Friday protests seen test of Syrian deal with League

AMMAN, (Reuters) – Syrian troops’ response to  anti-government protests after Friday prayers will be a litmus  test of the president’s agreement with the Arab League to stop  shooting and open talks with the protesters, opposition leaders  said.

Bashar al-Assad

Dozens of civilians were killed in the city of Homs yesterday, activists said, a day after Syria agreed to an Arab  League plan to pull the army out of cities, free political  prisoners and hold talks with opposition leaders.

Syria is under mounting outside pressure to halt its  seven-month crackdown on mass demands for political reforms and  President Bashar al-Assad’s resignation.
In Homs yesterday, tanks pounded a residential district  and a witness who declined to be named said he saw dozens of  civilian bodies at the National Hospital, which is controlled by  the security forces.

The circumstances of their death were not clear. “They were  all males with bullet wounds. A doctor told me they came from  all over Homs,” he said.

Activists said a further 19 people were killed in tank  shelling of the Bab Amro district, a centre of pro-democracy  protests against Assad, and in shooting by snipers and soldiers  elsewhere in Homs, a city of one million.

There was no independent confirmation of the killings. Tough  restrictions on the media have made it hard to verify events on  the ground since protests against Assad began in March, inspired  by other revolts against autocratic Arab rulers.

“We have already seen the regime’s bloody response to the  Arab initiative today in the form of intensified shelling on  Homs, just after it had agreed to pull out its troops from urban  areas and stop violence against the civilian population,” said  Ahmad Ramadan, spokesman for the opposition Syrian National  Council.

“The way the regime reacts to protests tomorrow will also be  important toward gauging its commitment to the initiative. If  its forces keep firing on protesters, Arab states may be forced  to take a more decisive position and support the case for  international protection for civilians,” Ramadan told Reuters.

The United Nations says more than 3,000 people have been  killed in the crackdown. The authorities blame the violence on  Islamist militants and armed gangs who they say have killed  1,100 soldiers and police.

Western sanctions and growing criticism from Turkey and Arab  neighbours have raised pressure on Syria to end the bloodshed.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, who  heads the Arab League committee behind the plan agreed in Cairo,  said on Thursday: “We are happy to have reached this agreement  and we will be even happier when it is implemented immediately.”

 NO EVIDENCE
OF ACTION       
The United States said yesterday it saw no evidence that  Syria was taking steps to fulfil the Arab League deal, and said  failure to do so would increase the pressure on Damascus.