27/08/12
#Syria, Rebels captured BMP tank in suburb #Erbeen
04/08/12
ASSAD’S ARMIES HELICOPTERS WORKNG DAY & NIGHT TO KILL CIVILIANS!
#Syria, Damascus Suburbs: Helicopter Shelling of Erbeen
#Syria: Damascus suburbs come under renewed attack
Two large suburbs of Damascus came under heavy tank bombardment on Wednesday following renewed Free Syrian Army attacks on forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, opposition activists said.
A Syrian army checkpoint in the restive Damascus suburb of Saqba Photo: AFP/Getty Images
8:03AM GMT 21 Mar 2012
Artillery and anti-aircraft gun barrages hit the suburbs of Harasta and Irbin, retaken from rebels by Assad’s forces two months ago, and army helicopters were heard flying over the area, on the eastern edge of the capital, the activists said.
Assad’s forces reasserted their control of Damascus suburbs in January after days of tank and artillery shelling that beat back rebels and lessened street protests against the 42-year rule of Assad and his father, the late President Hafez al-Assad.
The suburbs are a linked series of towns inhabited mostly by members of Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority, who have grown increasingly resentful at the domination of the Assads, who belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Islam.
The Damascus assault and rebel fighters’ flight on Tuesday from the eastern city of Deir al-Zor mark the latest setbacks for the armed opposition, which also faced accusations of torture and brutality from a leading human rights body.
But as Assad made advances on the ground, he appeared to suffer a setback on the diplomatic front, with key-ally Moscow adopting a new, sharper tone after months of publicly standing by his government.
“We believe the Syrian leadership reacted wrongly to the first appearance of peaceful protests and … is making very many mistakes,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian radio station Kommersant-FM.
“This, unfortunately, has in many ways led the conflict to reach such a severe stage.”
Lavrov also spoke of a “future transition” period for Syria but continued to reject calls from most Western and Arab states for Assad to resign, saying this was “unrealistic”.
It was not immediately clear if the change in language would translate into a tangible difference in the way international powers, hitherto divided on Syria, might deal with the crisis.
“The change in the Russian position is one of tone, not of substance. Moscow still sees its support of Assad as part of a regional game, but it is losing the support of the Syrian people, which could backfire on it if the Syrian regime falls,” said Najati Tayyara, a prominent Syrian opposition figure.
The uprising started with non-violent demonstrations last March, but the situation deteriorated rapidly amid a ferocious army crackdown and there are now daily clashes between rebels and security forces around the country.
The United Nations says more than 8,000 people have been killed so far, but the toll is rising rapidly, with at least 31 men, women and children killed on Tuesday, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
Lightly armed rebel forces have been forced into retreat across the country in recent weeks, with the army using heavy weapons to chase them from towns and cities, chalking up its latest victory in Deir al-Zor.
“Tanks entered residential neighbourhoods, especially in southeastern areas of Deir al-Zor. The Free Syrian Army pulled out to avoid a civilian massacre,” a statement by the Deir al-Zor Revolution Committees Union said.
After failing to hold significant stretches of land, analysts say the rebels appear to be switching to insurgency tactics, pointing to bloody car bomb attacks in two major Syrian cities at the weekend and the sabotage of a major rail link.
Car bomb attacks in the capital Damascus and second city Aleppo killed at least 30 over the weekend, while rebels also destroyed a railway bridge linking Damascus to Deraa, according to official Syrian media.
Diplomats warn the fighting could develop into a civil war pitching Assad’s Alawite sect and its minority allies against the majority Sunni Muslim population.
Assad may also be facing pressure from inside his government. Documents described as leaked from inside Syria’s embattled government show it trying to dissuade the president’s allies from defecting.
The government says 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed by foreign-backed “terrorists” and denies accusations of brutality and indiscriminate violence.
In a new twist, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch said the rebels were guilty of serious crimes, citing cases of kidnapping, torture and killings in cold blood.
Washington said it would “absolutely denounce” human rights violations by the rebels, but stressed that most of the abuse was being carried out by pro-Assad forces.
Russia has previously vetoed two Western and Arab-backed U.N resolutions condemning government violence, arguing that the actions of rebels should also be criticised.
In a fresh effort to form a united international front, France has circulated a Western-drafted statement for the sharply divided U.N. Security Council deploring the turmoil and backing peace efforts by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
Russia announced it would back the text on two conditions – that there was no ultimatum imposed on Assad and that Annan release full details of his peace plan.
Annan dispatched a team of five experts to Damascus on Monday to discuss ways of implementing the peace drive, including a mechanism to let international monitors into the country. Syria has questioned the value of such a mission and talks continue.
Lavrov also dismissed media reports of Russian warships entering Russia’s naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartous as “fairy tales”. Some reports had said Russian ships were delivering weapons or special forces troops.
Lavrov said a Russian tanker with fuel for Russian warships involved in antipiracy operations in the Gulf of Aden was docked at the port. Russia has repeatedly said its arms sales to Syria violate no laws and it sees no grounds to suspend them.
Source: agencies
On a Tour Cut Short, Monitors in #Syria See Little
By
Published: January 26, 2012
HARASTA, Syria — On a tour by observers through the restless suburbs of Damascus, the stops on Thursday were anxious, brief and few.
In Irbeen, less than 10 miles from the capital, the observers hopped out of their heavily guarded convoy to examine two bodies of victims of recent violence that were lying in the street, then raced off a few minutes later as a group of protesters approached. In their rush, they were not able to look at three other bodies, an observer later said.
Later, they swept into the suburb of Harasta, where soldiers lined the entry road, taking up positions that suggested momentary control. Some sat on the sidewalk, and others milled about outside a store.
The streets emptied as the observers arrived. Their security guards drew their guns and searched the rooftops before the Arab League delegation inspected a cache of captured weapons in a house, including assault rifles and ammunition, as well as the opposition flag.
Afterward, they drove back to their hotel, having witnessed little of what is occurring in the neighborhoods that are posing a sharp and growing challenge to the government’s rule.
Arab League observers and government officials said on Thursday that a lengthier tour in Harasta, Irbeen and nearby Douma would have been impossible because antigovernment protests had become routine and gunmen, including many allied with the protesters, were attacking the security services with growing strength.
“We can’t go into certain neighborhoods, like Douma,” said one member of the security team guarding the observers. “We will be killed.”
The truncated visit also revealed the limitations of the observer mission, as the conflict shifted from frequently deadly confrontations between protesters and the government to clashes between armed groups and security forces.
Many observers said they felt more vulnerable after a recent report by the head of their mission, Lt. Gen. Muhammad Ahmed al-Dabi, that was perceived, at least by the Syrian government, as casting equal blame on opposition gunmen for the violence in the country. As a result, the observers seemed especially reliant on the government’s security as they traveled on Thursday. They did not meet with any opposition activists, not even one with whom they had scheduled an appointment so that the activist could give the observers a list of people detained by security forces.
An observer, Jaafar Kibeida, one of the mission’s leaders and a former Sudanese diplomat, said the activist would not have been able to visit them, surrounded as they were by the government’s army. For weeks, Mr. Kibeida said, the observers had repeatedly sought out opposition figures as they made their visits.
“People are more furious,” Mr. Kibeida said “The mood has changed.”
A visit to Douma — where the observers seemed to be most needed — was out of the question. Over the last week, the army and the security services have tried to rout hundreds of opposition gunmen who were controlling parts of the town.
After cutting off electricity and cellphone service, the government began storming Douma on Thursday, activists said, arresting hundreds of people during house-to-house searches before pulling back to the outskirts at night.
An activist in Douma, who gave his name as Muhammad, said the town had been considered “liberated” but indefensible. Though about 500 fighters were protecting Douma, Muhammad said, they could not guard all its dozens of entrances.
”It was like hell in Douma,” he said.
Fierce fighting continued on Thursday in Hama, in central Syria, where activists said the bodies of at least 23 men executed by the security forces had been discovered. The report, by the opposition Local Coordination Committees, could not be confirmed. The group posted a video of the bodies of men it said had been found in the Bab Qibli area, including several victims whose hands or feet were bound and who appeared to have bullet wounds to the head.
The Syrian state news agency, Sana, said that security forces had clashed with an “armed terrorist group” in Hama, arrested several people and killed “many others.” The news agency said that the authorities had seized explosives, remote detonation devices and rocket-propelled-grenade launchers.
The observers’ visit on Thursday started with the longest stop of the day, at the office of the governor of the Damascus countryside, Hussein Makhlouf, who conceded that armed gunmen “controlled some areas.” The gunmen gained that control, he said, after President Bashar al-Assad’s government had kept its promise to the Arab League and withdrew tanks from cities.
The meeting continued behind closed doors, where a police official told the observers that opposition fighters had spent two days trying to attack a police station in Irbeen, at one point, using a bulldozer, according to Mr. Kibeida, the observer.
“The situation was not good for us to go today,” he said.
Arab observers resume work amid #Syria violence
AMMAN | (Reuters) - Arab League observers in Syria, depleted by a pullout of their Gulf Arab colleagues, resumed work on Thursday for the first time in a week during which a bloody struggle between President Bashar al-Assad and his opponents has raged on. Security forces deployed across the Damascus suburb of Douma on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Douma, a protest hotbed that has recently seen a rise in rebel activity, was rocked by loud explosions overnight, according to activists living there. The British-based Observatory said army operations under way in parts of the countryside around the capital had led to fighting on Wednesday night but said there were no signs of clashes in Douma on Thursday since security forces deployed. The Arab League, while extending the monitoring mission for another month, called on Sunday for Assad to step down as part of a transition plan for which it is seeking U.N. support. France and Britain have joined efforts at the United Nations to end Assad’s 11-year rule, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country remained opposed to sanctions on Syria and reiterated its opposition to military intervention. “The U.N. Security Council must support the Arab League’s courageous decisions which are trying to end the repression and violence in Syria and find a solution to the political crisis,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said. The Security Council could vote as early as next week on a Western-Arab draft resolution, council diplomats said. A group of Arab monitors planned to visit the troubled Damascus suburb of Irbin, one of them said. It would be their first outing since Friday. The mission had put its activities on hold until Arab foreign ministers met to decide its future. Gulf Arab states have since withdrawn their 55 observers from the 165-strong team, saying they were sure “the bloodshed and killing of innocents would continue.” Arab League officials said they would be replaced and work would go on. An Algerian observer in the team heading to Irbin said he was nervous because some opposition groups had said they would not cooperate with the mission. “We don’t know what to expect,” he told Reuters, declining to be named. Another monitor said he was confused about the purpose of prolonging the mission for another four weeks. “The report has been written and the (Arab League) decisions have been taken, so another month to do what? We are not sure,” he said. RED CRESCENT OFFICIAL KILLED Syrian opposition groups have accused the observer mission, which deployed on December 26, of giving Assad diplomatic cover to pursue a crackdown on protesters and rebels in which more than 5,000 people have been killed since March, by a U.N. tally. The head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in the northern town of Idlib was shot dead on Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said, in an attack which Damascus blamed on “terrorists.” State news agency SANA also said a priest was killed by “terrorists” while helping a wounded person in the city of Hama. The opposition Local Coordinating Committees activist group said a total of 27 people had been killed, including six fighters in the rebel Free Syrian Army. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 13 civilians and six army deserters. The state news agency SANA said 14 members of the security forces were buried on Wednesday, describing them as martyrs killed by “armed terrorist groups” across the country. It also said five security men had been killed when a police station was attacked in the town of Apamea in the central province of Hama. Syrian authorities say insurgents have killed 2,000 soldiers and police since the anti-Assad revolt erupted in March. Despite the mounting death toll, an ICRC official said the Syria unrest did not meet the group’s definition of civil war. “The threshold has not yet been passed to speak of an armed conflict,” Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, head of ICRC operations for the Near and Middle East, told Reuters in Geneva. The ICRC’s legal criteria for civil war include an opposition that clearly controls territory and has a military structure with a clear chain of command. The revolt in Syria was inspired by other uprisings that have toppled three autocratic Arab leaders over the past year and the bloodshed has battered Assad’s standing in the world. The Arab League has suspended Syria and called for Assad to hand over to his deputy, pending the formation of an unity government, constitutional and security reform, and elections. (Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny in Damascus, Erika Solomon in Beirut and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
(01-25-12) Irbeen | Damascus #Syria | Heavy Shelling on City from #Assad Forces , FSA Clashes with Assad Forces
Eyewitness: #Syria observers tour town
Mohammad Ballout, of the BBC Arabic Service, accompanied three Arab League observers to the town of Irbine, on the outskirts of Damascus. This is his eyewitness report.
BBC footage of the unscheduled visit by Arab League observers to a Damascus suburb
Watch video here.
An extraordinary day for the residents of the town of Irbine. The town, a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus, was visited by observers from the Arab League on Thursday. They broke off from their official programme to visit the area unhindered by an official escort.
The BBC was able to film the ensuing demonstration without being stopped by the army or pro-government militia.
The security forces stayed on the sidelines, allowing the protest to go ahead. During the five hour visit, the observers moved about the town freely.
Arab League monitors surrounded by a chanting crowd in Irbine
Protesters gathered quickly in front of the police station, surrounded the observers and led them to the centre of the city where they were joined by hundreds of residents eager to tell them what had happened in their town.
The group of observers - made up of three Algerian diplomats - was able to record the accounts of the resident of the town freely.
Three veiled women said the security forces had taken hostage one of their brothers to force them to hand over another man. The observers were told that Ghayas Halabi was killed in an operation by the security forces, while the hostage, Yassine Halabi, was never freed.
A father told the observers that his son was killed by a sniper as he left a mosque on a protest day in the town. He said soldiers “finished off” his injured son with a knife.
A group of activists in face masks arrived in a truck and distributed banners and flags. A demonstration followed and a chant went up in the crowd demanding the execution of President Bashar al-Assad.
The observers accompanied the crowd to the city’s main mosque. One of them took part in the prayer. The two other observers went into an office beside the mosque to hear the residents’ complaints and to receive a list of those who had been detained or had been missing without news for more than a month.
#Syria: France says Arab League mission ‘unable to do job’
The Arab League mission sent to monitor unrest in Syria is unable to do its job properly, according to France, as a deadly bombing killed up to 25 in Damascus.
3:04PM GMT 06 Jan 2012
“We support the Arab League which has sent observers to Syria but this mission is not at present able to do its job properly,” Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, said on the second day of a visit to Tunisia.
He condemned the “savage and brutal repression” by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime against demonstrations which has left more than 5,000 people dead.
He also expressed regret that Russian opposition had prevented further action against Damascus by the United Nations.
A team of Arab League observers has been in Syria since December 26 trying to assess whether Assad’s regime is complying with a peace accord aimed at ending its deadly crackdown on dissent.
But critics say it has been completely out-manoeuvred by the government and failed to make any progress towards stemming nearly 10 months of bloodshed.
His comments came after at least 25 people were killed and dozens wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up in central Damascus, the second such attack on the Syrian capital in a fortnight.
The bomb was detonated at a set of traffic lights in the historic district of al-Midan, just south of Damascus’s ancient walled city, state television reported.
Video footage indicated that a police bus had borne the brunt of the blast. Reduced to a shell, its seats were soaked in blood and covered in shards of glass.
The television station claimed that the majority of the casualties were civilians, saying that the attack took place “in a heavily populated working-class neighbourhood near a school”. More than 46 people were also wounded in the attack, it added.
There was no independent confirmation of the number of fatalities. The regime was quick to blame the attack on “terrorists”, which it says have been at the forefront of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad that erupted last March.
The attack came exactly a fortnight after two booby-trapped cars, allegedly driven by suicide bombers, exploded in front of government intelligence buildings in Damascus on December 23rd, killing 44 people.
Friday’s attack, like the one before it, coincided with mass protests called to demand Mr Assad’s overthrow and opposition officials claimed the blast was planned by the government to distract attention from the demonstrations.
Protests after noon prayers on Fridays have traditionally drawn the largest turnouts of the uprising, and organisers said they expected hundreds of thousands to take to the streets.
December’s attack saw the government and the opposition each accuse each other of being responsible. The regime claimed that the double bombings were carried out by al Qaeda, which it said had infiltrated opposition ranks.
But the opposition claimed that the attacks were the work of the government itself and were ordered as part of a conspiracy to discredit the protest movement and rally the country behind Mr Assad.
Friday’s attack came as Arab League observers continued a mission in the country to monitor the regime’s compliance with a regional peace plan designed to end the violence, which has claimed more than 5,000 lives in the past 10 months according to UN estimates.
There were unconfirmed reports that a group of observers came under fire from pro-regime gunmen as they entered the restive Damascus district of Arbeen on Friday morning.
The Arab League has come under growing pressure to withdraw its mission amid claims that the monitors had failed to end the violence and were giving Mr Assad diplomatic cover to continue killing civilians.
Amid the carnage, the opposition was given a major boost as it emerged that one of Mr Assad’s generals had defected to join the rebel Free Syrian Army.
The officer, identified by al Jazeera as Mustafa Ahmed el-Sheikh, was the most senior yet to desert his post. Gen Sheikh called on other officers to join him.
A key opposition strategy for toppling Mr Assad revolves around persuading a critical mass of his armed forces to defect, thereby toppling one of the regime’s most important pillars of support.
Suicide bomb kills 26 in #Syria: interior minister
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed 26 people and wounded 63 in Damascus on Friday, Syria’s interior minister said, vowing an “iron fist” response to the carnage in the heart of the Syrian capital after similar attacks two weeks ago.
The blast came two days before an Arab League committee was due to discuss an initial report by Arab observers who are checking Syria’s compliance with an Arab plan to halt President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on nearly 10 months of unrest.
The meeting may decide whether to continue the mission or to refer Syria to the United Nations Security Council, perhaps paving the way for some form of international action, a scenario that many Arab countries are keen to avoid.
Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said he was sending a message with Khaled Meshaal, the Damascus-based leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, asking the Syrian government to work “with integrity” to halt the violence.
Interior Minister Ibrahim al-Shaar, quoted by state television, said 26 people had been killed in the blast in the Maidan district of Damascus, including 15 who could not be identified because their bodies had been shredded in the blast.
“We will strike back with an iron fist at anyone tempted to tamper with the security of the country or its citizens,” he said. He said that about 63 people had been wounded.
Some in the opposition said the government itself had staged the attack to try to show that it is fighting blind violence rather than a pro-democracy movement.
State television showed body parts, bloodstains and broken glass from the explosion. Several riot police shields were shown near a wrecked bus that was among several damaged vehicles.
On December 23 at least 44 people were killed by what Syrian authorities said were two suicide bombings that targeted security buildings in the Syrian capital, one day before the head of the Arab League observer mission arrived there.
GRISLY FOOTAGE
Syrian television footage of Friday’s blast showed yellow caution tape stretched around the wrecked bus and cars with smashed windows in a street. People collected body parts on blue plastic sheets amid pools of blood and scattered shoes.
Arab monitors in white baseball caps and orange vests inspected the area, taking notes and filming. A local police station was visible, apparently untouched by the explosion.
The TV showed crowds of angry locals gathered at the scene, chanting “God, Syria and Bashar only” and “God protect the army” and “With blood and soul we sacrifice for you Bashar.”
The monitors confirmed they had visited the scene. “We are only here to observe and document,” one of them told Reuters by telephone.
Syria bars most independent journalists from the country, making first-hand reporting impossible.
However, a BBC Arabic service reporter was able to accompany three Arab monitors on a five-hour visit to the town of Irbine, on the outskirts of Damascus, the BBC reported.
It was the first time foreign media were known to have been able to cover the activities of the monitors directly, although media access was a condition stipulated by the Arab League.
The BBC said it had been able to film, unhindered by the security forces, an anti-Assad protest in Irbine.
Protesters and residents told the observers, all Algerian diplomats, of harsh treatment at the hands of the security forces. The observers then witnessed a demonstration in which the crowd demanded Assad’s execution, the BBC said.
The League’s special committee on Syria is due to meet in Cairo on Sunday to debate the initial findings of the observer mission, which has been criticized by Syrian activists who question its ability to assess violence on the ground.
Arab states are wary of instability in Syria, which the Arab League has suspended for failing to honor its first peace plan. Syria has been a major regional player, allied with Iran and the Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah group.
Hezbollah, a political and militant group that fought a war with Israel in 2006, blamed the United States for the blast.
“This is a second step in the plan by evil American forces and those under its control in our region to punish Syria for its firm support of resistance forces against the Zionist enemy (Israel) and the West,” it said on its website.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that, as with previous attacks, Syria had blamed “just about everybody” - the opposition, al Qaeda and the United States - while the opposition, including the Free Syrian Army (FSA), had denied being behind the attacks and accused the authorities.
“At the present time we can’t say one way or the other how this happened but what we can say is that, obviously, we condemn the attack,” she said.
The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed in the popular uprising against Assad. The government says “terrorists” have killed 2,000 members of the security forces during the revolt.
FATE OF ARAB MISSION
The monitors began work on the streets on December 26 to try to verify whether the government was keeping its promise to pull troops and tanks out of cities and free thousands of detainees.
The FSA, an armed opposition force composed mainly of army deserters, condemned the attack and blamed the authorities.
“This is planned and systematic state terrorism by the security forces of President Bashar al-Assad,” FSA spokesman Major Maher al-Naimi said.
An opposition activist, who asked not to be named, said Islamist militants were taking hold in Syria and may have been behind the blast. “I think we will be seeing more of these attacks in the coming days, I am sorry to say,” he said.
One Damascus resident, who gave her name only as Dima, said the city had been tense even before the blast. “Some friends who work in the security forces were warning my family since yesterday to stay at home,” she said. “The streets were empty.”
The violence in Syria has raged unabated since the Arab monitors arrived, with scores of people reported killed.
Security forces killed four protesters in Hama on Friday when they shot at people shouting anti-Assad slogans after weekly prayers, activists said.
Pro-Assad forces also wounded at least three protesters when they fired at a crowd at a Damascus mosque in a district where a security headquarters is located, a witness said.
The witness said pro-Assad militiamen and secret police agents fired water cannon and then assault rifles after the protesters in the Kfar Souseh district refused to disperse.
“I saw three people on the ground and I do not know if they are dead or alive,” said the witness, who lives nearby.
Arab government sources said on Thursday the League monitors would pursue their mission in Syria, despite criticism from Qatar’s prime minister that they had made mistakes.
Syrian activists say the Arab monitors have had inadequate access to trouble spots, a charge denied by Damascus.
(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Arab monitors escape attack by #Syria’n forces in Damascus suburb
A member from the Arab League observers delegation makes a video recording of his visit to al-Msefra town near Deraa, southern Syria on Jan. 5, 2012. (Reuters)
By Al Arabiya with Agencies
An Arab League team of monitors withdrew from the Damascus suburb of Arbeen after forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad opened fire at them as they toured the streets, Al Arabiya TV reported on Friday.
Arab government sources have said the peace monitors will remain in Syria to check on the government’s compliance with a promise to end 10 months of violence against pro-democracy protesters, But the incident in Arbeen is likely to increase pressure on the Arab League to withdraw its observers.
Analysts fear that if the Arab monitors were pulled out it could open the door for foreign intervention, a scenario many Arab countries want to avoid. Syria is a major player in the region and is strongly supported by Iran and militant groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.
The head of the Free Syrian Army Thursday called on the Arab League to admit that its observer mission to the country is a failure, urging the bloc to seek U.N. help to end almost 10 months of bloodshed.
Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad’s statement came as 11 more people were reported killed in Syria and after the Arab League turned to the United Nations for help and admitted “mistakes” in its almost two-week old mission.
The League has suspended Syria’s membership, citing Assad’s failure to adhere to its plan to stop a crackdown which the United Nations says has killed more than 5,000 people since March.
The team of monitors arrived in Syria last week to verify whether the government was implementing the agreement to scale back its military presence in cities and free thousands of prisoners detained since the uprising last March
The League’s special committee on Syria is due to meet in Egypt on Sunday to debate the initial findings of the mission, which has been criticized by Syrian activists who question its ability to assess the violence on the ground.
The activists said the teams did not have enough access and were escorted by Syrian authorities, who were manipulating them and hiding prisoners in military facilities.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, after meeting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York, said this was the first such experience.
“I said we must evaluate the types of mistakes it made and without a shadow of a doubt I see mistakes, even though we went in to observe, not to stop the violence,” he said.
Sheikh Hamad, who chairs the Arab League committee on Syria, did not elaborate on the mistakes but said he was seeking technical help from the United Nations.
U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters in New York that Sheikh Hamad and Ban discussed “practical measures how the United Nations could assist this observer mission.”
“The form that could take is that, under the auspices of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, there would be training of (Arab League) observers,” he said. “This would be a small-scale undertaking to train observers.”
No comment was immediately available from Qatari officials on Sheikh Hamad’s remarks, which were reported by KUNA, the Kuwaiti state news agency.
An Arab government representative told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the monitors could not be withdrawn whatever the contents of the initial report.
Seeking Arab solution
Syria said it provided the monitors with all the facilities they needed.
“What we are looking for is objectivity and professionalism,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdesi told Lebanese Manar television.
State news agency SANA said some 4,000 detainees had been released since November.
Arab League General Secretary Nabil Elaraby said on Monday the mission had secured the release of about 3,500 prisoners. Campaign group Avaaz said on Thursday 37,000 people detained since March were still being held.
Sheikh Hamad said the League would soon hear the monitors’ findings and assess the mission’s viability: “We are going to evaluate all sides of the situation and we will look at the possibility of the delegation continuing or not and how we can carry on this mission, but we need to listen to the reports of those who were on the ground first”.
On the likelihood of Syria being referred to the United Nations Security Council, Sheikh Hamad said: “We always try to create a solution to this crisis within the Arab League, but that depends on the Syrian government and the extent of its clarity with us in producing a solution to the crisis.”
If the Arab monitors were pulled out it could open the door for foreign intervention, a scenario many Arab countries want to avoid. Syria is a major player in the region and is strongly supported by Iran and militant groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.
The League has suspended Syria’s membership, citing Assad’s failure to adhere to its plan to stop a crackdown which the United Nations says has killed more than 5,000 people since March.
The committee comprises the foreign ministers of Egypt, Sudan, Qatar, Oman and Algeria, but a source in the League said other countries were invited to join on Sunday and they could call for an urgent meeting of all Arab ministers the same day.
Some officials at the League said countries such as Sudan, Jordan, Egypt and Algeria were wary of ending the mission early, fearing that declaring it a failure might provoke Western military intervention in Syria.
