Ian Black
March 21, 2012.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may have legitimised a security crackdown on demonstrations against his regime. Photo: AFP
LEAKS of what appear to be official Syrian documents reveal that President Bashar al-Assad personally signs off on plans drawn up by his government's crisis management centre, prioritising a security crackdown to prevent demonstrations against his regime spreading to Damascus.
Al-Jazeera said that the documents were smuggled out of Syria by Abdel-Majid Barakat, head of information for the crisis management unit, who is now hiding in Turkey with opposition activists.
The latest documents shed light on the regime's strategy against the uprising, including the deployment of thousands of militia known as ''shabiha'' and members of the Baath Party in operations designed to cut off Damascus, Aleppo, Idlib and other large cities from their surrounding regions.
In the capital, the documents show, the main squares are the responsibility of different branches of Syria's large security apparatus, including the notorious air force intelligence directorate, which has been repeatedly accused of brutality and torture by Syrian opposition supporters and foreign human rights groups.
On Fridays, the Islamic day of gathering, the plan is to isolate the capital by using 35 checkpoints to control movement. One thousand security personnel are deployed in the central Umayyad mosque alone.
The leaks come after a dramatic gun battle in an upmarket Damascus neighbourhood.
The rebel Free Syrian Army said its fighters had launched an attack on the Political Security Directorate, using rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns.
Some assertions by the opposition force appeared improbable. Colonel Malik al-Kurdi, a rebel spokesman, said that 87 government soldiers were killed in the assault and no rebels died.
Rami Abdulrahman of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it did appear, however, that rebels had struck a symbolic blow. ''They attacked the house of a top official in Damascus, and maybe tomorrow they will attack the house of Bashar al-Assad,'' he said. ''They are trying to say, 'We are here, and we can go anywhere'.''
Al-Jazeera described Mr Barakat as an opposition ''mole'' inside the HQ directing the crackdown, who realised last month that he had been compromised and fled the country with 1400 documents, which the channel believes are genuine.
The president's signature was visible on one document authorising prison sentences for illegal demonstrations.
''Anyone who reads these reports will realise that Syria is living a real crisis: killings, criminality and suppression of protesters,'' Mr Barakat said in an interview. ''However security chiefs paint [a] beautiful picture in their reports. They ignore substantial facts on the ground simply to boost the President's morale.''
■Asma al-Assad, Dr Assad's British-born wife, will be added to a European Union sanctions blacklist later this week after details of her online shopping sprees emerged in leaked emails. The 36-year-old former investment banker will join 114 Syrians - topped by her husband - and 38 organisations subject to freezes on their assets and bank accounts in EU member states.
GUARDIAN, AGENCIES
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/assads-role-in-syria-crackdown-revealed-in-leaks-20120320-1vhqs.html#ixzz1pgMJJ4xA
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