Former ICC prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, pictured in the Hague, the Netherlands, in June (ANP/AFP/File, Roel Rozenburg)

MONTREAL — Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the International Criminal Court’s former prosecutor, said that world leaders had a “good case” for asking NATO to prepare a warrant to arrest Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Moreno-Ocampo, an Argentine lawyer who was the ICC’s first prosecutor, said given “it was absolutely clear” that as Syria’s commander-in-chief Assad’s forces had killed civilians, NATO could execute such a warrant.

He told Canadian broadcaster CBC such a warrant, carried out by both international and Syrian forces, was “one possible solution to the problem” of Assad, but the world community must first reach a consensus on Syria.

“We can have a new, more innovative approach, combining justice and a real effort to implement the warrant and then (have) negotiations at the same time,” Moreno-Ocampo told CBC on Friday, as long as Assad had the presumption of innocence.

Such a move would force Assad to negotiate, the former judge said, and possibly achieve a breakthrough in the near 20-month uprising, but he noted that the shadow of “regime change” hung over world leaders, noting that the protection of civilians was the official reason for NATO intervention in Libya.

In the end, however, Colonel Moamer Kadhafi was ousted from power following international military action.

Moreno-Ocampo, who left the ICC earlier this year, said he was not in favor of military action in Syria, noting it “was not a good idea.”

Copyright © 2012 AFP

17/09/12

* Investigators have secret list of alleged perpetrators

* Call for U.N. Security Council to refer Syria to ICC

* Both sides commit war crimes in Syria, Pinheiro says

* Syrian envoy says Western, Arab nations back jihad

By Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles

GENEVA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - United Nations human rights investigators said on Monday they had drawn up a new secret list of Syrians and military units suspected of committing war crimes who ought to be prosecuted.

The independent investigators, led by Paulo Pinheiro, said they had gathered “a formidable and extraordinary body of evidence” and urged the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“Gross human rights violations have grown in number, in pace and in scale,” Pinheiro told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. “There is no statute of limitations on these crimes.”

He did not say if any Syrian rebels were among the names on the list, which updated a confidential one his team submitted to U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay in February.

Pinheiro presented the team’s latest report, issued a month ago, saying Syrian government forces and allied militia have committed war crimes including murder and torture of civilians in what appears to be a state-directed policy.

More than 20,000 people have been killed in the 18-month-old conflict, 1.2 million are uprooted within Syria and more than 250,000 have fled abroad, the United Nations says.

Food, water and medical supplies have run short in areas subjected to Syrian government air strikes, shelling and siege, Pinheiro said, adding that investigators had received “numerous accounts…of civilians barely managing to survive”.

Pinheiro reported an “increasing and alarming presence” of Islamist militants in Syria, some joining the rebels and others operating independently. They tended to radicalise the rebels, who have also committed war crimes, the Brazilian expert said.

It would be “improper” to make public the list of suspects because they were entitled to the presumption of innocence and no mechanism to hold perpetrators responsible was in place yet where allegations could be contested, Pinheiro said.

His team interviewed more than 1,100 victims, refugees and defectors in the past year. “We have no interviews with wounded soldiers, or families of dead agents of the government because the government of Syria does now allow us access to Syria.”

Syrian ambassador Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui accused Western and Arab powers of arming and funding rebels conducting a “jihad” or holy war against Damascus, and warned that this would backfire.

“The mercenaries are a time bomb that will explode later in the country and in the countries supporting them after they finish their terrorist mission in Syria,” he declared.

The report should have named countries that “support the killers”, which he said included the United States, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Libya.


SYRIA SAYS FOES BACK “JIHAD”

“One of the facts that we do not see in the report is that many international parties are working at increasing the crisis in Syria through instigating their media, through training mercenaries, Qaeda elements, training them and funding them and sending them to Syria for jihad. This through fatwas that were issued,” Khabbaz Hamoui said during the four-hour debate.

Russia, Syria’s ally which has vetoed all Western attempts at the Security Council to condemn Syria, said rebels were committing “terrorist acts” including executions and jihadists were increasingly active due to “support from the outside”.

“There are jihadist mercenaries fighting on the opposition side. Those who in the view of some states are bringing democracy to the region are in actual fact carrying out mass murder,” Russian diplomat Maria Khodynskaya-Golenishcheva said.

“They are deliberately firing on peaceful inhabitants who support the government…and are using hostages as suicide bombers and children as soldiers,” she said.

Western countries are seeking another condemnation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government at the session, as well as an extension of the commission of inquiry’s mandate, which expires this month.

European Union ambassador Mariangela Zappia said: “The international community must ensure impunity will not prevail.”

U.S. human rights ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe also called for the investigators to pursue their work.

Turkey’s ambassador Oguz Demiralp, describing the conflict in Syria as a “serious threat to international security”, said those behind crimes there would be held accountable.

Human Rights Watch, which has repeatedly documented abuses by Syrian security forces, said on Monday that rebel groups had subjected detainees to ill-treatment and torture and committed extrajudicial or summary executions.

“Declarations by opposition groups that they want to respect human rights are important, but the real test is how opposition forces behave,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director of the New York-based watchdog. “Those assisting the Syrian opposition have a particular responsibility to condemn abuses.”

17/08/12

A U.N. Commission of Inquiry this week laid out a case that the Syrian government, pro-government militia, and to a lesser degree, armed opposition forces, have engaged in massive rights abuses amounting to crimes against humanity and war crimes.

So what’s the likelihood the President Bashar al-Assad and his military planners will ever have their day in court at The Hague?

For the time being, it looks pretty slim.

The Geneva-based commission, headed by Brazilian diplomat and lawyer Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, has issued no call for prosecution by the International Criminal Court, which investigated and issue warrants for other world leaders, including the late Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Instead, Pinheiro has kicked the ball over to the U.N. Security Council to decide how to hold the Syrian perpetrators to account and will hand a list of suspected abusers to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, where they will lie in a sealed envelope awaiting a possible decision by some as yet undetermined court to prosecute.

Meanwhile, there remain serious hurdles to prosecution.

Syria has never ratified the treaty, known as the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court (ICC), placing the government beyond the court’s reach.

The treaty includes a provision that allows the U.N. Security Council to initiate an ICC investigation. But it is almost unthinkable that the 15-nation council, where Syria’s allies Russia and China wield veto power, would authorize an ICC investigation into Assad’s alleged crimes, or those of the armed opposition for that matter.

There appears to be little appetite in the Security Council for establishing a temporary court, as it did in the past to prosecute crimes in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone.

Last April, Aryeh Neier, who recently stepped down as president of the Open Society Institute, proposed the establishment of an Arab war crimes court, authorized by the Arab League, to prosecute Syrian war criminals. But the idea has gained little traction.

European courts that assert universal jurisdiction over large-scale crimes, including genocide or war crimes, could prosecute Syrians responsible for murdering nationals from their countries, but they will be hard pressed to get them to surrender to a court in London, Paris, or Madrid.

Pinheiro, meanwhile, has claimed that his mandate does not give him the authority to recommend the U.N. Security Council authorize and investigation by the International Criminal Court, according to court advocates.

But ICC advocates contend that he not only has the authority but the obligation to do so. A call for a referral from the Security Council, they say, will add to the international pressure on Russia and China to ensure rights violators are held to account.

“Given the scale of the crimes it would seem incumbent upon the commission to make a recommendation to the council [for an ICC prosecution] regardless of its viability,” said Richard Dicker, an advocate of the ICC at Human Rights Watch. “A referral to the ICC should be very high on the list of recommendations. It’s an important statement of principle. There’s a second more practical factor: what looks like a fixed situation today, in terms of obstacles at the council, could change in the future.”

In August 2011, the U.N. Human Rights Council established a commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of human rights abuses in Syria dating back to March 2011 — shortly after the government mounted a bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters.

It has since produced three written reports detailing abuses by both government-backed forces and rebels. On Wednesday, the commission concluded that there are “reasonable grounds” to assert that the Syrian government, pro-government Shabbiha militia, and armed anti-government forces committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the country’s 17-month long uprising.

But it found that the most egregious abuses were carried out by forces loyal Assad and acting “with the knowledge, or at the behest, of the highest level of the government.”

The commission’s findings confirm its previous claims that the warring parties committed crimes against humanity during a conflict that the U.N. says has led to the deaths of more than 14,000 people.  But this week’s reports marked the first time it accused the various groups with war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

The commission, which was established in August 2011 by the U.N. Human Rights Council, particularly blamed the Syrian government and the Shabbiha for carrying out the large-scale killing of Syrian civilians in the town of Al Houla, dismissing government claims that the killings were carried out by anti-government forces.

More than 100 civilians were killed on May 25 at Al Houla in a gruesome military-backed operation that marked a sharp escalation in the violence in Syria.

“The commission confirms its previous finding that violations were committed pursuant to State policy,” reads the report. The commission also “found reasonable grounds” to believe anti-government opposition forces committed war crimes, including murder and extrajudicial executions and torture, but that the abuses “did not reach the gravity, frequency and scale of those committed by government forces and the Shabbiha.”

But the commission provides no specific proposal for an independent international prosecution.

Instead, it calls on the Syrian government to conduct its own investigation into human rights violations that is has ordered, and to hold perpetrators accountable. It also recommends that Human Rights Council beef up its reporting presence in Syria, and transmit its findings “to the Secretary General for the attention of the Security Council so appropriate action may be taken.”

Thus, the prospect for prosecution remains uncertain. Moreover, the commission is due to close in September.

“The options are not good,” said James Goldston, executive director of the Justice Initiative at the Open Society. But Goldston said he was “puzzled” by Pinheiro’s decision not to explicitly call for an ICC role in Syria, noting that the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, and more than 20 other countries in the Human Rights Council, have. “It can only help if the independent commission would add its voice.”

Security Council Sanctions, ICC Referral Needed

April 9, 2012

(New York) – Syrian security forces summarily executed over 100 – and possibly many more – civilians and wounded or captured opposition fighters during recent attacks on cities and towns, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 25-page report, “In Cold Blood: Summary Executions by Syrian Security Forces and Pro-Government Militias,” documents more than a dozen incidents involving at least 101 victims since late 2011, many of them in March 2012. Human Rights Watch documented the involvement of Syrian forces and pro-government shabeeha militias in summary and extrajudicial executions in the governorates of Idlib and Homs. Government and pro-government forces not only executed opposition fighters they had captured, or who had otherwise stopped fighting and posed no threat, but also civilians who likewise posed no threat to the security forces.

“In a desperate attempt to crush the uprising, Syrian forces have executed people in cold blood, civilians and opposition fighters alike,” said Ole Solvang, emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch. “They are doing it in broad daylight and in front of witnesses, evidently not concerned about any accountability for their crimes.”

Human Rights Watch called on the UN Security Council to ensure that any UN mission mandated to supervise the six-point plan brokered by the UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan would be in a position to document such crimes. This would be best achieved by sending, alongside military observers, properly equipped human rights monitors able to safely and independently interview victims of human rights abuses, while protecting them from retaliation.

Since the end of 2011, when Syrian forces intensified their military campaign on cities and towns that they believe to be opposition strongholds, hundreds of other people have died as a result of artillery attacks, sniper fire, or lack of medical assistance.

The exact number of victims of the extrajudicial executions is impossible to verify given the difficulties of accessing and evaluating the information from Syria. But Human Rights Watch documented at least 12 cases of executions in Idlib and Homs governorates. Human Rights Watch has received additional reports of many more similar incidents, but included in this report only cases in which researchers personally interviewed witnesses to the incidents.

In the cases documented by Human Rights Watch, at least 85 victims were Syrian residents who did not take part in the fighting, including women and children. The report describes in detail several cases of mass executions of civilians, including the killing of at least 13 men in the Bilal mosque in Idlib on March 11, the execution of at least 25 men during a search-and-arrest operation in the Sultaniya neighborhood of Homs on March 3, and the killing of at least 47 people, mainly women and children, in the `Adwiyya, Karm al-Zaytoun, and Refa`i neighborhoods of Homs on March 11 and 12.

In these cases, Syrian security forces, operating alone or together with pro-government Shabeeha militias, captured and executed people who were trying to escape as the army took over their towns, shot or stabbed people in their homes as the security forces entered the captured towns, or executed detained residents while conducting house searches.

For example, Louai, a resident who stayed in the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs after the army took it over, described the execution of his brother and four of his neighbors on March 2. Louai, who asked that his real name not be used for fear of reprisals, said that the army first entered his neighbors’ house, dragged the four men who were there outside, and slaughtered them with knives in front of their families. The soldiers then came into Louai’s house, and, when he and his brother raised their hands, shot at them both, wounding Louai and killing his brother.

Human Rights Watch also documented the executions of at least 16 opposition fighters, whom the Syrian security forces shot point blank after they had been captured or wounded and were no longer fighting. Those cases raised concerns that the army has adopted a policy, official or unofficial, of taking no prisoners.

An opposition fighter from Kafr Rouma in Idlib governorate described to Human Rights Watch an execution of fighters from his unit in the beginning of March:

One of the fighters was injured in his right leg by machine gun fire. He was lying on the street and we could not rescue him as the army was firing and shooting at our position. Then a tank approached, around 15 soldiers with military uniforms surrounded our comrade and started insulting him and kicking him. They were shouting to us that we should surrender or they would kill him. Then they put a black cloth around his eyes, handcuffed him, and one of them shot him dead with an [assault rifle]. When they left, we buried him in the graveyard in the village.

International human rights law unequivocally prohibits summary and extrajudicial executions. In situations of armed conflict in which international humanitarian law applies, combatants are legitimate targets if they are taking part in hostilities. But deliberately killing injured, surrendered, or captured soldiers would constitute a war crime.

Human Rights Watch has previously documented and condemned serious abuses by opposition fighters in Syria. These abuses should be investigated and those responsible brought to justice. These abuses by no means justify, however, the violations committed by the government forces, including summary executions of opposition fighters.

Human Rights Watch has called on the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court, impose an arms embargo on the Syrian government, and impose sanctions on Syrian officials as well as rebel commanders involved in serious human rights violations. Human Rights Watch also urged other countries to join the mounting calls for accountability by supporting a referral to the ICC as the forum most capable of effectively investigating and prosecuting those bearing the greatest responsibility for abuses in Syria.

“Syrian security forces will stop the executions only if they sense that accountability is inevitable,” Solvang said. “It is up to the Security Council to send this message.” 

14/03/12 Rami Jarrah

It was one year ago that Syrians rose in a joint nationwide call for freedom and democracy, anti government demonstrations surged across the country only for Assad, the president to answer those calls with what he termed as: “crushing them with an iron fist.”

Anyone who was suspected of taking part was subject to arrest, interrogation, torture or even just being shot in the street. Men, women, children, even the disabled, all were given a fair percentage in the endless list of victims. Syria, once described as the Kingdom of Silence due to its inability to join the Arab Spring early on had now become one of the bloodiest uprisings of our time. The fear barrier was finally broken.

I remember the first day very clearly it was named ‘The Syrian Day of Rage’. Just as I left the house headed to Omayyad mosque where a call for a mass demonstration had been announced on Facebook I remember a quick shiver racing down my spine, I had seen what the Syrian regime was capable of, and knew but ignored the fact that with my taking part, I could lose everything or anyone I ever loved, I was terrified.

I managed to park a few hundred meters away from the mosque. Just before getting out of the car I took out my phone and watched a video of my wife and newly born daughter. I was now hesitating, but it was time to go.

As I arrived I made my way through the courtyard to the inner side of the mosque where a few hundred people were attending the Friday speech before prayers. As hundreds more poured in I sat down and began to listen to what the Sheikh was saying. “The west is trying to fiddle with our country, they are the ones telling you to rise”, it was only expected that the government would send this man to try to diminish any possibility of a demonstration going through.

Prayers took about 10 minutes and were finally over. Everyone was now staring around as an old man walked across the carpet and climbed up onto the steps by the sheikh, he stared at everyone in silence, a group of people stood up and shuffled towards him and just then with a loud voice he said: “My sons are prisoners and I want freedom.”

At that very moment an extraordinary roar of commotion and chants broke out. I stood up quickly and ran towards the crowd and finally joined the chants. “Freedom”, I screamed with all my will. The atmosphere was intense, an unexplainable rush of adrenaline pushed me to grip my fist and chant even louder. We funnelled towards the main door and just as we made it a stampede of secret police with batons and tasers came smashing in.

Hundreds of protesters were beaten and dragged across the courtyard as more and more security forces came storming in. With streaks of blood left across the courtyard floor, the government had managed to disperse the protest. But it had begun; we had made our voices known. As one protester from that day put it: “the moment I chanted freedom was the moment I’d found my dignity.”

Protest after protest the Syrian regime continued its violent crackdown on civilians and now, one year on the revolution continues. The government, unable to silence the demands, have resulted to polluting the peaceful uprising with propaganda. They talk about armed terrorists whose sole mission is to demolish and cause instability in Syria. “The terrorists are killing the civilians” they say. “We are protecting them.” A joke really, but one that is being taken very seriously by the international community.

The Assad regime, with its allies, has managed to prevent any sort of solution to the crisis or protection of Syrian nationals. Assad has sent a very clear message to his people: either I rule Syria or I burn Syria, you choose.

At this moment, cities across the country are subject to bombardment by regime forces. Very recently, the Baba Amr area of Homs was under siege for 27 days, all electricity, water and communications were shut down whilst army tanks surrounded the area and shelled residential homes. The government claimed that they were taking out the terrorist elements were only really crushing the pro-democracy movement.

The only protection or resistance the people of Baba Amr had were the defected soldiers who refused to kill civilians and joined the call for democracy. Over 10,000 people have been killed by the Syrian government, some shot dead in demonstrations by snipers, some under the rubble of their shelled homes, some under torture. This in addition to over 100,000 detainees, 40,000 of which have not been released and thousands are missing. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) have not even condemned Bashar Al-Assad to this day.

With this happening and no hope of any outside help, the only thing that keeps me optimistic are the Syrian people themselves and their determination. When they are asked if this is ever going to stop? The answer always remains; “not until we are free”.

Deaths mount in #Syria as General Assembly meets

United Nations (CNN) — The United Nations General Assembly passed Thursday by an overwhelming margin a nonbinding resolution endorsing the Arab League plan for the Syrian president to step down. The vote was 137 in favor and 12 against, with 17 abstentions.

“Today, the U.N. General Assembly sent a clear message to the people of Syria: the world is with you,” said U.S. Ambassador Susan E. Rice in a statement. “Bashar al-Assad has never been more isolated. A rapid transition to democracy in Syria has garnered the resounding support of the international community. Change must now come.”

The symbolic resolution that condemns President Bashar al-Assad’s violent crackdown in Syria was introduced into the assembly after China and Russia blocked the Security Council from approving enforceable measures aimed at curbing the violence. China and Russia were among the no votes on Thursday.

Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari lashed out at the vote, calling the League of Arab States “broken, both politically and morally.” He added that, “If things continue in this manner … the United Nations will collapse — morally first and entirely second.”

The resolution marks the strongest U.N. statement to date condemning al-Assad’s regime. It calls on Syria to end human rights violations and attacks against civilians immediately, and condemns violence by al-Assad’s forces and the opposition.

For nearly a year, al-Assad has denied reports that his forces are targeting civilians, saying they were fighting armed gangs and foreign fighters bent on destabilizing the government.

But the vast majority of accounts from within the country say that Syrian forces are slaughtering civilians as part of a crackdown on anti-government opposition calling for al-Assad’s ouster.

It is unclear what, if any, effect the resolution will have on what many world leaders see as a relentless campaign by al-Assad’s forces to stamp out opposition.

The General Assembly’s vote followed news that France is bringing another resolution before the U.N. Security Council. “We are currently renegotiating a resolution at the U.N Security Council to see if we can persuade the Russians,” French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told radio station France Info on Wednesday.

Russia is seen as the linchpin in winning passage of a resolution that could force change in Syria because it could open al-Assad’s regime up to U.N. sanctions. It also could expose the president and his inner circle to possible prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

Syria is not a signatory of the Rome Statute that established the ICC’s authority. The Security Council is the only world body that can refer crimes against humanity to the international court.

Russia, a Soviet-era ally with trade and arms ties to Syria, has been adamantly opposed to a resolution that calls for al-Assad to step down, saying it amounts to a mandate for regime change.

Russia has given mixed messages as to whether it would accept a U.N. arms embargo or economic sanctions, even though it has said it is concerned about the prospect of a Syrian civil war.

Meanwhile, China announced Thursday that it was sending an envoy to Syria in an attempt to help defuse the crisis, according to state-run China National Radio (CNR).

Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun is scheduled to travel Friday to Syria for a two-day visit, CNR said. The report did not say with whom the minister would meet.

The diplomatic developments come amid reports Thursday that Syrian forces shelled the flashpoint city of Homs for a 13th consecutive day, targeting the opposition stronghold neighborhoods of Bab Amr, Inshaat and Khailidya, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition activist group.

But Syrian security forces appeared to be losing their tight grip in the northern region.

Government troops were stretched thin in their effort to control all fronts in the volatile country, where the revolt has entered its 12th month.

Heavy sustained bombardment that resumed around 5 a.m., and dozens of injuries were reported.

In Idlib province in the northwest, people appeared to be preparing for the possibility of a military offensive. Much of the region is in open revolt with villages and towns in the north out of government control for months.

At least 70 people died Thursday across several provinces, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition activist group. They include 38 in Idlib, 12 in Hama, and others in Rif Damashq — the Damascus suburbs, Homs, Daraa , Deir Ezzor and Raqqah. The LCC said the casualties included 36 unidentified bodies, 13 soldiers and three women, at least one of whom was pregnant.

Col. Malek Al Kurdi, deputy head of the Free Syrian Army, reported shelling by government forces in Hama and Daraa province. He cited civilian and FSA casualties.

Among the dead are 10 military defectors in Hama, activists say.

In Idlib, the bodies of 19 people who had tried to flee to Turkey were found. The LCC said they were arrested and executed by security forces.

The LCC also said security forces and pro-government militias attacked mourners at a funeral in Damascus.

Security forces raided homes in the city of Zabadani, outside Damascus, and arrested more than 250 people. Shops were looted, houses were burned and regime gunfire rang out in the city, in its 20th day without access to medicine, water or electricity, the LCC said. The LCC said a father and son died in Zabadani after regime forces burned their home.

CNN cannot independently confirm opposition and government reports of violence because the Syrian government has severely restricted the access of international journalists. Arrests in central Damascus on Thursday reportedly targeted local journalists.

The regime’s security forces raided the office of activist and journalist Mazen Darwish, the director of the Syrian Center for Media and Free Expression, the LCC said.

Darwish, his wife, U.S.-born blogger Razan Ghazzawi, and freelance journalist Hanada Zahlout, blogger Hussein Ghreir and 10 others were arrested.

The Committee to Protect Journalists voiced alarm at the arrests and said the group has played a “key role in getting out information about daily developments in Syria, as foreign journalists are virtually banned from the country.”

“These arrests are a blatant attempt to close off a vital source of information not only for Syrians but for the international media,” said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. “Anyone, whether a professional journalist or citizen with a mobile phone, who dares to report on the unrest in Syria is in danger of arrest or physical violence. Damascus should immediately release all those detained and stop its brutal crackdown.”

Syria map

The uprising in Syria — influenced by the Arab Spring movement that forced regime change in Egypt and Tunisia — was sparked about a year ago in the southern city of Daraa with demonstrators angered by the arrests of young people who scrawled anti-government graffiti.

Their grievances and calls for reforms were met with a violent security crackdown, and the unrest there served to catalyze anti-government protests across the nation.

Thousands have died in the crackdown — more than 5,000, according to the United Nations, but the LCC puts the toll at more than 7,000.

Syria’s actions have been denounced around the world. But international powers have backed the Arab League’s efforts to deal with the uprising and some countries and groups, such as the Arab League, Turkey, the United States and the European Union, have initiated sanctions against al-Assad’s government.

James Clapper, the U.S. director of national intelligence, predicted that Syria’s president will not leave or change course, short of a coup. Clapper testified Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, saying the regime, despite economic problems, continues to have the support of the military.

Prior to Thursday’s vote, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that he “is now considering all the necessary options once either the General Assembly or the Security Council takes a decision on Syria.”

He met Thursday with Juppe. Ban said the top priority was to stop the violence and establish humanitarian access. He said all relevant U.N. agencies were coordinating efforts to provide humanitarian help to the people of Syria.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has indicated Moscow may be open to supporting a Security Council resolution that stipulates — under certain conditions — that peacekeepers could be deployed to Syria.

“If the issue is about stopping gunfire, everything is possible,” Lavrov said at joint a news conference with his Dutch counterpart Uri Rosenthal, according to state-run RIA-Novosti news agency.

CNN’s Richard Roth reports from the United Nations. CNN’s Ivan Watson reports from northern Syria. CNN’s Arwa Damon reports from Homs. CNN’s Saad Abedine, Joyce Joseph, Joe Sterling, Mick Krever, Adam Levine, Salma Abdelaziz and journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report.

Evidence of human rights violations documented by the Arab League’s observer mission to Syria reinforces calls for the international community to address the worsening human rights and security situation in the country, Amnesty International said today.

The mission’s observers have submitted a field report to the Arab League on the first four weeks of their work, in which they are reported to have cited clear evidence of human rights violations by the Syrian government that is consistent with Amnesty International’s own findings. The full report has not been made public.

“The Arab League mission’s report has bolstered the case that the international community must take strong action to end the grave human rights violations committed in Syria since last March,” said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s interim Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.

“The arguments of countries that have blocked action on Syria at the UN Security Council sound increasingly hollow – the Security Council must now respond effectively by referring the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court.”

Among the ongoing human rights concerns cited by the Arab League observers were the Syrian security forces’ excessive use of force against protesters, as well as continuing reports of torture of those in detention.

In a speech responding to the findings, Arab League Secretary General Nabil El Araby said the human rights violations by President Bashar al-Assad’s government had led some members of the opposition to take up arms, leading to fears of a possible civil war.

The report cited some progress in granting limited media access and mentioned the release of some prisoners held in relation to widespread protests that began in March 2011.

The Arab League has reportedly obtained lists of those who were detained or disappeared, and is urging the government to release those still being held and clarify the status of those who have gone missing.

Amnesty International is calling on the Arab League to pass the full field report and lists of those detained and disappeared, along with any other documentation of human rights violations, to the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, which is due to report to the UN Human Rights Council in March.

“The true measure of the observer mission’s success will be whether its findings can successfully spur the international community to address the serious ongoing human rights concerns in Syria,” said Ann Harrison.

The Arab League also called on the Syrian authorities and the opposition to begin serious political dialogue within two weeks on issues including the formation of a national unity government, restoring security and reorganising the police.

It also called for any such national unity government to establish an independent commission of inquiry to investigate violations against the Syrian people and ensure justice.

The Syrian authorities have rejected this proposal.

“Any political plan to end the violence in Syria must have clear mechanisms in place for accountability,” said Ann Harrison.

On Monday, Jan. 23, the Syrian National Council (SNC) countered the Arab League’s observer mission’s final report with one of its own. A copy of the counter-report was delivered to Arab League Secretary-General Nabil El-Araby.

The Arab League report contains nearly 100 pages of detailed accounts, including photographs and video clips, documenting the regime’s heinous crimes against humanity. The same accounts were previously sidelined by the Arab League and its head of mission, Sudanese Gen. Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi.

On Sunday, Jan. 22, at a press conference in Cairo, the SNC revealed details of its counter-report. SNC members presented the staggering numbers of fallen heroes, as well as those of the wounded, tortured, detained, and missing in Syria.

The SNC believes that the Arab League’s report is deceptive, and therefore unacceptable by any standard. With 24 documented errors, the report has proven inconsistent with the reality on the ground. According to the SNC’s counter-report, this inconsistency confirms that the observers were incompetent to document the ongoing crisis in Syria, and furthers the perception that the Arab League’s mission’s lacked credibility.

The SNC’s counter-report demands that the regime immediately:

• Cease its use of force against demonstrators.
• Withdraw its military and armed forces from cities and towns.
• Release all detainees.
• Disclose the fate of those subjected to enforced disappearances.
• Refrain from undertaking any reprisals against civilians who collaborated with the Arab League observers and testified with regard to the regime’s human rights violations.

As part of its recommendations, the SNC calls on the Arab League to fulfill all its obligations, as stipulated by its own initiative, and comply with the terms of the protocol signed by the Syrian regime. In addition, the Arab League must recognize its own limitations in securing the necessary protection for unarmed civilians, and quickly refer the Syrian case to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

The SNC counter-report also calls on the UNSC to refer the Syrian case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and to implement all steps necessary to protect Syrian civilians. Furthermore, the USNC must pass a resolution to establish humanitarian corridors within affected cities, impose a no-fly-zone in Syria, demand a weapons embargo, and call for even tougher economic sanctions against Syrian officials guilty of crimes against humanity.

The SNC’s counter-report requests that United Nations members to put an end to all military and security assistance to the regime. Finally, the SNC believes it is critical to grant international media, human rights groups, and humanitarian relief agencies full access to assess the extent of destruction in Syria.

Reports indicate that the Arab League has appointed three experts to review the SNC’s counter-report and provide recommendations to the Secretary-General.

603,301 have signed the Avaaz petition requesting to get Assad to the #ICC. Please HELP us to get 750,000 ( bit.ly/AFwxs9) #Syria

— Syrian Parliament (@SyriaParliament) January 17, 2012

With increasingly savvy media efforts and political lobbying, dissidents are broadening the scope of their uprising.

Syrians young and old are resisting both at home and abroad [GALLO/ GETTY]

Cairo, Egypt -  To say that the Syrian groups which are arrayed against the regime, have become “professionals” in revolution is no exaggeration.

The country’s revolutionaries have reached a point of no return. The Syrian uprising has four characteristics, each of which are partly owed to its impasse and prolonged nature. It was initially popularised and then professionalised. Recently it has been militarised, and it has now entered into a phase of inevitably heightened internationalisation.

Of these four, its professionalisation is almost unique in the Arab Spring geography, with the qualified exception of the Yemeni uprising, still facing its own dreaded impasse.

The professionalisation of a revolution 

The various forces and voices combining in spreading the gymnasiums of resistance all over Syria today have the knack for revolution. They have a firm grip over their revolution that come what may, the Assads will not suffocate the uprising and all they can do is delay the inevitable D-Day - when a fifth dynasty unceremoniously exits Arab history.

This professionalisation in the case of Syria’s revolutionaries is the function of the tenacious, audacious and steadfast pursuit of the chief goal of ousting the Assads. But this does not come out of thin air. The Arab Spring has shown with consistency that the longer the dynasticism and the deeper the decay, the more ferocious and adamant are the protests for “freedom” and “dignity”. The threshold of fear was transcended and any “aura” the “state”, “power”, or “authority” had in the past was long gone with Ben Ali and Mubarak and buried with Gaddafi.

In the case of the Syrians, they have historical depth and pedigree and know very well the giants that once transported them to the peak of global power. All of these from the Umayyad Dynasty’s founders to Saladin, whose eternal resting home is Damascus, dwarf the mediocre rulers they have had for more than 50 years - long before the Assads came to power. According to London-based Obaida Fares: “Syrians know that - without the Assads - they can recover their Levantine shine, thanks to a unique mosaic of cultures, sects, religions, and even ethnicities.”

It is precisely this diversity that Syria’s “professional” revolutionaries are putting to good use in their resistance against the Assads. The voice they have for so long tried and failed to find in playing second fiddle to failed dynasts, they are now finding as empowered revolutionaries.

What kind of revolutionaries? “Diverse revolutionaries”, says Fares, a member of the Syrian National Council (SNC) and of the Syrian Revolution’s General Body (al-Hay’a al- ‘Ammah li al-Thwarah al-Suriyyah - SRGB). That means Syrians today are resisting from the homeland and from the diaspora, as Muslims and Christians, as Sunnis and Alawites, as Arabs and Kurds, as old and new dissidents, and as old and new victims. It is the total sum of the resources and energies that go with these identities that they have deployed so deftly against the regime.

This is precisely where the brilliance of the Syrian revolution lies. The divides are such that the regime’s old tactic of “divide and rule” is failing to divert from the single-pointed-ness of the revolution and to dissolve the Syrians’ daily popular display of critical mass from Homs and Hama to the precincts of Damascus.

Revolutionary professionalisation, adds Fares, is manifest in the systematic and stratified approach in the struggle against the Assads. The struggle is led according to a tripartite division of labour.

1. Mobilisation and organisation (al-nidal maydani) across 170 live sites of demonstration all over Syria - including 50 where protest is sustained daily - and these have aided the revolution buoyancy and momentum. Ad hoc demonstrations and strikes add to this momentum.

2. Press and propaganda (al-janib al-I’lami), representing what Mr Fares calls ‘I’lam al-thawrah (revolution’s vox populi or media). It has hundreds of dedicated voluntary foot soldiers (video users, cameramen, analysts, reporters) who relay information and break news and events expeditiously to the world and almost instantaneously, certainly faster than most professional news agencies. This has denied the Assads the ability to cover up the crimes committed by their forces, especially in the absence of international media.

This coverage is very risky in a country notorious for the ubiquity of surveillance. What the revolution’s media has been able to do is to engage in “reverse surveillance”, through the sophisticated use of social media and other media. The revolution actually runs its own quasi “operations room” where the news is received and disseminated.

3. Political activism, the bulk of which is currently being done by the SNC, through a combination of diplomacy, advocacy, lobbying and negotiation.

Cascading revolution: A map

Mapping out the revolutionaries must account for all - the political, military, populist and communal. All four have forces and voices that jointly maintain the momentum of people power in Syria.

However, what is noticeable is the reconfigurations apparent in the formerly emasculated civil society, especially the forces and voices of the “Spring of Damascus”, which came to life soon after the advent of Assad to power at the turn of the millennium, peaking in 2002-03 - before being dismantled and banned for good in 2004. With the cascade of revolutionary passion, these marginalised forces all streamed their activism into various channels most suited to their particular contexts and politics. At least seven important and active revolutionary clusters can be identified.

Syrian Revolution’s General Body

(al-Hay’a al-’Ammah li al-Thwarah al-Suriyyah)

Over-arching but loose umbrella containing voices and forces committed to the ousting of the Assads; its membership is diverse and includes in its leadership some of the “Spring of Damascus” dissidents such as Sohayr Al-Atassi; some of its members double up as members of the SNC.

Mobilisation, organisation, media, and coordination;

60 per cent of all Syria-based Revolutionary Councils in various regions are represented in SRGB;

Subsumed under it are also the Unions of the Local Coordination Committees (tansiqiyyat).

Generally, a Syria-based liberal and secular group which includes known human rights activists and dissidents;

It has no power-base in the revolution; aims at localisation of the crisis, seeking a solution that excludes no-one, including the incumbent regime;

Believes in general elections in 2014 as one way for political renewal.

Mediation work, such as its mission to the Arab League;

Its local Coordinator is Hasan Abd Al-Azim; overseas it is represented by Haytham Manna;

It comprises a number of middle-ranking military defectors and civil servants, including the former prosecutor in Hama, Adnan Mohamed Al-Bakour.

Currently, the most legitimate and popular umbrella representing the revolutionary current in Syria;

Enjoys wide popular following: One “Friday of Rage” was consecrated with its endorsement: “SNC represents me; the NCB does not represent me”;

Enjoys wide international backing;

Current term ends on January 15, 2012.

Its revolutionary goals adopted in its Tunis Generally Assembly on December 17-18, 2011, stood for democratic transition, the ousting of the Assad system, rights for Kurdish and Assyrian minorities and international protection for Syrian civilians;

Its aims and those of the NCB clash;

Has many known dissidents, activists and scholars in its ranks;

Headed by Sorbonne Professor Burhan Ghalioun.

The mobilising and organisational backbone of the Syrian revolution;

There are around 400 of these all over Syria’s suburbs, wherever there is a live  revolutionary site in various neighbourhood quarters;

The committees form the “Town Coordination Committee” (taniseeqiyyat al-madinah), which is city-based “revolutionary councils”;

Volunteers for youth groups, elders, and dissidents of all kinds are active in these committees, male and female, from all sects and religions;

They co-ordinate locally and with the SRGB

The only military arm of the revolution;

Has its base in Turkey, across the northern border of Syria.

Headed by Colonel Riad Al-As’ad;

Has close to 18,000 military defectors with limited capabilities, seeking Arab and international support;

Encourages localised resistance;

SNC endorses its role but opposes militarisation of the revolution.

Formidable Islamist organisation and long time foe of the Assads;

Fought the regime in Hama in 1982.

Represented in the SNC;

Experiencing a schism between the old guard and the MB youth movement over difference of opinion over vision for next phase;

MB Youth branch is less doctrinaire; average age 25-30 years;

MB Old Guard average age 65: many were in the MB’s military wing in 1980 - including current General Guide and his deputy;

Seen by MB youth not to be suited to current phase of revolutionary struggle.

Rich mosaic of talents and resources across all continents;

Youthful and resourceful leadership and volunteers;

A key medium in professionalisation of the Syrian revolution, especially in Europe, including London and Paris.

Coordinates and organises: Media, lobbying, demos outside Syrian embassies, advocacy and human rights activism especially, documentation of violations by the regime, relief work and fund-raising, multimedia and Syrian Revolution’s Homepage, arts and film production, including the Ramadan series ‘huriyya wa bas’ (Only Freedom), YouTube and international media monitoring units, and finally political work through the SNC and other NGOs in the Diaspora.

The death of a president

Bashar al-Assad - as a president - is dead. Fares says he is “clinging to the faded hope that he might revive his presidency”. He makes speeches to show he is unfazed by the mounting resistance to his rule. His recent third speech’s contradictions, twists and untruths all divulge more than Bashar is willing to let out: He is no match for the formidable forces arrayed against him.

The only thing Bashar may still control is how he wishes to be unseated, and there are only four possible exits: the way of Ben Ali, Mubarak, Gaddafi or al-Saleh. A fifth exit may be in the dock of the International Criminal Court.

Three crisis speeches and nearly 11 months of brutality - the brunt of which borne by civilian protesters all over Syria - have only made his compatriots, hundreds of thousands such as Fares, more adamant than ever before to unseat him.

Soon, it will be the first anniversary of the Syrian uprising. The Assads must ponder the difficult question of whether they want to stick around for a second year of futile butchery.

Dr Larbi Sadiki is a Senior Lecturer in Middle East Politics at the University of Exeter, and author of Arab Democratisation: Elections without Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2009), The Search for Arab Democracy: Discourses and Counter-Discourses (Columbia University Press, 2004) and forthcoming Hamas and the Political Process (2012).

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

Arab League Should Protect Civilians Or Reconsider Its Mission

(New York) - The Arab League should urgently condemn the Syrian security forces for shooting peaceful protesters who were attempting to reach its observers in the northern city of Jisr al-Shughur, Human Rights Watch said today. In light of these and other blatant violations of the agreement it brokered with the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, the Arab League should report publicly on its findings and assess whether its mission should continue.

Two protesters who were wounded in Jisr al-Shughur and fled to southern Turkey told Human Rights Watch in face-to-face interviews that around 11 a.m. on January 10, 2012, they marched towards the Baath party square (re-named “Freedom Square” by the protesters) to meet with Arab League observers present there. According to the witnesses, when they approached a checkpoint on the way to the square, army personnel barred them from proceeding and, after the protesters refused to disperse, opened fire on the crowd, injuring at least nine protesters. The Arab League observers were in the Baath party square, but left in a car after the shooting began, the witnesses said. Despite several attempts, Human Rights Watch has not been able to contact the Arab League observers to confirm whether they witnessed the incident.

“Such incidents, and the ever rising death toll, clearly demonstrate that the presence of Arab League observers has done little to compel the Syrian authorities to stop their crimes,” said Anna Neistat, associate emergencies director at Human Rights Watch. “As President Assad derides the Arab League in his speeches, his troops are making a mockery of its observers’ mission on the ground.”

“Abu-Ahmad,” one of the protesters injured in the attack, told Human Rights Watch:

We were about 300-500 people, I walked in the front row. We carried olive branches and chanted “peaceful, peaceful.” When we were some 100 meters away from the checkpoint, we shouted to the army that we just wanted to meet with the observers. But they opened fire at us – it seemed like they received the orders from the mukhabarat officers who stood behind them.

Soldiers placed three machine guns on the ground and pointed them toward us. I saw them firing from Kalashnikov and sniper rifles. One of them pointed a sniper rifle at me and then I felt I was hit in my right leg. Several people next to me were hit as well.

I could see the observers, and we were communicating with them on cell phones [to coordinate a meeting], but when the army opened fire they just got into their cars and left.

Another witness, “Mustafa,” who was also injured, told Human Rights Watch that when the protesters started running away, the army chased them and continued to shoot. He was in the middle of the group and sustained two bullet wounds in his back and one in his left arm. According to him, five people were injured when the army first opened fire at the protesters, and four others, including him, were hurt as the people were trying to flee.

Another witness from Jisr al-Shughur, “Ali,” told Human Rights Watch that over the past weeks the military had not withdrawn from the city as per the Arab League agreement, but rather had maintained a heavy presence in the city, controlling all entrances to the town and patrolling the streets along with mukhabarat (intelligence services) personnel and shabeeha (pro-government militias). He said that on January 8, from noon to midnight, the security forces raided mobile phone shops in Jisr al-Shughur and arrested approximately 30 owners. Ali said he witnessed one of these raids. According to him, the military blocked the street while mukhabarat agents entered the mobile phone shop and detained the owner, beating him with batons.

In the agreement it signed with the Arab League on December 19, the Syrian government pledged to end violence against peaceful protests, release detained protesters, withdraw armed elements from cities and residential areas, and allow Arab and international media unhindered access to all parts of Syria. Syria also pledged in the agreement to grant Arab League monitors unhindered and independent access to all individuals they wish to interview to verify Syria’s implementation of these measures, including victims, detainees, and nongovernmental organizations. Syria guaranteed the safety of witnesses from reprisals.

Attacks by security forces against peaceful protests have been reported every day since the Arab League mission began. According to media reports, the United Nations has estimated that 400 people have been killed since the Arab League mission arrived in Syria on December 26.

Human Rights Watch has previously documented what seem to be efforts by the Syrian government to deceive the Arab League monitors by transferring hundreds of detainees to improvised holding centers at military sites that are off limits to Arab League observers. Authorities have also issued police identification cards to military officials apparently in order to give the impression that military forces have, under the agreement with the Arab League, withdrawn from civilian areas.

The mission’s credibility had already been clouded by the appointment as its chief of Gen. Mohammed Ahmed al-Dabi, a former head of Sudan’s military intelligence. Al-Dabi oversaw an intelligence agency well known for serious abuses in Sudan and is a close political ally of Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, against whom the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for crimes against humanity in Darfur.

“The time has come for the Arab League to call out the Syrian government on its failure to abide by the agreement,” said Neistat. “Allowing the mission to continue without effective and clear efforts to protect the civilians will only lead to more deaths.”

1/3/2012

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 3 (KUNA) — Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is in favour of giving the Arab League mission in Syria more time in order to finish its work and report back on its findings, his spokesman Martin Nesirky told the daily press briefing on Tuesday in answer to questions.
“It is important to note that the mission should be given time to be able to complete its work and to be able to report. The mission should be able to report what its findings are and then it will be possible for everyone to make an assessment,” he said.
He noted that “everyone is waiting for that report and for that early assessment from the mission,” adding that “what is crucial is that the Syrian authorities do cooperate to the fullest extent with that mission.” He described it as an “important mission,” recalling that the international community has been calling “for a long time for access to be able to monitor, to be able to observe, and obviously to be able to help insure that Syria lives up to its promises and stops the bloodshed.” The mission, which arrived in Syria late last month in conformity with a protocol signed by Damascus and the League, has been sharply criticized by rights groups and the Syrian opposition who said its work is doomed to fail.
They criticized the fact that the mission depends heavily on the Government for its transport and security and that it is headed by a Sudanese General Mohammad Mustafa Al-Dabi, who worked closely with Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, who is himself wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of committing genocide in Darfur.
“The Arab League’s decision to appoint as the head of the observer mission a Sudanese general on whose watch severe human rights violations were committed in Sudan risks undermining the League’s efforts so far and seriously calls into question the mission’s credibility,” Amnesty International said recently in a statement.
According to UN estimates, more than 5,000 civilians were killed by Syrian armed forces since the unrest to oust Al-Assad regime began in mid March of last year. (end) sj.bs KUNA 032231 Jan 12NNNN

PARIS, Dec 19 (KUNA) — Non-governmental civil society organizations from around the world called Monday on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to immediately take necessary procedures to protect civilians in Syria.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) in a statement, signed by 63 civil organizations, called on the UNSC to hold “an emergency meeting to adopt a resolution ensuring protection for victims of human rights violations in Syria and accountability for potential crimes, including crimes against humanity, committed by the Syrian authorities.” The statement also demanded that Syrian authorities to abide by the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council resolutions, and the efforts of the League of Arab States to end all acts of violence, release all political prisoners, remove the military from civilian populated areas, and grant access to independent observers and international media.
The statement also called for immediately refer Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for potential crimes against humanity, as highlighted in the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria presented on to the Human Rights Council on 2 December, which documented widespread and systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms committed by the Syrian government.
The body also said that while “the undersigned organizations recognize the draft resolution condemning Syria currently being discussed by the Security Council, the current text does not adequately address the severity of the situation on the ground and fails to support international accountability for crimes committed by the government of Syria.
“In particular, we call on the Security Council to pass a resolution that will condemn and call for an immediate end to all attacks against civilians, including within the context of peaceful protests,” the statement added.
The body also demanded the immediate cooperation of Syria with the Arab League, as well as relevant humanitarian organizations, including granting them full access to its territory.

Syrian soldiers said their commanders told them to stop anti-government protests “by all means necessary”, Human Rights Watch has said.

The group spoke to dozens of defectors who said they had understood this as authorisation to use lethal force.

Anti-government protests have continued despite President Bashar al-Assad’s attempts to stifle them.

The UN believes more than 5,000 people have died in seven months of unrest, which Syria blames on armed gangs.

In the latest violence, activists say 27 members of the security forces have been killed by army deserters in the southern province of Deraa.

The London based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths occurred during dawn clashes on Thursday.

Twenty-five people were said by activist groups to have been killed on Wednesday during fighting near the city of Hama.

International journalists face severe restrictions on their movements in Syria, and it is hard to verify reports.

‘Answer for crimes’

Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based organisation, said about half of the 60 defectors from the Syrian army whom they interviewed had been given direct orders to open fire at protesters or bystanders.

The report, entitled By All Means Necessary!, also documents cases of torture, including soldiers using electric cattle prods, restricting detainees to confined spaces and carrying out summary executions.

“Defectors gave us names, ranks, and positions of those who gave the orders to shoot and kill, and each and every official named in this report, up to the very highest levels of the Syrian government, should answer for their crimes against the Syrian people,” said HRW’s Anna Neistat, one of the report’s authors.

“The Security Council should ensure accountability by referring Syria to the International Criminal Court.”

The report includes the case of “Amjad,” a soldier deployed to Deraa who said that he received direct orders from his commander to fire on protesters on 25 April.

“He said: ‘Use heavy shooting. Nobody will ask you to explain’. Normally we are supposed to save bullets, but this time he said: ‘Use as many bullets as you want’.”

In a recent interview, Mr Assad said he had given no orders for violence to be used against protesters and that he did not control the security forces.

He has also denied that there was ever a command “to kill or to be brutal” though he has admitted that “mistakes” have been made.

But HRW says that under international law, commanders are responsible for crimes committed by their subordinates if they knew or should have known about violations and failed to investigate or stop them.

“It is reasonable to conclude, at minimum, that Syria’s senior military and civilian leadership knew about them.

“The ongoing killings, arrests, repression, and general denials of responsibility by the Syrian government also make clear that officials have failed to take any meaningful action to address these abuses,” the report reads.

The United Nations Human Rights Council accused the Syrian authorities of crimes against humanity and systematic human rights violations, in a report at the end of November.

The top UN human rights official, Navi Pillay, has also said Syria should be referred to the International Criminal Court.