Tuesday 24 January 2012

Syrian Uprising 2011 Information Centre: SUMMARY (24/01/2012): Another bloody day in Syria – at least 60 martyrs with more than 40 dead in the central city of Homs where there was heavy shelling of several residential areas. FM Muallem rejected the Arab League’s proposals and talked about “half the universe” now conspiring against Syria, as the Gulf states withdrew their observers from the Arab League mission. Meanwhile, there were some reports about the new constitution being drafted by one of the 1001 committees Assad has set up. However, most protesters are more concerned with ending the killing that, according to Avaaz, has now claimed more than 7,200 lives. Syria – Tuesday 24/01/2012 – Google Maps

HOMS (24/01/2012): The number of martyrs has risen to at least 40 – 31 in the city of Homs, where several neighbourhoods are udner heavy shelling. The video shows people rescuing a body from a shelled building in the neighbourhood of Karam al-Zeitoun. As already mentioned, there is also heavy shelling in Bab Tadmur neighbourhood that has caused houses to collapse. Not to mention that the city continues to suffer from shortages of food, fuel, medicine.

Homs, Karam al-Zeitoun 24/01/2012

UPDATE (24/01/2012): At least 24 martyrs have fallen so far today – including 19 from the Bab Tadmur area of Homs, killed when heavy shelling led to several homes collapsing. FM “who ate all the shawarma?” Muallem says that the crackdown will continue, while the other GCC countries have followed Saudi Arabia’s lead and announced their observers will withdraw from Syria.
The video shows school students protesting in the town of Nawa in Daraa province despite the heavy security siege. “Death but not humiliation.”

 Nawa, Daraa province 24/01/2012

 Huddled for warmth, Syrian refugees say not enough done to protect from cold | The Observers France 24

 Idlib

NOW! Lebanon
[local time]  21:47 NATO is not considering any involvement in Syria or Iran, the alliance’s top commander in Europe said on Tuesday, after Russian claims that such plans were afoot.
 21:03 European and Arab nations want a UN Security Council vote next week on a resolution condemning Syria’s crackdown on protests and hinting at sanctions, diplomats said Tuesday.
 20:52 Britain, France and the United States on Tuesday condemned Russia’s arms sales to Syria which they said was fueling President Bashar al-Assad’s deadly crackdown on protests.
 20:42 Syria has agreed to extend for one month the mandate of the Arab League observer mission, state news agency SANA quoted the interior ministry as saying on Tuesday.
 20:25 French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Tuesday called on the Syrian regime to “end its crimes against humanity which are being committed against its people,” according to the Kuwaiti News Agency (KUNA).
 20:15 Tuesday’s death toll in Syria has increased to 58 people, Al-Jazeera quoted activists as saying.
 19:07 Explosions rocked on Tuesday evening a state security building in Syria’s Edleb, as the regime’s forces clashed with members of the Free Syrian Army, Al-Jazeera quoted activists as saying.
 18:25 Tuesday’s death toll in Syria has risen to 51, 39 of whom were killed in Homs, Al-Jazeera quoted activists as saying.
 17:20 The Arab League will suspend its observer mission in unrest-swept Syria on Wednesday if the Syrian authorities refuse its request for a one-month extension, the bloc’s deputy secretary told AFP.
 16:40 Syrian security forces have killed 35 on Tuesday, Al-Jazeera television quoted activists as saying.
 15:29 Tuesday’s death toll in Syria has risen to 24, 18 of whom were killed in Homs, Al-Arabiya quoted activists as saying.
 14:58 Lebanon’s banking sector will abide by international sanctions against unrest-swept Syria, central bank governor Riad Salameh said on Tuesday.
 13:40 Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem says it is Syria’s “duty” to confront armed groups, during a news conference reported by AFP.
 13:09 The committee tasked with drafting Syria’s new constitution has decided to limit presidential terms to a maximum of two seven-year mandates, Al-Watan newspaper said on Tuesday.
 12:46 Arab League envoys are discussing the possibility of pulling observers form Syria, Al-Arabiya television reported on Tuesday.
 12:44 Five people were killed by Syrian security forces’ gunfire, General Commission of Syrian Revolution said on Tuesday.
 12:03 The Arab League has requested  a meeting with UN chief Ban Ki-moon to discuss the situation in Syria, AFP reported.
 11:05 The Arab states of the Gulf intend to follow the Saudi lead by withdrawing their observers from Syria, Kuwaiti newspapers reported on Tuesday, citing diplomatic sources.
 7:44 A senior US diplomat visiting Russia will press Moscow on a reported deal to sell Syria fighter jets, something Washington described as “quite concerning,” the State Department said.
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Reuters: Arab League turns to U.N. as Gulf observers quit Syria

Gulf Arab states withdrew their observers from Syria on Tuesday after it rejected an Arab League plan for President Bashar al-Assad to surrender power, prompting the group’s chief to call for U.N. help in ending Syria’s bloody upheaval.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem accused the League of plotting to engineer foreign intervention. Thousands of civilians and members of security forces have been killed in the 10-month-old uprising against Assad.

Despite Syria’s anger, Moualem agreed to extend by a month the mission of the remaining Arab League observers who are monitoring implementation of a plan to end the bloodshed. But he scornfully rejected the League’s latest proposal.

“Definitely the solution in Syria is not the solution suggested by the Arab League, which we have rejected. They have abandoned their role as the Arab League and we no longer want Arab solutions to the crisis,” Moualem said.

“Heading to the Security Council will be the third stage in their plan, and the only thing left is the last step of internationalization,” he told a news conference in Damascus.

“They can head to New York or to the moon. So long as we are not paying for their tickets it is none of our concern.”

The revolt in Syria was inspired by others that have toppled three Arab leaders and the bloodshed has battered Assad’s standing in the world, with Iran among his few remaining allies.

On Tuesday, the death toll rose to 26 by the evening, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Fifteen were killed in clashes between state forces and armed rebels in the flashpoint province of Homs.

Arab League officials said 55 Gulf Arab observers were being withdrawn while the other 110 members of the team would continue work in Syria.

State news agency SANA said Moualem told Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby that Damascus had agreed to extend the monitoring mission until February 23.

The Gulf Cooperation Council states said in a statement they were “certain the bloodshed and killing of innocents would continue, and that the Syrian regime would not abide by the Arab League’s resolutions.”

Elaraby and Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, who heads the League’s committee on Syria, sent a joint letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon giving details of the organization’s latest plan for a political solution in Syria.

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

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The letter asks for a “joint meeting between them in the U.N. headquarters to inform the Security Council about developments and obtain the support of the Council for this plan,” a League statement said.

The Saudi ambassador to Britain, Prince Mohammad Bin Nawaf, said the idea of resorting to the Security Council was to rally the world behind the Arab League peace initiative for Syria.

“We pulled out (the monitors) because we didn’t see any positive response from the Syrian government. But it is a process. Take it to the U.N. Security Council to get the support on that initiative,” he told journalists in London.

“We hope it doesn’t reach an escalation of a military intervention. The last thing we want is an unstable region. We hope the Syrian regime will comply with the Arab initiative. I think this is the logical way out, a peaceful solution, a peaceful transition. I think this is the only hope they have.”

GULF ARAB WALKOUT

Moualem poured contempt on the League’s call for Assad to hand power to a unity government to defuse the violence.

He said that while “half the universe is against us,” Syria’s long-time ally and arms supplier Russia, which wields a veto on the Security Council, would never permit foreign intervention. “That is a red line for them.”

Still, the Arab League’s call for a change of Syrian government, coupled with the diminution of the monitoring mission, will raise pressure on the Security Council to overcome its divisions and act to stop Syria’s bloodshed.

More than 5,000 people have been killed since the revolt erupted in March, according to the United Nations. Damascus says “terrorists” have killed more than 2,000 soldiers and police.

What began as civilian street protests has escalated into an armed insurgency in some regions as Assad has sought to crush unrest with troops and tanks.

The presence of the monitors has not halted the violence, as envisaged under a peace plan Damascus approved. The Arab observers deployed late last month to assess Syria’s compliance with an earlier Arab League plan.

“There has been some progress, but there has not been immediate or complete implementation as the Arab initiative requires,” Elaraby said on Tuesday, adding that he would name a special envoy to Syria this week.

A Syrian opposition group condemned the mission’s leader, Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, for a report in which he highlighted violence by Assad’s adversaries as well as by the president’s security forces.

The Syria-based Local Coordination Committees criticized Dabi for equating “the butcher and the victim,” saying he had “blurred the monumental hardship that millions of Syrians experience every day while they rise to reach freedom, dignity, democracy and a wise system of governance.”

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the Security Council’s silence on Syria was scandalous, but that the Arab League call for Assad’s removal was “a glimmer of light.”

The Arab League’s request for the Council to endorse its plan will force could be a “game changer,” Germany’s U.N. envoy Petter Witting said, and may finally force the world body to take a stand on Syria’s crisis.

(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny in Damascus, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Erika Solomon and Dominic Evans in Beirut, Joseph Logan in Dubai, Aly Eldaly in Cairo, John Irish in Paris, Samia Nakhoul in London; Writing by Mark Heinrich; Editing by Peter Millership and Robert Woodward)

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BBC: Syria agrees to extend Arab League observer mission

Syria has agreed to extend the mandate of the Arab League observer mission by a month, Syria’s state-run news agency Sana reports.

Foreign Minister Walid Muallem had informed the secretary general of the league of the Syrian government’s decision, Sana said.

The group will now continue its work until 23 February.

The mission was set up in late December to monitor Damascus’ compliance with a league plan to end bloodshed in Syria.

The Local Co-ordination Committees, a network of anti-government activists, said 60 people had been killed across Syria on Tuesday – including five defecting soldiers and 41 in Homs, a major focal point of unrest.

The UN says more than 5,000 people have died as the government seeks to quash 10 months of protests.

Syrian officials say about 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed in the unrest, which has become increasingly violent as defectors from the army join the opposition.

‘New York or the moon’

Syria’s decision to agree an extension of the mission is not a surprise, reports the BBC’s Jim Muir in Beirut.

In a news conference a few hours before the extension to the observer mission was announced, Mr Muallem had drawn a distinction between the mission and the new Arab League peace plan announced on Sunday, he adds.

The new plan called for President Bashar al-Assad to step down and for elections to be held. Damascus rejected the proposals out of hand as a blatant interference in its affairs.

The six members of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE – had earlier announced the withdrawal of their countries’ monitors from the mission.

In a statement, the GCC called on “members of the UN Security Council… to take all needed measures to press Syria to implement the Arab League decisions and the Arab initiative on Syria”.

The move means the mission will now continue without almost a third of its 160 or so members.

Britain, France, Germany and Arab nations are working on a resolution to put before the Security Council next week condemning Syria’s crackdown on protests, AFP reports.

Mr Muallem dismissed the possibility of the crisis being referred to the UN, saying: “Whether they go to New York or to the moon it’s their business. As long as we’re not paying for their tickets.”

Some regional powers were “internationalising” the situation in Syria, he added.

Security Council action on Syria has so far been prevented by veto-wielding permanent members Russia and China, who have been reluctant to back action that they say might lead to Libya-style military intervention.