Saudi Arabia calls for outside intervention in Syria
The region's major oil power put new pressure on the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, accusing his regime of using the month-long mission to "hide its crimes".
"It is not a quality of Arab leaders to kill their people," a statement by its foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said.
The statement overshadowed a League proposal to renew the mission for another month, and demonstrated the splits among Syria's neighbours at how to tackle the growing crisis in a country that likes to describe itself as the crossroads of the Middle East.
Qatar called for a review of the mission possibly leading to the dispatch of Arab troops to act as peacekeepers.
Mr Assad was also facing an ever bleaker situation at home. Rebels said they were in control of Douma, a town on the outskirts of Damascus itself and just ten miles from the city centre, after the army was forced to withdraw.
Opposition groups reacted angrily to the Arab League proposal by its secretary-general, Nabil al-Araby, which made no mention of referring the crisis to the United Nations as they had demanded. The proposal was being fiercely debated late on Sunday night.
Activists said the League was permitting Mr Assad to carry on killing civilians. "The observers don't do anything," said Rami Shaheen, who had been jailed in the southern city of Dera'a but has since managed to flee to Egypt. "Now our revolutionaries are asking that they refer this to the United Nations security council."
Nabil al-Araby, the League's secretary-general, also attacked the Assad regime, saying it had not fulfilled its promises to implement the League's peace plan and accusing it of exploiting the mission for its own ends.
But he also said the mission was encouraging Syrians to express themselves more freely, including through protests.
In Douma, clashes began on Saturday evening at the funeral of Mohammed Said Maddah, a protester who had been shot dead.
"When the martyr's body arrived, along with the funeral procession, the criminal Assad gangs waged a surprise attack and shot at them, using machine guns, rockets, and snipers, as they approached the Hawwa Mosque," Omar al-Khani, of the Syrian Revolutionary Command in Damascus, said. "We have confirmation of dozens of casualties."
The Free Syrian Army, the armed defectors who are now established in a number of rebel towns, stepped in, Mr Khani said. Street fighting broke out and spread across the town centre, until the army withdrew in the early hours of the morning.
"The FSA gathered near Hawwa mosque, where few soldiers were present," said an activist who claimed to have been present at the funeral. "Then they advanced attacking the Syrian troops stationed at the end of the street.
"They shot them with their guns. The fighting continued for four hours, and the FSA managed to kill seven or eight troops and capture one officer".
Video from the town on Sunday afternoon showed armed Free Syrian Army rebels in masks patrolling the streets openly.
"Now there is fighting around the city. I can hear gun shots and loud explosions," an activist in the town told the Daily Telegraph. "Assad's army are only on the outskirts, but we expect that they will use tanks to advance."
Douma is the second town in the vicinity of Damascus to have declared itself free of Syrian government control, after Zabadani to the west near the Lebanese border.
Rebels hope they can become hubs of further resistance, as Benghazi did in Libya.
"He is losing his forces, that is apparent. He is getting weaker day by day. More frequently now the leaders of the troops run away," said the Douma activist. "They know they are in the wrong."
The Arab League argues that the regime is softening its stance due to the monitors' presence. Indeed, the regime may have been keen to avoid the intense fighting that would be necessary to reclaim the two towns while the League decided on its next steps.
A majority of Arab states, including Tunisia and Egypt which have experienced their own revolutions, fear that outside intervention might trigger a further spiral of violence.
However, Saudi's political clout and Qatar's growing assertiveness mean that those hoping for continued engagement with the Assad regime are holding an ever thinner line.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...a-calls-for-outside-intervention-in-Syra.html
The region's major oil power put new pressure on the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, accusing his regime of using the month-long mission to "hide its crimes".
"It is not a quality of Arab leaders to kill their people," a statement by its foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said.
The statement overshadowed a League proposal to renew the mission for another month, and demonstrated the splits among Syria's neighbours at how to tackle the growing crisis in a country that likes to describe itself as the crossroads of the Middle East.
Qatar called for a review of the mission possibly leading to the dispatch of Arab troops to act as peacekeepers.
Mr Assad was also facing an ever bleaker situation at home. Rebels said they were in control of Douma, a town on the outskirts of Damascus itself and just ten miles from the city centre, after the army was forced to withdraw.
Opposition groups reacted angrily to the Arab League proposal by its secretary-general, Nabil al-Araby, which made no mention of referring the crisis to the United Nations as they had demanded. The proposal was being fiercely debated late on Sunday night.
Activists said the League was permitting Mr Assad to carry on killing civilians. "The observers don't do anything," said Rami Shaheen, who had been jailed in the southern city of Dera'a but has since managed to flee to Egypt. "Now our revolutionaries are asking that they refer this to the United Nations security council."
Nabil al-Araby, the League's secretary-general, also attacked the Assad regime, saying it had not fulfilled its promises to implement the League's peace plan and accusing it of exploiting the mission for its own ends.
But he also said the mission was encouraging Syrians to express themselves more freely, including through protests.
In Douma, clashes began on Saturday evening at the funeral of Mohammed Said Maddah, a protester who had been shot dead.
"When the martyr's body arrived, along with the funeral procession, the criminal Assad gangs waged a surprise attack and shot at them, using machine guns, rockets, and snipers, as they approached the Hawwa Mosque," Omar al-Khani, of the Syrian Revolutionary Command in Damascus, said. "We have confirmation of dozens of casualties."
The Free Syrian Army, the armed defectors who are now established in a number of rebel towns, stepped in, Mr Khani said. Street fighting broke out and spread across the town centre, until the army withdrew in the early hours of the morning.
"The FSA gathered near Hawwa mosque, where few soldiers were present," said an activist who claimed to have been present at the funeral. "Then they advanced attacking the Syrian troops stationed at the end of the street.
"They shot them with their guns. The fighting continued for four hours, and the FSA managed to kill seven or eight troops and capture one officer".
Video from the town on Sunday afternoon showed armed Free Syrian Army rebels in masks patrolling the streets openly.
"Now there is fighting around the city. I can hear gun shots and loud explosions," an activist in the town told the Daily Telegraph. "Assad's army are only on the outskirts, but we expect that they will use tanks to advance."
Douma is the second town in the vicinity of Damascus to have declared itself free of Syrian government control, after Zabadani to the west near the Lebanese border.
Rebels hope they can become hubs of further resistance, as Benghazi did in Libya.
"He is losing his forces, that is apparent. He is getting weaker day by day. More frequently now the leaders of the troops run away," said the Douma activist. "They know they are in the wrong."
The Arab League argues that the regime is softening its stance due to the monitors' presence. Indeed, the regime may have been keen to avoid the intense fighting that would be necessary to reclaim the two towns while the League decided on its next steps.
A majority of Arab states, including Tunisia and Egypt which have experienced their own revolutions, fear that outside intervention might trigger a further spiral of violence.
However, Saudi's political clout and Qatar's growing assertiveness mean that those hoping for continued engagement with the Assad regime are holding an ever thinner line.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...a-calls-for-outside-intervention-in-Syra.html
