongside the mainly peaceful protests, armed insurgents have increasingly attacked military targets in recent weeks.

State media have reported the funerals of 34 soldiers and police in the last four days. Since the outbreak of the uprising officials have blamed armed groups for the violence and say 1,100 members of the security forces have been killed.

"The Syrian crisis may or may not have entered its final phase, but it undoubtedly has entered its most dangerous one to date," the International Crisis Group said.

"Many in Syria and abroad are now banking on the regime's imminent collapse and wagering that all then will be for the better. That is a luxury and optimism they cannot afford."

Washington repeated an appeal on Wednesday for U.S. citizens to leave Syria: "The U.S. Embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available," the embassy said on its website.

Assad, 46, seems prepared to fight it out, playing on fears of a sectarian war if Syria's complex ethno-sectarian mosaic shatters and relying on support of senior officials and the military to suppress the protests, inspired by Arab uprisings which toppled the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

However many experts say Assad, who can depend mainly on the loyalty of two elite units dominated by his Alawite minority community, cannot maintain current military operations without cracks emerging in the mainly Sunni Muslim army.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Dina Zayed, Marwa Awad and Ayman Samir in Cairo, John Irish in Paris; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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10:09 PM | 0 comments

France recalls Syria envoy, security HQ attacked

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

1 of 2. Demonstrators protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad gather in Hula, near Homs November 13, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Handout (

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

AMMAN | Wed Nov 16, 2011 11:17am EST

AMMAN (Reuters) - France recalled its ambassador to Damascus and Syria's suspension from the Arab League took effect on Wednesday, intensifying diplomatic pressure on President Bashar al-Assad to halt a violent eight-month-old crackdown on protests.

Syrian army defectors attacked an intelligence complex on the edge of Damascus in a high-profile assault that showed how close the popular uprising is to sliding into armed conflict.

Hours after the Arab League suspension took effect, Assad supporters threw stones and debris at the embassy of the United Arab Emirates and smeared its walls with graffiti, witnesses said. The embassy is in one of the most secure districts of the capital, near Assad's home and offices.

Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said France was working with the Arab League on a draft resolution at the United Nations.

Last month Russia and China vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have condemned Damascus, but since then the normally cautious Arab League has suspended Syria for failing to implement an Arab peace plan.

"New violence is taking place and that has led to the closure of the missions in Aleppo and Latakia and to recall our ambassador to Paris," Juppe said, referring to weekend attacks by pro-Assad demonstrators on French diplomatic premises, as well as Turkish and Saudi missions, in Syria.

Arab foreign ministers met in Rabat for an Arab-Turkish forum, where a Syrian flag was placed by an empty chair.

Turkey, now a fierce critic of its former ally, said Syria had failed to honor an Arab peace plan to halt the unrest.

Speaking through a translator, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu compared Syria with Libya, where rebels captured, humiliated and killed Muammar Gaddafi last month.

"The regime should meet the demands of its people," he said. "The collective massacres in Syria and ... the bloodshed cannot continue like this."

IRAN DEFENDS SYRIA

In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi criticized the Arab League for "acting in a way that will hurt the security of the region." He told the official news agency IRNA that Syria, an ally of Iran since 1980, had repeatedly pledged to meet legitimate popular demands and enact reforms.

"Unfortunately, some countries believe that they are outside the crisis ... but they are mistaken because if a crisis happens they will be entangled by its consequences."

Saudi Arabia, which is eager to loosen the ties between its regional rival Iran and Syria, said the Arab League was acting in Syria's interest, not interfering in its affairs.

"What's important is not about suspending or not suspending (Syria from the League), it's stopping the bloodshed, starting the dialogue, and withdrawing troops from Syrian cities," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told Al Arabiya channel.

Western countries have tightened sanctions on Syria and on Monday Jordan's King Abdullah became the first Arab head of state to urge Assad to quit after ensuring a smooth handover.

In the early months of the uprising, attempts by security forces to crush mainly peaceful protests accounted for most of the violence. But since August there has been an growing number of reports of army defectors and armed civilians fighting back.

Activists said Free Syrian Army fighters fired machineguns and rockets at a large Air Force Intelligence complex on the northern edge of the capital at about 2:30 a.m. (0030 GMT).

A gunfight ensued and helicopters circled over the complex, on the Damascus-Aleppo highway. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Syrian state media did not mention the attack.

"HUGELY SYMBOLIC"

A Western diplomat in Damascus described the assault as "hugely symbolic and tactically new," saying that if the reported details were true it would be "much much more coordinated than anything we have seen before."

"To actually attack a base like this is something else, and so close to Damascus as well," said the diplomat, adding that fighting in recent weeks involving army deserters in the town of Rastan and the city of Homs resembled a localized civil war.

"It's not a nationwide civil war, but in very specific locations, it is looking like that," said the diplomat.

The Free Syrian Army was set up by deserters and is led by Colonel Riad al-Asaad, who is based in southern Turkey.

It announced this week that it had formed a "temporary military council" of nine defecting officers, led by Asaad.

The statement said the Syrian Free Army aimed to "bring down the regime and protect citizens from the repression ... and prevent chaos as soon as the regime falls," adding that it would form a military court to try "members of the regime who are proven to have been involved in killing operations."

Syrian television showed thousands of Assad's supporters rallying in Damascus and Latakia to mark the day his father Hafez al-Assad seized power in 1970. It said the crowds were also voicing their rejection of the Arab League's decision.

"God, Syria, Bashar, that's all!" shouted demonstrators in central Damascus, who turned out in heavy rain to wave flags and posters of the president. Two large posters of Assad and his father hung from a building. "Neither rain nor sanctions will stop us expressing our nationalism," the television said.

The Arab League has stopped short of calling for Assad's departure or proposing any Libya-style military intervention, but its ostracism of Syria is a blow to a country whose ruling Baath party puts Arab nationalism at the center of its credo.

Syrian authorities have banned most independent media. They blame the unrest on "armed terrorist gangs" and foreign-backed militants who they say have killed 1,100 soldiers and police.

Hundreds of people have been killed this month, one of the bloodiest periods of the revolt.

Syria says it remains committed to the Arab peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of troops from urban areas, the release of prisoners and a dialogue with the opposition.

State media said more than 1,000 prisoners, including prominent dissident Kamal Labwani, were freed on Tuesday. But human rights campaigners say tens of thousands have been detained since anti-Assad protests began.

(Additional reporting Souhail Karam in Rabat, Dominic Evans in Beirut, John Irish in Paris, Mahmoud Habboush in Dubai and Ramin Mostafavi in Tehran; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Tim Pearce)

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4:52 PM | 0 comments