Syrian forces kill 25 protesters, monitors reach cities

Demonstrators protest against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in Amuda December 27, 2011. REUTERS/Handout

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Syrian security forces shot  dead 25 people yesterday, including in cities being visited by  Arab League monitors to check whether President Bashar al-Assad  is keeping a pledge to end a crackdown on popular unrest.

The Arab League hopes its deal with Assad can stop nine  months of bloodshed. More than 5,000 people have been killed, by  a United Nations count, provoking international sanctions  against Damascus and stoking fears of civil war.

Anti-Assad activists have said the monitoring mission is too  small and easily restricted by state security escorts that many  protesters are afraid to approach. There have also been  questions about the chief of mission, a Sudanese general whose  government has defied an international war crimes tribunal over  bloodshed in Darfur.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Assad’s  security forces opened fire on protests in cities around the  country, wounding around 100 people. Six died in Hama, a major  hotbed of unrest, around the time monitors were entering the  city for a first look.

The British-based Observatory said security forces fired at  a street rally in Douma, a Damascus suburb, killing four people.  Enraged residents launched a civil disobedience campaign and  thousands reportedly flooded the main square for a sit-in.

“The activists have called for complete civil disobedience.  The roads have been blocked, stores are shut down and the city  is paralysed,” said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the British-based  Observatory.

        LACK OF FAITH       

Demonstrators protest against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in Amuda December 27, 2011. REUTERS/Handout

Monitors aim to check conditions in the turbulent cities of  Deraa, Hama and Idlib, which lie along a 450-km (280-mile) arc   from the south to the north of Syria.

But anti-Assad activists in all three cities said they have  yet to see the monitors.

At its midpoint is Homs, where the Arab League mission had a  controversial start when its Sudanese chief, General Mustafa  al-Dabi, reported seeing “nothing frightening” in an initial  tour.

The general said his team still needed more time to judge  conditions, but Syria’s foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdesi  said his comments reflect the “true story of the Syrian crisis”.

The Arab mission is the first notable international  involvement in Syria’s crisis. The uprising against 41 years of   rule by the Assad family was inspired by other Arab popular  revolts that have overthrown three dictators this year.
In Hama, activists said protesters went out into the streets   to await the Arab League delegation as security forces deployed  heavily in the area.

“People really hope to reach (the monitors). We do not have  much access to the team. The people stopped believing anything  or anyone now. Only God can help us now,” said Abu Hisham, an  opposition activist in Hama.

In a video uploaded yesterday, activists filming snipers  lurking on rooftops appeared to come under fire and then turned  their camera to show protesters carrying away a wounded man, a  trail of blood dripping behind him.

It was impossible to verify the footage or reports on the  ground. Most foreign journalists are banned from the country.
Another video dated from yesterday showed a crowd of  protesters in Hama watching plumes of black smoke rising from  buildings nearby as heavy gunfire shook the area.

Hama has a haunting resonance for Syrians opposed to Assad.  His late father ordered a massacre of up to 30,000 people there  in 1982 to put down an Islamist insurrection.

   COMMUNICATIONS     DIFFICULT
A source in the Arab League mission’s operations centre in  Cairo said earlier yesterday there had been a problem with  communications but the monitors’ schedule was holding up.

“We have contacted our teams … Today’s plan will not be  changed and the only problem we faced today was the bad phone  network, which made our communication with the monitors harder.  It took more time to reach them and determine their locations.”

The Syrian foreign ministry spokesman said Arab monitors  were getting “all the facilities they need” to assess the  crisis.
Activists in Idlib said they had tried to reach out to the  delegation with little luck.

“We got five numbers but the reaction we got from those  people made us feel they were pro-regime. However, three  monitors have contacted us to say they plan to visit us  secretly, in private,” said an activist named Munahal. “They  can’t bring their team, that means the security would come too.”

Unless it can establish its credibility by proving it has  unobstructed access to all areas and is able to hear uncensored  accounts, the Arab League mission may not be able to satisfy all  sides that it can make an objective assessment of the crisis.

Syria says it is fighting Islamist militants steered from  abroad who have killed over 2,000 of his security force.

 “WHERE WERE   THEY?”
In Homs, Syria’s third-largest city and epicentre of  anti-Assad ferment, protesters were already fed up with the  monitors, who they said seemed unsympathetic and hard to find.

“This mission is a big lie. They say they were in Khalidiya  neighbourhood. I haven’t seen them,” said Tamir, shouting by  telephone over protester chants of “down with the regime”.

“We’ve been here at the protest. Where were they?”