Syrian Freedom

7.9.2012 Canada closes embassy in Iran, gives Iranian diplomats in Canada 5 days to leave

TORONTO - Canada shut its embassy in Tehran on Friday, severed diplomatic relations and ordered Iranian diplomats to leave, accusing the Islamic Republic of being the most significant threat to world peace.

The surprise action reinforces the Conservative government’s close ties with Tehran’s arch foe Israel but also removes some of Washington’s eyes and ears inside the Iranian capital.

It comes as Iran’s talks with world powers over its nuclear program have stalled and Israel is weighing the option of a military strike to prevent it from developing atomic weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful objectives only.

The move also underscores the widening gaps between Western countries’ attempts to isolate and punish Iran and Tehran’s efforts to forge closer ties with energy-hungry Asian trading partners such as India and Pakistan to counter Western sanctions. Iran’s recent push to bolster and redefine its links with Asia makes the break with Canada a less serious blow to Tehran than it would have been years ago.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said that the Canadian embassy in Tehran will close immediately and Iranian diplomats in Canada have been given five days to leave.

A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, Ramin Mehmanparast, called Canada’s decision “hasty and extreme” and said that Iran would soon respond, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported.

A note in Persian posted on the door of Iran’s embassy in Ottawa read: “Because of the hostile decision by the government of Canada, the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Ottawa is closed and has no choice but to stop providing any consular services for its dear citizens.”

Baird said Canada was officially designating Iran a state sponsor of terrorism and gave a long list of reasons for Canada’s decision, including Tehran’s support for Syria’s embattled President Bashar Assad in that country’s civil war.

“The Iranian regime is providing increasing military assistance to the Assad regime; it refuses to comply with U.N. resolutions pertaining to its nuclear program; it routinely threatens the existence of Israel and engages in racist anti-Semitic rhetoric and incitement to genocide,” Baird said in a statement. “It is among the world’s worst violators of human rights; and it shelters and materially supports terrorist groups.”

Baird said he also was worried about the safety of diplomats in Tehran following attacks on the British embassy there.

Britain downgraded ties with Iran following an attack on its embassy in Tehran in November 2011, which it insists was sanctioned by the Islamic Republic’s ruling elite. After the attack, Britain pulled all of its diplomats out of Iran and expelled Iranian diplomats from U.K. soil.

Most European countries maintain a diplomatic presence in Tehran despite increased tensions over European Union sanctions that block imports of Iranian oil. The Swiss represent diplomatic interests of the United States, which broke ties with Tehran after protesters stormed the U.S. Embassy in the chaotic months following the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Fifty-two Americans were held for 444 days.

Canada’s break with Iran removes another channel for Washington to get first-hand diplomatic assessments of Iranian affairs. Canada and Britain had been main conduits of information for the U.S., which also maintains special Iranian monitoring offices in several locations including Dubai.

But Canadian relations with Iran have been strained since former Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor helped rescue six Americans during the hostage crisis three decades ago. The countries resumed normal diplomatic relations with an exchange of ambassadors in 1996.

But relations soured again in 2003 after Zahra Kazemi, a freelance photographer with dual Canadian-Iranian citizenship, died in custody. Kazemi was arrested while taking photographs outside a Tehran prison in 2003.

Canada also has criticized Iran over the arrest of pioneering Canadian-Iranian blogger Hossein Derakshan, who helped develop the first Farsi language blogs and is considered one of the founders of Iran’s social media community. Derakshan was detained in 2008 and sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison two years later.

Canada hasn’t had a fully accredited ambassador in Tehran since Iran ordered Canada’s ambassador, John Mundy, to leave the country in 2007 after trying unsuccessfully to come to an agreement on an exchange of ambassadors for some time.

Baird said the skeleton staff that was operating Canada’s embassy has already fled the country.

“The Iranian regime has shown blatant disregard for the Vienna Convention and its guarantee of protection for diplomatic personnel,” Baird told reporters in Vladivostok, Russia, on the sidelines of the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum. “Under the circumstances, Canada can no longer maintain a diplomatic presence in Iran. Our diplomats serve Canada as civilians and their safety is our No. 1 priority.”

Ukraine: About 600 to 700 people marched this morning in front of the #Syria’n embassy in the capital Kiev

Pro-Assad rallies mark anniversary of #Syria revolt

Supporters of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad attend a rally at Umayyad square in Damascus March 15, 2012. Several government rallies took place across the country for support of Assad. REUTERS-Khaled al-Hariri

Supporters of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad attend a rally at Umayyad square in Damascus March 15, 2012. REUTERS-Khaled al-Hariri

Four women stand behind hundreds of lanterns in central Sydney during a dawn candle light vigil organised by Amnesty International to protest against government violence in Syria March 15, 2012. REUTERS-Tim Wimborne

By Crispian Balmer and Dominic Evans

BEIRUT | Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:33am EDT

(Reuters) - Flag-waving crowds took to the streets of Syrian cities on Thursday in an orchestrated show of loyalty to President Bashar al-Assad on the first anniversary of an increasingly bloody revolt against his rule.

Official media announced government forces had cleared “armed terrorists” from the northwestern city of Idlib, suggesting the army was gaining ground in the uprising which has cost at least 8,000 lives and crippled the Syrian economy.

Opposition activists said soldiers had fired on people trying to stage anti-regime protests in various locations and reported evidence of fresh atrocities, including the discovery of 23 bodies, some with signs of torture, near Idlib.

State television showed thousands of people in central Damascus, waving portraits of Assad and flags of Syria, Russia and China. Moscow and Beijing have not joined Western nations in backing an Arab League plan for Assad to step aside.

“We sacrifice our blood and souls to you, Bashar,” the crowds chanted as three helicopters flew past in a military salute.

Television videoed rallies in numerous cities, including Deraa near the border with Jordan, which was the epicenter of the original protest movement last year but has been filled with security forces backed by tanks in the past 24 hours.

Critics said the government had bused in state employees to the demonstrations and had made participation obligatory.

There were no images from three cities where some of the worst violence has occurred in the past year, Homs, Idlib and Hama, and locals reported sporadic clashes in several places.

“The army is intensifying its attack on rebellious villages and firing on areas trying to hold (anti-Assad) protests,” said an Idlib resident, who refused to be named for fear of reprisal.

The U.N.-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan is due to report back to the Security Council on Friday on his efforts to end the violence and remains in contact with Damascus despite gloom among some Western diplomats over his chances of success.

“The door of dialogue is still open. We are still engaged with Syrian authorities over Mr. Annan’s proposals,” Annan’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in Geneva.

EMAIL CACHE

Britain’s Guardian newspaper published what it believes to be genuine emails sent and received by Assad and his wife between June and February, revealing a ruling family largely insulated from the gathering crisis.

The emails appeared to show Assad had taken advice from Iran and that he had ridiculed some of his reform pledges as “rubbish”. An email purportedly sent by the emir of Qatar’s daughter urged the Assads to seek refuge in Doha.

As the anniversary of the uprising neared, so the government appeared to intensify its drive to oust lightly armed rebels from their strongholds, using heavy artillery to subdue first Homs, then Idlib, which lies close to Turkey.

“Security and peace of mind returned to the city of Idlib after authorities cleared its neighborhoods of armed terrorist groups which had terrorized citizens,” the state news agency Sana reported on Thursday.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 23 bodies had been found dumped in a rural area near the city. Some of the dead showed signs of torture and they had been blindfolded and handcuffed.

Reports from Syria cannot be independently verified as the authorities deny access to rights groups and journalists.

Turkey said 1,000 Syrians had crossed its borders in the last 24 hours, bringing the total of registered Syrian refugees in Turkey to 14,000. Among those who fled was a Syrian general, the seventh to cross into Turkey.

“The (Syrian) soldiers are taking the women and children and lining them up in front of them as a human shield. They are setting shops and homes on fire,” said a 22-year-old man who reached Turkey overnight. He declined to give his name.

The United Nations says some 230,000 Syrians have been displaced from their homes, including 30,000 who have fled abroad, raising the prospect of a refugee crisis.

The government has blamed foreign powers and terrorist gangs for the chaos and say 2,000 soldiers have died in the uprising.

CONFIDENCE

Some 200 rights and aid groups, including Human Rights Watch and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, joined forces to urge Russia and China to back U.N. action against Syria.

China says it opposes foreign intervention in other states while Russia, a long-time ally of Syria, is eager to maintain military cooperation with Damascus, including lucrative arms sales.

Assad confidently predicted at the start of 2011 that Syria was immune from the “Arab Spring”, in which the autocratic leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen lost power.

But on March 15, a few dozen protesters braved the streets of Damascus to call for more freedom. Days later riots broke out in Deraa, on the border with Jordan, to protest against the torture of local boys caught writing anti-government graffiti.

Despite a crumbling economy and tightening sanctions, Assad still seems to have significant support within Syria, notably in its two top cities - Damascus and Aleppo. His ally Iran also remains supportive, anxious not to lose its main Arab friend.

But Syria faces growing isolation. On Wednesday, Italy and Saudi Arabia said they were shutting their Damascus embassies.

Diplomats say the fighting is developing along sectarian lines. The Sunni Muslim majority, who make up 75 percent of the population of 23 million, is at odds with Assad’s Alawite sect, which represents 10 percent but controls the levers of power.

But internal divisions have hindered the rebel effort.

The opposition in exile, the Syrian National Council, is far from united. Three prominent opposition members resigned from the group this week saying they have given up on trying to make it a more effective player.

Russians living in #Syria insulted, blamed for violence

The Russian press has been playing up the gratitude of the Syrian people for Moscow’s staunch opposition to foreign intervention against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Demonstrators against President Bashar al-Assad hold a placard that reads, “Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says to Syria’s Assad, My cuddly murderer of his people.” (Reuters)

Demonstrators in Damascus and Aleppo sang Russia’s praises when Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appeared in Syria on Feb. 7, and Russian TV and newspapers showed delirious crowds waving Russian flags. Ten days later, Syrians in Moscow staged a rally where they shouted, “Thank you, Russia! Thank you, Putin!”

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has enjoyed playing the role of Syria’s protector and champion. But within the Russian community living in Damascus, the view is a bit darker.

“Our women are insulted out loud in some districts of Damascus,” Archimandrite Alexander, the Russian Orthodox Church’s representative there, told the Interfax news agency. “Sometimes taxi drivers deny a ride to Russian-speaking people. Even children can throw stones at people speaking the Russian language.”

There’s no doubt about where that attitude comes from.

“Russian citizens’ position in Syria deteriorated sharply after Russia vetoed the U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria,” Alexander said. “The so-called liberation army and radical religious groups intimidate them, blame them for the Syrians’ and their children’s deaths, and want them to leave.”

Russian citizens who can are getting out. The Russian Embassy school has closed, and Russian workers on a natural gas development project have been evacuated. Russian diplomats want to curtail services at St. Ignatius Church because of security concerns, though it still ministers to Russian servicemen who are alone now that their families have left.

And Damascus, said the archimandrite, is about the safest place in Syria. It’s a lot worse outside the city.

In the following video posted to YouTube, angry Syrians take to the streets to protest Russians in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. Many chant: “The people want to topple the regime.”

Channel 4 reporting on the demo outside the Russian embassy in London, UK #Syria

Syrian forces launch renewed assault on Homs #Syria

By FRANCE 24 (video)

Syrian forces began bombing the restive city of Homs at dawn on Monday, killing at least 50 people, residents said. Opposition groups and activists reported more than 200 deaths in the embattled city over the weekend.

News Wires (text)

REUTERS - Syrian forces bombarded Homs on Monday, killing 50 people in a sustained assault on several districts of the city which has become a centre of armed opposition to President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian National Council opposition group said.

Western countries seeking Assad’s downfall were scrambling to find a new diplomatic strategy after failing to enact a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have backed an Arab League call for Assad to stand aside.

The United States shut its embassy in Damascus and said all staff had left the country due to worsening security. Britain said it withdrew its ambassador from Syria, and would seek further European Union sanctions against Syria.

Russia fought back against blistering criticism from the West for vetoing the resolution on Saturday. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is due in Damascus on Tuesday, said condemnations of Moscow’s veto had verged on “hysteria”.

FOOTAGE FROM HOMS ON SATURDAY

U.S. President Barack Obama said that, however hard Western countries are prepared to lean on Assad diplomatically, they still have no intention of using force to topple him, as they did against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya last year.

“I think it is very important for us to try to resolve this without recourse to outside military intervention. And I think that’s possible,” he told NBC’s Today show.

Catherine al-Talli of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) told Reuters bombardment of Homs resumed early on Sunday, killing 50.

Assad’s opponents say his tanks and artillery killed more than 200 people in the city on Friday night in the bloodiest incident of the 11-month-old uprising against his rule.

That attack, branded a “massacre” by France and “unspeakable” by Obama, had set the stage for intense efforts over the weekend to lobby Moscow not to block the U.N. Security Council resolution.

But Russia has argued that the resolution was one-sided and would have amounted to taking the side of Assad’s opponents in a civil war. China also vetoed the measure, by most accounts following Russia’s lead.

“It is sad that the co-authors decided to hastily put the resolution to a vote, even though we appealed to them with a request to give it a few more days” until after his own planned trip to Damascus, Lavrov said.

“Some of the voices heard in the West with evaluations of the results of the vote in the U.N. Security Council on the Syria resolution sound, I would say, improper, somewhere on the verge of hysteria,” Lavrov told reporters after meeting the foreign minister of Bahrain, one of the Arab states that has sought a tougher stance against Assad.

Lavrov has said Russia favours a peace dialogue in Syria that is free of outside interference and preconditions.

He repeated the message in a phone conversation with Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had the names of 43 people killed in Monday’s bombardment of Homs. Television footage showed smoke rising from buildings, with explosions echoing in the background.

“This is the most violent bombardment in recent days,” said one activist in Syria who was in touch with Homs residents. Another activist said government troops were using multiple rocket launchers in the attack.

Damascus denies firing on houses and says images of dead bodies on the Internet have been staged. State media said on Monday “armed terrorist groups” were firing mortars in the city, setting fire to tyres and blowing up empty buildings to give the impression that Homs was under fire from Assad’s forces.

State news agency SANA described attacks in the city by “terrorists” who it said killed a textile factory worker. It said they also killed three officers and abducted several soldiers in Jabal al-Zawiya in the northern Idlib province.

Reports from activists and authorities are hard to verify because Syria restricts access for independent media.

Several neighbourhoods hit

The latest assault in Homs appeared to be widely targeted, with explosions in Khalidiya, Baba Amro, Bayada and Bab Dreib neighbourhoods, the activists said.

“They want to drive the Free Syrian Army out,” said Baba Amro resident Hussein Nader by telephone, referring to the force of army deserters and rebels who have held parts of Homs for months. “Rockets are falling seconds apart on the same target.”

Another resident, Omar Shakir, said activists had obtained information that the shelling would continue until Thursday, when troops were expected to move into Homs. “We have no one but God - everybody abandoned us,” he said.

Activists said an blast hit an oil pipeline feeding a main refinery in Homs, the second attack on the pipeline in a week, and that three people died when the opposition-held town of Zabadani, near the Lebanese border, came under fire on Monday.

Syrian army defectors announced they were organising a new “Higher Revolutionary Council” to supercede the Free Syrian Army (FSA) as the main armed force battling Assad’s rule. The new body would be commanded by General Ahmed al-Sheikh, the highest-ranking officer to defect to Turkey from government forces.

A local wing of the FSA in Zabadani warned it would start attacking “sensitive and strategic (targets) of the regime” unless the army pulled back from the town by Tuesday morning.

Arab League chief Elaraby said the escalation was pushing the country toward civil war. The League’s strong stance towards Assad - it suspended Syria last year and withdrew inspectors last month after concluding Assad’s government was not fulfilling a peace plan - has put Assad’s powerful Arab neighbours on the same side as the West.

‘Kick in the ass’

Condemnation of Russia’s veto in the West has been extraordinarily strong by diplomatic standards. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the veto a “travesty”. A chorus of European and American officials said Russia and China would bear responsibility for future bloodshed.

French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said on Monday: “There are political cultures which deserve a kick in the ass … To accept that a dictator can operate freely is disgraceful for governments that accept it.”

The Syrian National Council said the Russian and Chinese vetoes of the resolution had given Assad a “licence to kill”.

Syria is a long-serving ally of Moscow, one of the few in the region, and a buyer of its arms exports. Russia clearly still hopes to play an important diplomatic role with Assad, and says it wants to encourage him to adopt reforms.

Fawaz Tello, a senior member of the opposition SNC called the Russian position “shameful” and Moscow’s talk of reform hypocritical, telling Reuters: “The Russians know that such a thuggish secret police regime cannot be reformed.”

The veto bore the stamp of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who intends to return in a March election to the presidency he held from 2000-2008, when he was known for firmly opposing what he saw as efforts by the West to extend its influence at Russia’s expense.

In an article in a government newspaper published on Monday, former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov said Washington was seeking to oust Iranian ally Assad as part of a strategy to increase its influence in the Arab world and isolate Tehran.

“The United States and its NATO allies want to exploit the situation that arose in the spring of 2011 in the Arab world with the aim of getting rid of Arab regimes it dislikes,” wrote Primakov, an Arabic-speaking Middle East expert who also served as Russian foreign minister and spy chief.

#Syria signs: Protesters outside the Syrian embassy in London.

At least 337 dead in #Syria army attack on Homs

Published February 4th, 2012 - 06:22 GMT

At least 337 people were killed in shelling by Syrian forces in the city of Homs, activists said on Saturday. Over 1300 were wounded. Homs attack is the deadliest so far in the Syrian regime’s crackdown on protests which erupted 11 months ago.

Locals said Syrian forces started shelling the Khalidiya neighborhood at around 8 p.m. on Friday using artillery and mortars. They said at least 36 houses were completely destroyed with families inside.

As news spread, Syrians stormed the Syrian embassy in Cairo in protest, and rallies broke out outside Syrian missions in Britain, Germany and the United States. Some opposition activists said the violence was triggered by a wave of army defections in Homs.

According to Reuters, the opposition Syrian National Council that it believed Assad’s forces were preparing for similar attacks around Damascus and in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour.

Official: American arrested in #Syria

By the CNN Wire Staff

January 21, 2012 — Updated 0200 GMT (1000 HKT)

Abdelkader Chaar, 22, is a medical student in Syria, his uncle says.

(CNN) — The U.S. government confirmed Friday the arrest of a U.S. citizen in Syria, a State Department official said.

Consular access has not been provided, said the official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Abdelkader Chaar, 22, is thought to have been arrested in Aleppo, Syria, on January 8.

Chaar was born in Syracuse, New York, moved to Aleppo with his parents when he was a boy and is currently a medical student at Aleppo University, his uncle said. His family has not been told why he was arrested, said Sam Chaar, who spoke to CNN from Arizona.

His family has been in contact with the U.S. Embassy in Damascus and has reached out to Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, the elder Chaar said.

News of the arrest surfaced as anti-government ferment raged in the country.

Protesters on Friday focused their attention on political prisoners and demanded the release of detainees. At least 10 people were slain in clashes Friday, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition activist group.

For more than 10 months, Syria has been in the throes of an anti-government public uprising and a brutal security crackdown against protesters. The United Nations last month estimated well over 5,000 deaths have occurred since mid-March. Opposition groups estimate more than 6,000 people have died.

Also, the Arab League is considering an extension of its monitoring mission to see if the government is adhering to an agreement to end the violence.

The Arab League has called on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to stop violence against civilians, free political detainees, remove tanks and weapons from cities and allow outsiders, including the international news media, to travel freely around Syria.

U.S. mulling closure of its embassy in #Syria

Protesters show their support to the Syrian regime in front of the U.S. embassy in Damascus. (File Photo)

By AFP
Washington

The U.S. State Department said Friday it is considering closing its embassy in Damascus over growing safety concerns as the death toll mounts in the Syrian regime’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

“We have serious concerns about the deteriorating security situation in Damascus, including the recent spate of car bombs, and about the safety and security of embassy personnel,” it said in a statement.

Suicide car bombers hit two security service bases in Damascus on December 23, killing 44 people, in attacks the regime of President Bashar al-Assad blamed on al-Qaeda but which the opposition said were the work of the regime itself.

“We have requested that the government of Syria take additional security measures to protect our embassy, and the Syrian government is considering that request,” the State Department said.

“We have also advised the Syrian government that unless concrete steps are taken in the coming days we may have no choice but to close the mission,” the statement said.

But it added that no final decision has been made.

Officials declined to say how the State Department had communicated its concerns to Syria or what steps it had asked Damascus to take.

On January 11, the State Department said it would further reduce the number of staff at its embassy in Damascus, updating a warning in October in which embassy staff were restricted and family members asked to leave.

In December, the U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, returned to Damascus, where he has championed protesters facing a deadly crackdown, after he was abruptly pulled out in October due to threats.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Friday the U.S. government was also looking into reports of the possible arrest of US citizen Abdelkader Chaar in the Syrian city of Aleppo on January 8.

“We’ve been in contact with Syrian authorities and have requested confirmation of the arrest and requested consular access. We have not yet had a response to those requests,” Nuland said.

Abdelkadar Chaar, 22, was born in Syracuse, New York, moved to Aleppo with his parents when he was a boy and is currently a medical student at Aleppo University, his uncle Sam Chaar was quoted as telling CNN.

He was arrested on January 8 but authorities did not give his family a reason, according to his uncle.

In its travel warnings, the State Department has urged all U.S. citizens to avoid travel to Syria and urged citizens who are currently there to depart immediately while transportation is still available.

U.S. President Barack Obama has called on Assad to quit power over his regime’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests that UN officials say has now left more than 5,000 people dead.