Syrian security forces fired on anti-government protests on Friday, killing at least five people as Human Rights Watch accused the regime of crimes against humanity.
The Arab League will meet at its headquarters in Cairo to discuss the regime's failure to abide by its agreement to stop the violence Photo: REUTERS/ Omar Ibrahim
2:55PM GMT 11 Nov 2011
The Telegraph
12 Comments
Mass protests after Friday afternoon prayers, followed by swift and deadly crackdowns by security forces, have become a weekly cycle throughout Syria's eight-month-old uprising. The U.N. estimates some 3,500 people have been killed in the crackdown since mid-March, when the uprising began.
But in recent weeks, the violence has spiked dramatically amid increasing signs that some protesters are taking up arms to protect themselves. There also have been reports of intense battles between soldiers and army defectors, setting the stage for even more bloodshed.
The unrest in Syria could balloon into a regional disaster. Damascus' web of allegiances extends to Lebanon's powerful Hizbollah movement and Iran's Shiite theocracy. And although Syria sees Israel as the enemy, the countries have held up a fragile truce for years.
On Friday, Human Rights Watch said Syrian forces have tortured and killed civilians in the rebellious province of Homs in an assault that indicates crimes against humanity. The group urged the Arab League to suspend Syria's membership during an emergency meeting on Saturday.
The Arab League will meet at its headquarters in Cairo to discuss the regime's failure to abide by its agreement to stop the violence. Damascus agreed to the Arab League-brokered plan last week, but the violence only accelerated.
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Homs, Syria's third-largest city in a province of the same name, has emerged as the epicentre of the uprising.
"Homs is a microcosm of the Syrian government's brutality," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The Arab League needs to tell President (Bashar) Assad that violating their agreement has consequences, and that it now supports Security Council action to end the carnage."
In a 63-page report released on Friday, Human Rights Watch said security forces killed at least 587 civilians in Homs from mid-April to the end of August – the highest number for any single province.
In the report, which focuses on that period, the rights group said former detainees reported torture including security forces' use of heated metal rods, electric shocks and stress positions. Witnesses also reported large-scale military operations during which security forces used heavy machine guns, including anti-aircraft guns mounted on armoured vehicles.
The group also acknowledged that some protesters and army defectors took up arms to protect themselves – a development that some fear plays directly into the regime's hands by giving it an excuse to use extreme violence against a mostly peaceful movement.
"Violence by protesters or defectors deserves further investigation," the report said. "However, these incidents by no means justify the disproportionate and systematic use of lethal force against demonstrators, which clearly exceeded any justifiable response to any threat presented by overwhelmingly unarmed crowds."
Although the crackdown has led to broad international isolation, Assad appears to have a firm grip on power. Sanctions are chipping away at the regime, but economy has not collapsed. There have been defections from the army, but most appear to be low-level conscripts.
The government has largely sealed off the country from foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting, making it difficult to confirm events on the ground. Part of the Arab League plan, accepted by Syria, was to allow reporters and observers into the country.
In the absence of firsthand reporting, key sources of information are amateur videos posted online and details gathered by witnesses and activist groups.
On Friday, the country's two main activist groups reported deaths in Homs and in several other areas. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordinating Committees, an activist coalition, reported protests in the Damascus suburbs, Daraa in the south and Idlib near the Turkish border.
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Showing 12 comments
Sam Chuckie
Yesterday 08:40 PM
Notice the Islamists, wearing their Jihad bands ready to take on the infidel.
The only crime Assad should be punished for is failing to wipe them out quick enough.
Carl_s_Jones
Yesterday 06:06 PM
There all the same...liberty, Human Rights Watch...you name them and they work for the NWO. They are ever sooo selective in who they attack. Has HRW demanded that NATO face war crimes charges?? When was the last time HRW called for the arrest of Tony Blair...or George Bush??LOL
And I am not taking sides in Syria. But I`d be interested to know how much money the CIA and MI6 have spent in Syria?? Official numbers say the CIA has spent $400 in Iran??
Just waiting for the order to riot!!lol
seanoll
Yesterday 05:28 PM
Well, that will have Assad quaking in his boots! These people are a real joke and expect to be taken seriously.
funnytimes
Yesterday 05:10 PM
Shame, they dont have any oil...
Rule_Britannia
Yesterday 05:08 PM
I would be more impressed with this if the same organisation had not made a career of saying the same thing against every American and British soldier who particpated in overthrowing tyranny in Iraq and Afghanistan.
troubleshooter
Yesterday 04:29 PM
Nothing will happen as Syria doesn't have anything the west wants.
The Human rights get along gang - this is to little to late. What happened to you making a statement at the begining when the first group of people protesting got were murdered?
Yet again the Human rights groups tell us what we already know. The fact that the public have been reading about the murders of protesters for months. With the human rights groups saying nothng. It must be funding time for them because they only seem to say something when the rest of the world already knows or whe they are trying to state why they should get funding.
They don't seem to help anyone apart from them selves.
ryeatley
Yesterday 03:38 PM
"some protesters are taking up arms to protect themselves"
Yeah, right.
aquinasotic
Yesterday 03:31 PM
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is due to visit Assad in the next few days. One can only wonder what message His Holiness will deliver.
JehudahBenIsrael
Yesterday 03:29 PM
When will the United Nations Human Rights Council going to express itself and condemn the on going slaughter in Syria for more than half a year.
How many more thousands of mass murders by the hands of the thugs of the Muslim-Arab rulers must take place before the UN HRC sends a Goldstone?
Or, such a commission is only reserved to investigate Jews protecting their lives...??
______ joseph sanderson
Yesterday 04:11 PM
JehudahBenIsrael,
Now you have let the cat amongst the pigeons, you can now expect the Daily Telegraphs self admitted anti-semetic poster a certain FirstAdvisor to come on this blog and start spouting his disgusting rhetoric, just to give you an example this is one of his posts which is still not been moderated from early today:
This is one of his less anti-semetic comments so be advised:
"You write as if being an anti-semite was bad or wrong, when the opposite
is the truth. There is no excuse, no possible justification, for any
human being a Jew appeaser, a Jew apologist, a Jew sympathizer, or a Jew
collaberator. That is reality, and your view is sickening and
abhorrent."
Amazingly the Daily telegraph has allowed this and other posts even worse to remain on its website.
So be warned once FirstAdvisor discovers this blog he will infest it with his usual venom.
____________ Yitzhak
Yesterday 09:34 PM
He is not alone. Someone posting as 'purpledolphin' openly suggested yesterday evening that the Iranians start to murder Israeli citizens in Europe and the United States. I'm all for freedom of speech, but this (in my opinion) crossed the line. I called the Telegraph, spoke to someone on their newsdesk and told them that if the comment was still there this morning, I'd be printing it out and sending it to the Metropolitan Police. I think it has been removed now.
Note that 'purpledolphin' also posts as 'sd2933'.
____________ JehudahBenIsrael
Yesterday 04:28 PM
Thanks for this information!
_____________
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