Activists say Syrian troops killed 25 protesters

DAMASCUS // Syrian troops killed at least 25 people yesterday as anti-government protesters defied a huge security operation involving mass arrests and the deployment of tank-backed military units to major urban centres.

In response to Syria's use of force in suppressing anti-government demonstrations, the European Union yesterday followed the United States, announcing it has agreed to impose targeted sanctions against 14 leading members of the Syrian regime, though not against President Bashar al Assad.

Fewer protesters were involved compared to previous weeks, activists acknowledged, but they insisted the show of defiance in the face of such a massive crackdown proved they had not been bludgeoned into submission. Throughout the week as many as 8,000 suspected dissidents were arrested, according to human-rights groups.

Violence erupted yesterday in Homs and Hama, two major cities in central Syria, with 25 people killed, according to activists, who said security forces opened fire on unarmed protesters calling for Mr al Assad to give up power.

Syrian state media reported at least four members of the security forces were killed near Homs, including an army officer, and their bodies mutilated. As is routine, it made no mention of any civilian casualties. The government claims it is fighting an insurrection by foreign-backed Islamic militants.

Mr al Assad yesterday agreed to allow United Nations human-rights monitors in the country, according to the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. Mr Ban said he had been given a verbal agreement for the mission to gain access, during a telephone call with the Syrian leader yesterday. If that mission goes ahead, it will be the first independent assessment of humanitarian conditions in Syria since the uprising began more than seven weeks ago. Since then, at least 560 civilians have been killed by security forces, according to human-rights groups, many of them in Deraa, the revolt's epicentre. The Red Cross said yesterday it had successfully sent a team of doctors and lorries containing medical and humanitarian supplies to Deraa on Thursday. It had previously been unable to reach the city during the military siege.

Although Deraa was quiet yesterday, with a strong military presence remaining on the streets, in outlying districts, demonstrations continued.

Activists said efforts to impose a military solution on a political problem had failed, and that the government would have to seriously push through the sweeping reforms they have been demanding, including the release of all prisoners of conscience and an end to the domination of the unaccountable security services in daily life.

Some protesters have gone farther, saying these changes can happen only if Mr al Assad's 11-year rule comes to an end and the autocratic system of governance established by his father, Hafez al Assad, the former president, is swept away.

"The protests were smaller this week, and we know why - thousands of people have been arrested," said one civil-rights activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "But even with all of that, there were still demonstrations in many places, so there is no way the state can say the crisis is over - it isn't."

Security in Damascus was high, and dissident suburbs were sealed off by soldiers in full combat gear, supported by armoured personnel carriers. Those measures did not stop hundreds of protesters taking to the streets in the neighbourhoods of Maadamiyah and Kadam. But the measures did prevent demonstrators at separate locations from merging and marching on the centre of the capital.

In Midan, Damascus's southern gate, a crowd staged a brief demonstration after prayers, which was quickly broken up by security units. They detained Riad Seif, a leading opposition figure and former MP who has spent years in jail for publicly urging democratic reforms and criticising rampant corruption.

His arrest and the detention of other secular, socialist and Christian political campaigners run counter to the government's insistence it is only trying to fight armed Islamic factions, and, opposition groups say, show the ruling elite are merely intent on retaining their hold on power.

The internet in Syria was significantly disrupted yesterday but activists managed to upload videos of demonstrations, which were then aired on satellite television stations. Footage showed protests in Banias, Idleb, Raqqa and Qamishli, in addition to Homs, Hama and the capital.

Since the protests began in March, the authorities have used a mixture of clampdowns and promises of concessions to try to defuse this unprecedented outbreak of dissent. The government lifted martial laws last month, ending 48 years of emergency rule, a move that officials say proves their genuine willingness to reform. That change in law has not, however, brought about any noticeable change on the ground, with arbitrary arrests continuing, according to civil-rights monitors.

Another law, issued last month, ostensibly gave permission for public demonstrations but the interior ministry has subsequently refused to license any protests critical of the government. On Thursday it allowed a demonstration outside the French Embassy in Damascus, in response to growing French criticism of Syria.

It was the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who, in July 2008, ushered Syria back in from the diplomatic cold after years of isolation from the West.

psands@thenational.ae