UN: Syria now in a civil war with 4,000 dead
Syria Ambassador Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui defends his government during a Human Rights Council special session on the situation in Syria at the United Nations in Geneva on Friday. (Reuters)
By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY | AP
Published: Dec 2, 2011 15:20 Updated: Dec 2, 2011 15:23
BEIRUT: Syria has entered a state of civil war with more than 4,000 people dead and an increasing number of soldiers defecting from the army to fight President Bashar Assads regime, the UNs top human rights official has said.
Civil war has been the worst-case scenario in Syria since the revolt against Assad began eight months ago. Damascus has a web of allegiances that extends to Lebanons powerful Hezbollah movement and Irans Shiite theocracy, raising fears of a regional conflagration.
The assessment Thursday that the bloodshed in Syria has crossed into civil war came from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay.
The conflict has shown little sign of letting up. Activists reported up to 22 people killed Thursday, adding to what has become a daily grind of violence.
We are placing the (death toll) figure at 4,000 but really the reliable information coming to us is that its much more than that, Pillay said in Geneva.
As soon as there were more and more defectors threatening to take up arms, I said this in August before the Security Council, that theres going to be a civil war, she added. And at the moment, thats how I am characterizing this.
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner declined to call it a civil war.
The overwhelming use of force has been taken by Assad and his regime, Toner told reporters. So theres no kind of equanimity here.
Toner said Assads government has taken Syria down a dangerous path, and that the regimes bloody repression of the protests has not surprisingly led to this kind of reaction that weve seen with the Free Syrian Army.
The Free Syrian Army, a group of defectors from the military, has emerged as the most visible armed challenge to Assad. The group holds no territory, appears largely disorganized and is up against a fiercely loyal and cohesive military.
International intervention, such as the NATO action in Libya that helped topple longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi, is all but out of the question in Syria. But there is real concern that the conflict in Syria could spread chaos across the Middle East.
Syria borders five countries with whom it shares religious and ethnic minorities and, in Israels case, a fragile truce.
Recent economic sanctions imposed by the European Union, the Arab League and Turkey were aimed at persuading Assad to end his crackdown. On Thursday, the EU announced a new round of sanctions against Syrian individuals and businesses linked to the unrest.
The new sanctions target 12 people and 11 companies, and add to a long list of those previously sanctioned by the EU. The full list of names of those targeted will not be known until they are published Friday in the EUs official journal.
The 27-member bloc also imposed some sanctions on Syrias ally Iran in the wake of an attack this week by a mob on the British Embassy in Tehran, the Iranian capital.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague accused Iran of supporting Assads crackdown, saying there is a link between what is happening in Iran and what is happening in Syria.
The sanctions are punishing Syrias ailing economy a dangerous development for Damascus because the prosperous merchant classes are key to propping up the regime.
Syrian business leaders have long traded political freedoms for economic privileges. The sanctions, along with increasing calls by the opposition for general nationwide strikes, could sap their resolve.
A resident of the flashpoint city of Homs said businessmen are growing impatient.
The sanctions against the regime are harming them, he told The Associated Press by telephone, asking that his name not be used for fear of reprisals. Merchants only care about their interests. Many merchants are complaining that their business is dropping.
Activists also are trying to peel the business elite away from their allegiance to Assad. On Thursday, opposition groups called for a general strike, but it was difficult to gauge how widely Syrians were abiding by the strike. The regime has sealed the country off from foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting.
Residents in Syrias two economic powerhouses the capital of Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo reported business as usual Thursday.
But a video posted online by activists showed mostly closed shops in the Damascus suburb of Zabadani, which also has seen large anti-government protests. And a resident in Homs said most of the shops were closed, except for those selling food. Homs has been one of Syrias most volatile cities, with increasing clashes between troops and army defectors.
Syria has been the site of the deadliest crackdown against the Arab Springs protests.
Deaths in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen have numbered in the hundreds. Libyas toll is unknown and likely higher than Syrias, but the conflict there differed because it descended early on into an outright civil war between two armed sides.
Since the revolt began in Syria, the regime has blamed the bloodshed on terrorists acting out a foreign conspiracy to divide and undermine the country. It has laid bare Syrias simmering sectarian tensions, with disturbing reports of killings like those seen in Iraq.
Syria is an overwhelmingly Sunni country of 22 million, but Assad and the ruling elite belong to the minority Alawite sect. Assad, and his father before him, stacked key military posts with Alawites to meld the fate of the army and the regime a tactic aimed at compelling troops to fight to the death to protect the Assad family dynasty.
The leader of the Free Syrian Army, breakaway air force Col. Riad Al-Asaad, acknowledges nearly all the defectors under his command some 15,000 are low-level Sunni conscripts. The men are armed with rocket-propelled grenades, rifles and guns they took with them when they deserted, as well as light weapons they acquired on the black market, he says.
Until recently, most of the bloodshed was caused by security forces firing on mainly peaceful protesters. There have been growing reports of army defectors and armed civilians fighting Assads forces a development that some say plays into the regimes hands by giving government troops a pretext to crack down with overwhelming force.
As the violence continues, the 22-member Arab League in Cairo unveiled this week a list of top officials it wants to prevent from traveling to Arab countries a humiliating affront to a country that prides itself on Arab nationalism.
The 17 officials who face the ban include the defense and interior ministers, and close members of Assads inner circle. Assads millionaire cousin, Rami Makhlouf, who has controlled the mobile phone network and other lucrative enterprises in Syria, and the presidents younger brother, Maher, are on the list.
Assad himself was not named.
UN: Syria now in a civil war with 4,000 dead - Arab News
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Syria Ambassador Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui defends his government during a Human Rights Council special session on the situation in Syria at the United Nations in Geneva on Friday. (Reuters)
By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY | AP
Published: Dec 2, 2011 15:20 Updated: Dec 2, 2011 15:23
BEIRUT: Syria has entered a state of civil war with more than 4,000 people dead and an increasing number of soldiers defecting from the army to fight President Bashar Assads regime, the UNs top human rights official has said.
Civil war has been the worst-case scenario in Syria since the revolt against Assad began eight months ago. Damascus has a web of allegiances that extends to Lebanons powerful Hezbollah movement and Irans Shiite theocracy, raising fears of a regional conflagration.
The assessment Thursday that the bloodshed in Syria has crossed into civil war came from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay.
The conflict has shown little sign of letting up. Activists reported up to 22 people killed Thursday, adding to what has become a daily grind of violence.
We are placing the (death toll) figure at 4,000 but really the reliable information coming to us is that its much more than that, Pillay said in Geneva.
As soon as there were more and more defectors threatening to take up arms, I said this in August before the Security Council, that theres going to be a civil war, she added. And at the moment, thats how I am characterizing this.
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner declined to call it a civil war.
The overwhelming use of force has been taken by Assad and his regime, Toner told reporters. So theres no kind of equanimity here.
Toner said Assads government has taken Syria down a dangerous path, and that the regimes bloody repression of the protests has not surprisingly led to this kind of reaction that weve seen with the Free Syrian Army.
The Free Syrian Army, a group of defectors from the military, has emerged as the most visible armed challenge to Assad. The group holds no territory, appears largely disorganized and is up against a fiercely loyal and cohesive military.
International intervention, such as the NATO action in Libya that helped topple longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi, is all but out of the question in Syria. But there is real concern that the conflict in Syria could spread chaos across the Middle East.
Syria borders five countries with whom it shares religious and ethnic minorities and, in Israels case, a fragile truce.
Recent economic sanctions imposed by the European Union, the Arab League and Turkey were aimed at persuading Assad to end his crackdown. On Thursday, the EU announced a new round of sanctions against Syrian individuals and businesses linked to the unrest.
The new sanctions target 12 people and 11 companies, and add to a long list of those previously sanctioned by the EU. The full list of names of those targeted will not be known until they are published Friday in the EUs official journal.
The 27-member bloc also imposed some sanctions on Syrias ally Iran in the wake of an attack this week by a mob on the British Embassy in Tehran, the Iranian capital.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague accused Iran of supporting Assads crackdown, saying there is a link between what is happening in Iran and what is happening in Syria.
The sanctions are punishing Syrias ailing economy a dangerous development for Damascus because the prosperous merchant classes are key to propping up the regime.
Syrian business leaders have long traded political freedoms for economic privileges. The sanctions, along with increasing calls by the opposition for general nationwide strikes, could sap their resolve.
A resident of the flashpoint city of Homs said businessmen are growing impatient.
The sanctions against the regime are harming them, he told The Associated Press by telephone, asking that his name not be used for fear of reprisals. Merchants only care about their interests. Many merchants are complaining that their business is dropping.
Activists also are trying to peel the business elite away from their allegiance to Assad. On Thursday, opposition groups called for a general strike, but it was difficult to gauge how widely Syrians were abiding by the strike. The regime has sealed the country off from foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting.
Residents in Syrias two economic powerhouses the capital of Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo reported business as usual Thursday.
But a video posted online by activists showed mostly closed shops in the Damascus suburb of Zabadani, which also has seen large anti-government protests. And a resident in Homs said most of the shops were closed, except for those selling food. Homs has been one of Syrias most volatile cities, with increasing clashes between troops and army defectors.
Syria has been the site of the deadliest crackdown against the Arab Springs protests.
Deaths in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen have numbered in the hundreds. Libyas toll is unknown and likely higher than Syrias, but the conflict there differed because it descended early on into an outright civil war between two armed sides.
Since the revolt began in Syria, the regime has blamed the bloodshed on terrorists acting out a foreign conspiracy to divide and undermine the country. It has laid bare Syrias simmering sectarian tensions, with disturbing reports of killings like those seen in Iraq.
Syria is an overwhelmingly Sunni country of 22 million, but Assad and the ruling elite belong to the minority Alawite sect. Assad, and his father before him, stacked key military posts with Alawites to meld the fate of the army and the regime a tactic aimed at compelling troops to fight to the death to protect the Assad family dynasty.
The leader of the Free Syrian Army, breakaway air force Col. Riad Al-Asaad, acknowledges nearly all the defectors under his command some 15,000 are low-level Sunni conscripts. The men are armed with rocket-propelled grenades, rifles and guns they took with them when they deserted, as well as light weapons they acquired on the black market, he says.
Until recently, most of the bloodshed was caused by security forces firing on mainly peaceful protesters. There have been growing reports of army defectors and armed civilians fighting Assads forces a development that some say plays into the regimes hands by giving government troops a pretext to crack down with overwhelming force.
As the violence continues, the 22-member Arab League in Cairo unveiled this week a list of top officials it wants to prevent from traveling to Arab countries a humiliating affront to a country that prides itself on Arab nationalism.
The 17 officials who face the ban include the defense and interior ministers, and close members of Assads inner circle. Assads millionaire cousin, Rami Makhlouf, who has controlled the mobile phone network and other lucrative enterprises in Syria, and the presidents younger brother, Maher, are on the list.
Assad himself was not named.
UN: Syria now in a civil war with 4,000 dead - Arab News
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