BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian rights activists and opposition groups said on Wednesday that forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had killed at least 160 defecting soldiers, civilians and antigovernment activists over the last three days in northwestern Syria. If confirmed, the killings would constitute one of the worst spasms of violence in the nine-month-old uprising.
Word of the killings, which the activists and opposition groups said had taken place near the city of Idlib near the Turkish border, was reported a day before observers from the Arab League are to visit Syria for the first time to monitor pledges by Mr. Assad’s government to withdraw its troops from besieged areas.
Some activists said Mr. Assad’s forces had intensified a campaign of deadly violence and intimidation partly because the impending arrival of Arab League monitors may prevent such action in coming days. “I fear the security forces may be trying to crush this thing before the monitors get in," said Murhaf Jouejati, a member of the Syrian National Council, an opposition group.
The Syrian government, which has sought to characterize the anti-Assad uprising as a Western-backed insurrection by terrorist gangs and thugs, has not commented on reports of the killings. But the official Syrian Arab News Agency said on its web site that Syrian authorities in the cities of Idlib, Homs and Daraa had “stormed dens of armed terrorist groups , arresting tens of wanted men who committed crimes of killing, attacked and sabotaged private and public properties.”
The agency said “a number of the terrorists have been killed and others wounded,” and that “big quantities of weapons, ammunitions, explosives and night goggles in addition to modern communication sets have been seized.”
It was impossible to corroborate the conflicting accounts because of restrictions on foreign press access in Syria, where, according to a United Nations estimate, more than 5,000 people have been killed since March. But in a statement, the secretary general of the Arab League, Nabil al-Araby, suggested the reports by the opposition groups were credible, expressing concern about them and urging the Syrian government to “protect civilians.”
The Obama administration, which has become increasingly critical of Mr. Assad and has urged him to leave power, also gave credence to the new opposition reports of killings. In a statement, the White House said it was “deeply disturbed” by those reports. “While Syrian security forces have also taken casualties, the overwhelming majority of the violence and loss of life in Syria stems from the actions of the Assad regime, and we call on all parties to put an end to violence,” the statement said.
Activists said the Syrian military forces, using helicopters, tanks and artillery, were continuing their assaults on Wednesday.
The 22-member Arab League, an historically perfunctory body, shocked the Syrian regime more than three weeks ago by condemning Mr. Assad’s harsh repression of the political opposition movement there and threatening harsh economic sanctions. Since then Mr. Assad has maneuvered to stall for time and agreed only a few days ago to allow Arab League monitors to visit.
Some of his opponents have voiced strong doubts about the observer mission, saying that the Syrian government would find ways to keep the monitors from sites of violence.
In a possibly related development ahead of the Arab League monitor visit, Iran’s official media reported Wednesday that five Iranian engineers working on a power project in central Syria had been kidnapped by “unknown armed men,” presumably opponents of Mr. Assad. Iran is one of the few remaining allies of Mr. Assad’s government.
The latest reports of killings came amid sharpening sectarian divisions in Syria that have played out in a series of deadly revenge attacks. In a sign of the divided loyalties, thousands of government supporters demonstrated in Damascus on Wednesday, where a new statue honoring Syrian soldiers was unveiled. The demonstrators waved the flags of Lebanon, Russia and Iran.
Many protesters said they were Alawites, members of a heterodox Muslim sect who fill the top ranks of the government. Tensions between the Alawite minority and the Sunni majority have flared in cities like Homs, where random killings have contributed to fears of a looming civil war.
A 23-year-old Alawite protester, who would only give his first name, Haidar, said his father was a Syrian army officer and that the country was in the midst of a battle for its existence. “All Syrian nationalists should stand with the president,” he said. “There is no time for political talks when enemies are attacking us with all their dirty means.”
The killings near Idlib, reported by antigovernment activists, opposition groups overseas and human rights groups, were based on telephone contacts with networks of informants inside Syria. Some were reached on satellite phones or Turkish cellphones.
The killings were said to have started on Monday, when between 60 to 70 soldiers who were trying to defect were gunned down by government troops outside a military barracks in the Jebel Zawiya area. On Tuesday, more than a hundred people were killed near the village of Kafr Oweid, according to an antigovernment activist in Idlib.
Rights activists said they had collected the names of at least 56 people killed in the violence. They included a prominent imam, Ahmed al-Dhaher, whose decapitated head was said to have been hung in the entrance to his mosque, according to Mr. Jouejati of the Syrian National Council, who said he had spoken to witnesses by satellite phone. Scores of people were detained, and hundreds of families were said to be hiding in the mountains, activists said.
On Wednesday, an unspecified number of civilians were killed or wounded in the village of Khan Sheikhoun, according to a 40-year-old antigovernment activist in Idlib who gave his name as Abu Omar. “The army should kill all of us to stop the anti-Assad uprising,” he said.
Reporting was contributed by Hwaida Saad from Beirut, a New York Times employee from Damascus and Rick Gladstone from New York.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/22/w...ria-on-eve-of-arab-league-observer-visit.html
Word of the killings, which the activists and opposition groups said had taken place near the city of Idlib near the Turkish border, was reported a day before observers from the Arab League are to visit Syria for the first time to monitor pledges by Mr. Assad’s government to withdraw its troops from besieged areas.
Some activists said Mr. Assad’s forces had intensified a campaign of deadly violence and intimidation partly because the impending arrival of Arab League monitors may prevent such action in coming days. “I fear the security forces may be trying to crush this thing before the monitors get in," said Murhaf Jouejati, a member of the Syrian National Council, an opposition group.
The Syrian government, which has sought to characterize the anti-Assad uprising as a Western-backed insurrection by terrorist gangs and thugs, has not commented on reports of the killings. But the official Syrian Arab News Agency said on its web site that Syrian authorities in the cities of Idlib, Homs and Daraa had “stormed dens of armed terrorist groups , arresting tens of wanted men who committed crimes of killing, attacked and sabotaged private and public properties.”
The agency said “a number of the terrorists have been killed and others wounded,” and that “big quantities of weapons, ammunitions, explosives and night goggles in addition to modern communication sets have been seized.”
It was impossible to corroborate the conflicting accounts because of restrictions on foreign press access in Syria, where, according to a United Nations estimate, more than 5,000 people have been killed since March. But in a statement, the secretary general of the Arab League, Nabil al-Araby, suggested the reports by the opposition groups were credible, expressing concern about them and urging the Syrian government to “protect civilians.”
The Obama administration, which has become increasingly critical of Mr. Assad and has urged him to leave power, also gave credence to the new opposition reports of killings. In a statement, the White House said it was “deeply disturbed” by those reports. “While Syrian security forces have also taken casualties, the overwhelming majority of the violence and loss of life in Syria stems from the actions of the Assad regime, and we call on all parties to put an end to violence,” the statement said.
Activists said the Syrian military forces, using helicopters, tanks and artillery, were continuing their assaults on Wednesday.
The 22-member Arab League, an historically perfunctory body, shocked the Syrian regime more than three weeks ago by condemning Mr. Assad’s harsh repression of the political opposition movement there and threatening harsh economic sanctions. Since then Mr. Assad has maneuvered to stall for time and agreed only a few days ago to allow Arab League monitors to visit.
Some of his opponents have voiced strong doubts about the observer mission, saying that the Syrian government would find ways to keep the monitors from sites of violence.
In a possibly related development ahead of the Arab League monitor visit, Iran’s official media reported Wednesday that five Iranian engineers working on a power project in central Syria had been kidnapped by “unknown armed men,” presumably opponents of Mr. Assad. Iran is one of the few remaining allies of Mr. Assad’s government.
The latest reports of killings came amid sharpening sectarian divisions in Syria that have played out in a series of deadly revenge attacks. In a sign of the divided loyalties, thousands of government supporters demonstrated in Damascus on Wednesday, where a new statue honoring Syrian soldiers was unveiled. The demonstrators waved the flags of Lebanon, Russia and Iran.
Many protesters said they were Alawites, members of a heterodox Muslim sect who fill the top ranks of the government. Tensions between the Alawite minority and the Sunni majority have flared in cities like Homs, where random killings have contributed to fears of a looming civil war.
A 23-year-old Alawite protester, who would only give his first name, Haidar, said his father was a Syrian army officer and that the country was in the midst of a battle for its existence. “All Syrian nationalists should stand with the president,” he said. “There is no time for political talks when enemies are attacking us with all their dirty means.”
The killings near Idlib, reported by antigovernment activists, opposition groups overseas and human rights groups, were based on telephone contacts with networks of informants inside Syria. Some were reached on satellite phones or Turkish cellphones.
The killings were said to have started on Monday, when between 60 to 70 soldiers who were trying to defect were gunned down by government troops outside a military barracks in the Jebel Zawiya area. On Tuesday, more than a hundred people were killed near the village of Kafr Oweid, according to an antigovernment activist in Idlib.
Rights activists said they had collected the names of at least 56 people killed in the violence. They included a prominent imam, Ahmed al-Dhaher, whose decapitated head was said to have been hung in the entrance to his mosque, according to Mr. Jouejati of the Syrian National Council, who said he had spoken to witnesses by satellite phone. Scores of people were detained, and hundreds of families were said to be hiding in the mountains, activists said.
On Wednesday, an unspecified number of civilians were killed or wounded in the village of Khan Sheikhoun, according to a 40-year-old antigovernment activist in Idlib who gave his name as Abu Omar. “The army should kill all of us to stop the anti-Assad uprising,” he said.
Reporting was contributed by Hwaida Saad from Beirut, a New York Times employee from Damascus and Rick Gladstone from New York.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/22/w...ria-on-eve-of-arab-league-observer-visit.html