The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Saudi pulls ambassador from Syria, denounces violence
- Syria tanks storm eastern city, kill 50 - residents
- Libya rebels say they hold gains south of capital
| Saudi pulls ambassador from Syria, denounces violence Posted: 07 Aug 2011 08:50 PM PDT JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah demanded an end to the bloodshed in Syria on Monday and recalled his country's ambassador from Damascus, in a rare case of one of the Arab world's most powerful leaders intervening against another.
It was the sharpest criticism the oil giant -- an absolute monarchy that bans political opposition -- has directed against any Arab state since a wave of protests roiled the Middle East and toppled autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt. The Saudi statement came with all the weight of the king's personal authority, and follows similar statements since Saturday from the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). "What is happening in Syria is not acceptable for Saudi Arabia," he said in a written statement read out on Al Arabiya satellite television. Events in Syria had "nothing to do with religion, or values, or ethics," the king said. In Washington, a U.S. State Department official said the king's statement was a strong signal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. "This is another clear sign that the international community, including Syria's neighbors, are repulsed by the brutal actions of the Syrian government and will continue to stand with the people of Syria," the official said. A former U.S. government official with knowledge of the region said the Saudi king likely went public to press concerns that had been conveyed privately. "I think he did it on his own because the private messages were clearly being ignored," the former official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A crackdown by Assad against protests has become one of the most violent episodes in the wave of unrest sweeping through the Arab world this year. On Sunday, activists said Syrian troops with tanks had launched an assault on the city of Deir al-Zor in the east of the country, killing dozens. The past week has seen scores of people killed in a siege of Hama, a city where Assad's father launched a crackdown nearly 30 years ago, killing thousands. Assad's government says it is fighting against criminals and armed extremists who have provoked violence by attacking its troops. Activists and Western countries say Assad's forces have attacked peaceful protesters. "Syria should think wisely before it's too late and issue and enact reforms that are not merely promises but actual reforms," the Saudi king said. "Either it chooses wisdom on its own or it will be pulled down into the depths of turmoil and loss." ARAB LEAGUE BREAKS SILENCE ON SYRIA Earlier on Sunday, the Arab League, in a rare response to the escalating bloodshed in Syria, called on authorities there to stop acts of violence against civilians. Although several Arab states have joined the West in opposing Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, most of the region's rulers have been cautious about criticising other Arab leaders during the wave of protests this year. The other regional heavyweight, Turkey, whose foreign minister is due in Damascus on Tuesday, has been voicing its disapproval for months. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed the ongoing violence and security operations in Syria in a phone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday, the State Department said. Clinton discussed the U.S. position that Syria must immediately return its military to barracks and release all prisoners of concern and asked Davutoglu to "reinforce these messages" with the Syrian government, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. Saudi Arabia had maintained its silence regarding Syria despite deep antagonism over the contest for regional hegemony with Shi'ite Iran, one of Syria's only allies and chief patron of Hezbollah, the Shi'ite militia and political movement to which Saudi Arabia's allies have lost influence in Lebanon. Saudi columnist Hussein Shobokshi said the king's address placed the responsibility for the bloodshed squarely on Syria's ruling circle, and that recalling the Saudi ambassador could pave the way for other states to wash their hands of Assad. "This will open up the gate for other countries to follow suit, Islamic and Arab," he said. "I think these will ignite the spirit of protesters and give them hope that the international, Saudi and Islamic, Arab communities are firmly behind them. It will give them hope that victory is in sight." "I do not think that the Syrian government's position is reversible. I think it is doomed and we should all now start dealing with a post-Assad reality." Shortly after the address, Al Arabiya reported Kuwaiti parliamentarians called on members of the GCC -- a bloc of resource-rich monarchies in which Saudi influence is extensive -- to recall ambassadors from Damascus. The channel provided no further details immediately. King Abdullah sent Saudi troops in March to help neighbouring monarchy Bahrain put down anti-government protests, and Saudi officials have criticised the decision to put Egypt's ousted leader Hosni Mubarak on trial. Saudi Arabia has acted as a mediator in neighbouring Yemen, and is hosting its President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who went there for medical treatment after being wounded in a bomb attack when protests against his rule turned into open conflict. (Reporting by Ali Abdelatti in Cairo and Asma Alsharif in Jeddah; Writing by Joseph Logan; Editing by Michael Roddy) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. | ||
| Syria tanks storm eastern city, kill 50 - residents Posted: 07 Aug 2011 08:50 PM PDT AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian tanks stormed a city in the east of the country on Sunday, crushing makeshift barricades, opening fire and seizing the central square, residents said, in a fresh crackdown that activists said killed dozens of civilians. The assault on the provincial capital Deir al-Zor comes a week after tanks stormed the city of Hama, where activists say scores have been killed in an ongoing siege to crush five-months of protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule. "Early this morning columns of army tanks and bulldozers, under cover of heavy rounds of gunfire, stormed into the western and northern entrances of the city and dismantled barricades set up by residents," a Deir al-Zor resident said. "A dozen tanks are taking position in the main square in Jubaila market in the northern sector of Deir al-Zor," the resident, who gave his name as Abu Bakr, said by telephone. The government denied the Deir al-Zor assault had taken place. The official state news agency said "not a single tank has entered Deir al-Zor" and reports of tanks in the city were "the work of provocateur satellite channels". Syria has barred most journalists, making it hard to confirm events. The Syrian Revolution Coordinating Committee said 50 people had been killed in Deir al-Zor on Sunday and at least 13 had been killed in a separate, tank-led assault on villages in the central Houla Plain, near the city of Homs. "The numbers of casualties are escalating by the hour," activist Suhair al-Atassi, a member of the Coordinating Union, said by phone from Damascus. Syrian authorities say they are fighting armed saboteurs who have provoked violence by attacking the security forces. Rights groups and Western states say Assad's forces have repeatedly fired on peaceful demonstrators to crush an uprising. Activists say government troops have killed at least 1,600 civilians in five months of an increasingly violent crackdown. The government says gunmen have killed more than 500 members of the security forces. The Arab League, in a rare response to the escalating bloodshed, joined the international wave of criticism on Sunday, calling on authorities to stop acts of violence against protesters, the Qatar News Agency reported. Assad defended the army's campaign. "Dealing with outlaws and convicts who stage highway robbery and seal off cities and terrorise the population is a national duty," state news agency SANA quoted him as telling Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour. Robert Ford, U.S. ambassador to Syria, said in an interview with "ABC This Week" that the assault on Hama was an "atrocity" but that residents told him they did not want outside military intervention when he visited the city last month. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ TAKE A LOOK - Unrest in Syria [ID:nLDE75M19S] Factbox on Hama [ID:nL6E7I516F] Timeline of protests, crackdown [ID:nL6E7IV01X] Analysis on Syrian army [ID:nL6E7J10X9] Graphic on violence http://link.reuters.com/muw82s ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> An Assad adviser said neighbouring Turkey, which condemned the attack on Hama as an atrocity, should not meddle in Syrian affairs, and warned Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu he would get a frosty reception when he visits Damascus on Tuesday. Cairo-based activist Ammar Qurabi said 42 people were killed in Deir al-Zor and 17 in Houla. Another 28 were killed overnight, he said, including eight in the northern province of Idlib after protests at evening prayers. U.N.'S BAN URGES HALT TO VIOLENCE The military assault on Deir al-Zor, about 400 km (250 miles) north-east of Damascus, was launched a day after U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told Assad he was alarmed by the escalating violence and demanded he rein in the army. Ban "urged the president to stop the use of military force against civilians immediately," the U.N.'s media office said. Residents of Deir al-Zor, situated on the Euphrates river in a province bordering Iraq's Sunni heartland, had been bracing for an assault on their city. An Internet video last week showed a tribal meeting discussing preparations for armed resistance to any military attack. In the past, authorities allowed local tribes to arm as a counterweight to a Kurdish population further northeast. But ties between Assad's minority Alawite rule and the Sunni Muslim province deteriorated after years of water shortages decimated agriculture and led to the internal displacement of up to a million people. Together with Hama, Deir al-Zor became the centre of the largest demonstrations against Assad family rule. Deir al-Zor resident Abu Bakr, from the Jubaila area which has seen some of the largest anti-Assad demonstrations in recent weeks, said mosque loudspeakers were blaring "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) on Sunday. Another resident said tanks and armoured personnel carriers had deployed in the centre of town. "Shells are now hitting al-Joura district," he said, the sound of machinegun and tank fire echoing in the background. "No one dares go out in the street near the main square." TURKISH MESSAGE Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who forged close ties with Assad but has been sharply critical of the crackdown, said his foreign minister, Davutoglu, would visit Damascus on Tuesday. "Our message will be decisively delivered," he said. Assad's adviser Bouthaina Shaaban criticised Ankara for failing to condemn "the savage murders of civilians and military men by armed terrorist groups". "If...Davutoglu is coming to Syria to deliver a decisive message, then he will hear even more decisive words in relation to Turkey's position," Shaaban said. An official source also criticised a statement by Gulf Arab states who broke months of silence on Saturday to express concern about over the violence in Syria. The source, quoted by SANA, said the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council had ignored the "killing and sabotage carried out by armed groups". State television broadcast footage of weapons it said were seized at the border with Lebanon. SANA also quoted an official source saying 13 mutilated bodies of members of the security forces were found in the Orontes River near Hama on Saturday and that two soldiers were killed near Homs. In Hama, troops stormed houses and arrested dozens of people as tanks and armoured vehicles deployed throughout the city, residents said, after a week-long assault which activists say killed at least 130 people. One group put the toll at more than 300 civilians. Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad, crushed an armed Islamist uprising in Hama nearly 30 years ago, killing many thousands of people and razing parts of the city's old quarter to the ground. (Writing and additional reporting by Dominic Evans; Editing by Alistair Lyon and Louise Ireland) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. | ||
| Libya rebels say they hold gains south of capital Posted: 07 Aug 2011 08:50 PM PDT NALUT, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan rebels said on Sunday they were firmly in control of the town of Bir al-Ghanam, a staging post about 80 km (50 miles) south of Tripoli, rejecting a government assertion they had been pushed back.
A small settlement in the desert, Bir al-Ghanam is also the closest point the rebels have come to Muammar Gaddafi's stronghold in the capital, lending it a strategic role in the rebels' six-month campaign to end Gaddafi's rule. Rebel commanders in the region said on Saturday they had seized control of Bir al-Ghanam in an offensive in which four anti-Gaddafi fighters had died. Taking the town -- which lies on a highway leading north to the Mediterranean coast and on to Tripoli -- would break weeks of stalemate during which rebels have been unable to make big advances despite NATO air strikes on government forces. Graphics, click http://r.reuters.com/nym77r and http://link.reuters.com/jav62s Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi said on Sunday that rebels, under NATO air cover, had seized Bir al-Ghanam temporarily but they had been driven out by local volunteers and Libyan forces. "This is exactly what happened in Bir al-Ghanam, which is back in the hands of the honorable and brave local tribes ... and under the legitimate control of the government of Libya," he told a news conference in Tripoli. But a local commander rejected that version of events. "Gaddafi is a liar because Bir al-Ghanam is under our control," Colonel Juma Ibrahim, a rebel commander from the nearby town of Zintan, told Reuters. "We are still in the same position we were yesterday." He said in the past 24 hours rebel forces had, in fact, pushed about 10 km (6 miles) northeast of Bir al-Ghanam, and were now planning to push towards the coastal town of Zawiyah. Zawiyah, which lies 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli, has been the scene of two uprisings which were smashed by Gaddafi's security forces. A large contingent of the rebels fighting around Bir al-Ghanam are from Zawiyah. It was not immediately possible to verify independently who was in control of Bir al-Ghanam. ALLIANCE WAVERING? Most analysts say Gaddafi will eventually be forced to relinquish power if NATO states and their rebel allies maintain the pressure on him by starving him of weapons, fuel and cash and attacking his forces. However, some alliance members are unsettled by how long the Libyan campaign is dragging on and how much it is costing, especially at a time of economic uncertainty. If NATO wavers, this could give Gaddafi an opportunity to hold on to power. For now though, there is no sign of a let-up in the air campaign, led by French and British warplanes. A Reuters reporter in Tripoli said there were multiple strikes overnight in the southeast of the city. After the initial explosions, there were smaller blasts on the ground and flames shooting into the air, suggesting the target contained highly flammable material. Britain said on Saturday -- while rebels were attacking Bir al-Ghanam -- its aircraft had been in the area and attacked two ammunitions stores, a military headquarters and a position supporting government rocket launchers. In a separate operation on Sunday, British Apache attack helicopters took off from a warship in the Mediterranean Sea and fired Hellfire missiles at military vehicles in Al-Watyah, the site of a government air base 170 km south-west of Tripoli, spokesman Major General Nick Pope said in a statement. POWER BLACKOUTS Potentially adding to pressure on Gaddafi, Tripoli has been experiencing power shortages in the past few days and these have been growing worse. Libyan state television appealed on Sunday to people to conserve energy by switching off air conditioners in mosques and offices when they are not in use. Because of the blackouts, many residents have no air conditioning during the peak summer heat and no refrigeration as they prepare for evening meals during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Some areas of the Libyan capital are getting as little as four hours of power a day, residents said this week. Mohamed Abu Ajeela Rashid, a former Libyan health minister who is now a senior hospital doctor, said power was cut while he was performing surgery. He said he had to complete the operation by the light of his cell phone. Libyan government officials have said the problems will be fixed within the next few days. They blame NATO for attacking electricity lines, but an official with the alliance denied there had been any such strikes. In eastern Libya, where rebels and pro-Gaddafi forces are fighting along another front, rebel commanders said they were making a big push to capture the coastal oil town of Brega, about 780 km from Tripoli. But they said progress was slow because Gaddafi's forces had laid minefields around the town. "We don't want to lose anybody so we're moving slowly but surely," said rebel spokesman Mohammad Zawawi. Pope Benedict, giving his Sunday blessing from the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo near Rome, appealed for an end to violence in the Middle East. "My thoughts also go to Libya, where the use of arms has not resolved the situation," he said. "I urge the international organisations and those with political and military responsibilities to relaunch the search for a peace plan for the country with conviction and determination, through talks and constructive dialogue." (Additional reporting by Missy Ryan in Tripoli, Hamid Ould Ahmed and Christian Lowe in Algiers, Robert Birsel in Benghazi, Libya, Michael Holden in London and Deepa Babington in Rome; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Sophie Hares) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
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