WarSclerotic

Syrian opposition ask world’s help to stop Assad – Israel News, Ynetnews.

(Contact your representatives.  This insane butchery of the innocent MUST be stopped… – JW)

Damascus opposition members meet in Istanbul, plead with West to pressure regime into ceasing brutal crackdown on protesters

Reuters

Members of the Syrian opposition meeting in Istanbul on Tuesday pleaded for international help to persuade President Bashar Assad to halt a brutal crackdown on a popular revolt.

“Our friends in the West, in Turkey, in the Arab world, if they want to help us, then they can do that by… putting the clearest possible pressure on the Syrian regime to stop targeting civilians,” Anas Abdah, the British-based chairman of the Movement for Justice and Development, told Reuters.

Abdah was speaking on the sidelines of a gathering of opposition and rights groups organized by Turkish non-government organizations to highlight the Syrian people’s plight.

“It looks like Bashar al-Assad has taken a strategic decision to crush a non-violent movement in Syria by ordering his brother Maher al-Assad… to go and storm Deraa city,” Abdah said.

Earlier, Syrian security forces deployed in the hills around the Banias in preparation for a possible attack on the coastal city to crush a popular uprising, a protest leader said.

“Forces wearing black and carrying AK-47s deployed today in the hills. Armored personnel carriers passed by the highway adjacent to Banias at night,” Anas al-Shaghri told Reuters from Banias, which has seen intensifying pro-democracy protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Damascus security forces have shot dead at least 400 civilians in their campaign to crush the country’s month-long peaceful pro-democracy revolution.

Syria: Tanks deploy outside of Banias as protests intensify.

  AMMAN – Syrian protesters in Banias chanted “the people want the overthrow of the regime” on Tuesday as forces deployed around the small coastal city for a possible attack, a rights campaigner in contact with Banias said.

“Our demands are peaceful. If they kill us, our souls will rise from our graves and demand freedom,” Sheikh Anas Airout, a preacher in the city, told 2,000 to 3,000 protesters, according to the rights campaigner.

Syrian security forces have shot dead at least 400 civilians in their campaign to crush month-long pro-democracy protests, Syrian human rights organization Sawasiah said on Tuesday.

The group, founded by jailed human rights lawyer Mohannad al-Hassani, said the UN Security Council must convene to start proceedings against Syrian officials in the International Criminal Court and “reign in the security apparatus.”

“This savage behavior, which is aimed at keeping the ruling clique in power at the expense of a rising number of civilian lives, calls for immediate international action beyond condemnations,” Sawasiah said in a statement sent to Reuters.

“The murderers in the Syrian regime must be held accountable. The rivers of blood spilt by this oppressive regime for the past four decades are enough,” the statement said.

Sawasiah’s board includes Syrian philosophy professor Sadeq Jalal al-Azem, whose book Self-criticism After the Defeat helped set the stage for a revival in Arab political thought after Israel’s victory in the 1967 Middle East War.

Separately, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security police arrested rights campaigner Qassem al-Ghazzawi on Tuesday in his home city of Deir al-Zor in Syria’s impoverished east after protests intensified in the region last week.

The Observatory also said Mahmoud Issa, a campaigner and former political prisoner arrested last week in the city of Homs, was referred to a military court on Tuesday on charges of “possessing a Thuraya satellite phone and an advanced computer.”

Obama Silent as Syrian Death Toll at 400; Tanks Shoot Civilians – Defense/Middle East – Israel News – Israel National News.

Human rights activists estimate that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s force have killed more than 400 protesters as tanks roar through city streets while U.S. President Barack Obama remains relatively silent.

American observers are asking out loud why the voice of Obama President Obama, who turned his back on Mubarak, is barely heard as Assad’s tanks shoot at civilians in Daraa and prepare to enter more towns.

“It’s not yet clear if America wants President Assad to step down,” reported ABC’s Meredith Griffiths. An eyewitness told her that Syrian soldiers and police “won’t even let you get first aid to them and the ambulances; they’re being shot at by security police.”

Meanwhile, Britain, France, Germany and Portugal are seeking a United Nations Security Council condemnation of the violence and an independent investigation of the brute force that has more than matched the killing of opponents to ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year.

The Obama administration, which last month called Assad a “reformer” and has tried to “engage” Syria away from Iran, has said only, “We continue to look for ways and are pursuing a range of possible policy options, including targeted sanctions, to respond to the crackdown in Syria.” However, American sanctions on Syria already have been in place for several years.

President Obama has relied on rhetoric, after weeks of relative silence. He said on Friday, “The United States has repeatedly encouraged President Assad and the Syrian government to implement meaningful reforms, but they refuse to respect the rights of the Syrian people or be responsive to their aspirations.”

“As the casualties mount, liberals in America are wondering where their champion of human rights, President Obama, has disappeared to,”wrote Stephen Brown for FrontPage Magazine. “He was front and center in the Egyptian crisis, and even sent American warplanes to bomb the murderous dictatorship in Libya. But so far in Syria, Obama has only condemned the violence in conjunction with other world leaders, calling the Assad regime’s actions ‘“outrageous.’

“But why such a milquetoast response to the client regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a world sponsor of terror? Why are Egyptian allies (Mubarak) and Libyan gadflies (Gaddafi) treated more aggressively, and more swiftly than a regime, whose fall might actually benefit American interests?

Even the Washington Post, normally friendly to the president but increasingly critical of his Middle East policy tactics, editorialized, “As a moral matter, the stance of the United States is shameful. To stand by passively while hundreds of people seeking freedom are gunned down by their government makes a mockery of the U.S. commitment to human rights.”

The American government may be trying not to upset the already turbulent Muslim Middle East by provoking Iran, Syrian’s key ally, but if the Syrian uprising follows the fortunes of those in Egypt, Yemen and Tunisia, “the president’s unintelligible policy regarding the Middle East will…leave an indelible mar on his presidency,” Brown wrote.

Syria intensifies crackdown on protests – Middle East – Al Jazeera English.

At least 500 pro-democracy activists arrested, rights group says, after authorities deployed troops to quell protests.

Syrian security forces have arrested at least 500 pro-democracy activists, a rights group said, as the government continues a violent crackdown on anti-government protests across the country.

The arrests followed the deployment of Syrian troops backed by tanks and heavy armour on the streets of two southern towns, the Syrian rights organisation Sawasiah said on Tuesday.

The group said it had received reports that at least 20 people were killed in the city of Deraa in the aftermath of the raid by troops loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Monday. But communications have been cut in the city, making it difficult to confirm the information.

“Witnesses managed to tell us that at least 20 civilians have been killed in Deraa, but we do not have their names and we cannot verify,” a Sawasiah official told the Reuters news agency.

The group said that two more civilians were confirmed dead after government forces entered Douma, a suburb of the capital, Damascus.

At least 500 people were arrested elsewhere in the country, it said.

Deaths and arrests

Gunfire continued to reverberate across the city of Deraa on Tuesday, residents said, a day after thousands of soldiers swept into the city, with tanks taking up positions in the town centre and snipers deploying on rooftops, witnesses said.

“We’ve been listening to live ammunition. Some snipers are working as well, but we don’t know from where,” a resident of Deraa told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

“The snipers are on all the roofs. I’m now on my stomach, on the ground – I am really in a panicked situation. The city is quite in danger.”

Witnesses said soldiers began opening fire on civilians indiscriminately after arriving in Deraa, sparking panic in the streets.

However, the government insists the army was invited in to rid the town of gunmen.

Al Jazeera’s Rula Amin, reporting from Damascus, said the government has reiterated that it is there to protect residents.

“What we are hearing from activists in Damascus is fear and concern that what the government is trying to do is crush the protests to create fear among people to stay at home.

“Then [the government will] come up with its own plan of reforms, but people won’t be able to stand up and defy these reforms. That is how the government wants to move forward.”

She said the troop deployment was an “unprecedented” offensive against the wave of dissent that has swept the country since the uprising began on March 15.

Up until now, she said, security forces had cracked down in reaction to protests. But the flood of troops into Douma and Deraa came in the absence of any demonstrations.

“We’re seeing a different tactic, with security forces sweeping the towns,” she said, noting reports of house-to-house searches, arrests and random shooting coming from both towns.

Also for the first time, the military has become directly involved in quelling the uprising, much to the disappointment of opposition activists.

“They were hoping the army would not get involved,” our correspondent said. “They feel this is only the beginning of a very serious crackdown.”

However, one activist told Al Jazeera that some army officers have defected to fight alongside the people of Deraa against the government.

Two members stepped down from the provincial council in Deraa. The resignations came a day after two legislators and a religious leader from Deraa broke with the government in disgust over the killings.

Protesters gunned down

Meanwhile, in the coastal town of Jableh, where several protesters were gunned down on Sunday, witnesses said security forces in camouflage uniforms – some with their faces covered – and masked armed men dressed in black were roaming the town’s streets.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syrian rights group, said on Monday that at least 13 people had been killed in Jableh since Sunday’s crackdown began.

The country has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted access to trouble spots since the uprising began, making it nearly impossible to get independent assessments.

Syria has also closed all border crossings on its southern frontier with Jordan as the crackdown intensifies, a security official told Al Jazeera.

Syrian intellectuals have expressed their outrage over the violence, with a declaration on Monday signed by 102 writers and exiles from all the country’s main sects.

“We condemn the violent, oppressive practices of the Syrian regime against the protesters and mourn the martyrs of the uprising,” they said.

President Assad is also coming under increased foreign pressure to stop the deadly crackdown.

France, Britain, Germany and Portugal have all urged the UN Security Council to condemn the government’s violent action against demonstrators, and the United States is considering imposing new sanctions.

Report: CIA chief held secret talks on Syria in Turkey – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Ankara-based newspaper says Leon Panetta spent five days in Turkish capital reviewing recent unrest sweeping through Arab nations, mulling possible regime change in Syria

Ynet

United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Chief Leon Panetta reportedly held a secret visit to Turkey lately, the Ankara-based Turkish daily Sabah reported.

Talks included planning for a possible regime change in Syria and ensuring the safety of the Assad family, the paper said.

Panetta reportedly set up a camp in the Turkish capital for five days in order to discuss the uprisings in Arab countries with top Turkish officials.

Panetta is rumored to have met with head of the Turkish Intelligence Organization (MIT), members of the government and officials from the General Staff.

MIT chief Hakan Fidan was sent to Syria to meet Syrian President Bashar Assad by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month.

The talks also touched on the fighting in Libya, Turkish-Israeli relations, intelligence-sharing in Iraq, cooperation in Afghanistan and the fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, Sabah said.

Sabah’s claim that Panneta’s talks included planning for possible regime change in Syria and ensuring the safety of the Assad family, were not corroborated by any other source.

Why Syria isn’t likely to see an Islamist takeover.

  There’s a bit of a mystery surrounding events in Syria. First, who is the opposition? Second, what will happen?

Unlike in Egypt, where there is the threat and power of Islamists, Syria may well be a different case. Make no mistake, there’s a possibility of an Islamist takeover and an ethnic conflict in Syria, but a number of factors suggest otherwise.

First, ironically, in Syria, as in Tunisia, the tough repression of radical Islamists by the regime has weakened those forces. It is easy to forget that Mubarak’s Egypt was a relatively tolerant country. The Muslim Brotherhood was allowed to operate, spread its propaganda, build a large membership, and control institutions. In Syria, there was a bloody suppression of the Brotherhood in the 1980s. Islamists there are a lot less organized.

Second, and this might seem a paradox, Islamists in Egypt opposed the regime but the Syrian government enjoyed their support. While the dictatorship in Syria is nominally secular – and was strongly so in earlier decades – President Bashar al-Assad courted Islamists with his foreign policy. After all, his government has been strongly anti-American (though many American officials, journalists, and analysts did not seem to notice), anti-Israel, allied with Iran and supportive of Hamas and Hezbollah and of the terrorist insurgents in Iraq. What’s there for an Islamist not to like? Indeed, the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood declared a few years ago that it was not permissible to oppose the Assad regime because of these policies.

At home, the regime promoted an Islamism that it hoped would support the status quo. While some of these post-Brotherhood preachers might be itching to go for an Islamist revolution, they seem to be hesitating both because they are suspicious of the antiregime opposition and think Assad might well win.

No doubt, there are protesters who want to fight Israel and America. But then, why not just support the reign of the Assad regime? In fact, why not denounce the protesters as CIA and Mossad agents trying to subvert the revolutionary Islamists’ best friend in the Arabic-speaking world?

Third, Syria is a very diverse country. While Egypt is about 90 percent Sunni Muslim, the figure for Syria is about 60 percent. There are Alawites, Christians, Druse, and Kurds, of which only the Kurds are Sunnis and they have a lot of nationalist feeling against the regime.

Fourth, the Sunni Muslims, the constituency for revolutionary Islamism, also provide a large part of the middle class, secular-oriented, pro-democracy movement, thus providing a strong alternative leadership. Consider that Islamism has never made big inroads within the Sunni Muslim community of Lebanon. The parallel is far from exact but gives a sense of that situation.

Fifth, my sense is that, in Syria, there is a stronger pro-democratic middle class and a relatively more urbanized population. Having lived under a dictatorship that used Islamism to stay in power – like Iran but unlike Egypt – people are more skeptical of that doctrine.

I don’t mean to suggest that Islamists are unimportant and might not emerge as leading forces, but, roughly speaking, I would bet that while the level of support for Islamism in Egypt is at around 30% – and has a tremendous capacity for growth – the equivalent number for Syria is about 15% and is naturally limited by the size of the community.

As to what will happen, there will come a moment of truth. One sign of that would be the eruption of serious demonstrations in Damascus. Another would be if inter-communal strife began or if there was any real sign of a split within the army.

Remember that all the Arab regimes have a three-level priority of response.

Level 1: Wait out the protests in the hope that they will go away.

Level 2: Respond with a mixture of repression and promises.

Level 3: Go to heavy repression, including killing civilians in order to destroy the protests and intimidate people from participating.

The shah’s Iran in 1978, as well as Egypt and Tunisia in 2011, did not go from Level 2 to Level 3 because large elements in the elite did not want to do so. In contrast, in Iran, everyone knew that the regime would not hesitate to go to Level 3.

The moment of truth on this point has not yet come for Syria. When it does, the regime will either respond ruthlessly, indifferent to international reaction, or will lose its nerve. All of the nonsense about Bashar as a reformer or about the existence of an alleged “old guard” will disintegrate real fast.

Does Bashar have the killer instinct like dear old dad, or is he just a wimpy eye doctor? Assad means lion in Arabic, and Bashar will either have to bite and scratch or be quickly perceived as a cowardly cub. And that would be fatal.

There’s no third alternative. If he falters, the demonstrations will grow bigger very quickly. Would the army, and especially the elite Alawite-dominated units, step in for him and take over? Possibly.

For the moment, though, the case for cheering on and helping the Syrian revolution is stronger than that of Libya by far. But by the same token, its prospects are poorer than in Egypt or Tunisia precisely because those states were more moderate than the ruthless, radical Syrian regime.

The writer is director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center (www.gloria-center.org) and editor of Middle East Review of International Affairs Journal and Turkish Studies. He blogs at http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com

Bahrain expels Iran diplomat; Tehran threatens retaliation.

  MANAMA – Bahrain has ordered the expulsion of an Iranian diplomat for alleged links to a spy ring in fellow Gulf Arab state Kuwait, state media said, in a further deterioration of relations with Tehran.

Relations between Shi’ite Iran and Gulf Arab states have nosedived since Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates sent troops into the island state, a Sunni Muslim monarchy ruling a Shi’ite majority, to end weeks of pro-democracy protests.

Bahrain has accused the Islamic Republic of fomenting Shi’ite unrest.

A statement on the Bahrain News Agency late on Monday said the foreign ministry had summoned Iranian charge d’affaires Mehdi Islami to inform him that diplomat Hojjatullah Rahmani had 72 hours to leave “based on his link to the spy cell in Kuwait.”

“Bahrain calls on Iran to desist from these serious violations of standards of international relations which are a threat to the security and stability of the region,” it said.

This month Kuwait expelled three Iranian diplomats for involvement in an alleged spy ring, prompting Tehran to order three Kuwaiti diplomats to leave Iran.

That was after a Kuwaiti court sentenced two Iranians and a Kuwaiti to death in March for involvement in espionage.

Bahrain, a US ally that hosts the US Fifth Fleet, has also begun the trial of two Iranians and a Bahraini on charges of spying for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Iran, which once claimed sovereignty over Bahrain, complained to the United Nations over the recent crackdown that has continued with the arrests of hundreds of activists and deaths of some in police custody.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Iran may take “retaliatory measures”, Iranian media reported.

“The latest move by the Bahraini Foreign Ministry is against the two countries’ good neighborly relations and not based on realities,” he was quoted as saying.

Witnesses: Mass arrests and gunfire in the streets as Syria crackdown continues – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Persistent gunfire comes a day after Syrian tanks and snipers launched a deadly raid on Daraa where the uprising in Syria started over a month ago.

By The Associated Press

Gunfire reverberated in the streets and dead bodies still lay on the pavements Tuesday in Daraa, the southern Syrian city at the heart of the uprising against President Bashar Assad, residents said, in a sign that the regime’s brutal crackdown continued unabated.

Also Tuesday, a Syrian human rights group said authorities detained dozens across the country, mainly in several Damascus suburbs and in the northern coastal city of Jabla.

	Syrian women carrying a banner in Arabic that reads “the women of Daraya want an end to the siege,” southwest of Damascus, Syria, April 25, 2011.
	Photo by: AP

The developments came a day after the Syrian army, backed by tanks and snipers, launched a deadly raid on Daraa, where the uprising in Syria started over a month ago. Monday’s pre-dawn raid left at least 11 dead in the southern city.

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, couldn’t provide a precise figure for those arrested in Tuesday’s sweeps. He said the group had little news about Daraa since it was difficult to get through after authorities cut mobile telephone service in the city.

A Daraa resident told The Associated Press on Tuesday dead bodies were still in the streets because no one has been able to remove them.

“We are being subjected to a massacre,” the man screamed over the telephone as cracks of gunfire reverberated in the background. “Children are being killed. We have been without electricity for three days, we have no water.”

The man, who spoke over a Jordanian mobile phone, said Syrian special forces were in the streets of the city. He added that Daraa, an impoverished city near the border with Jordan, was bombed by tanks.

A relentless crackdown since mid-March has killed more than 350 people across Syria, with 120 alone dying over the weekend, rights groups said. But that has only emboldened protesters who started their revolt – inspired by uprisings in the Arab world – with calls for modest reforms but are now increasingly demanding Assad’s downfall.

The witness spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Syria has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted access to trouble spots since the uprising began, making it almost impossible to verify the dramatic events shaking one of the most authoritarian, anti-Western regimes in the Arab world.

Daraa, a drought-parched region of 300,000 in the south, has seen some of the worst bloodshed over the past five weeks as the uprising gained momentum. Recently, the city has absorbed many rural migrants who can no longer farm after years of drought.

The uprising was touched off by the arrest of teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall.

The attack on Daraa was by far the biggest in scope and firepower. Video purportedly shot by activists showed tanks rolling through streets and grassy fields with soldiers on foot jogging behind them.

State-run television quoted a military source as saying army units entered the city to bring security answering the pleas for help by residents of Daraa.

As the Syrian government stepped up its crackdown, the U.S. State Department urged Americans to defer all travel to Syria and advised those already in the country to leave while commercial transportation is still available. It also ordered some nonessential U.S. embassy staff and the families of all embassy personnel to leave Syria. It said the embassy would remain open for limited services.

Syria has a pivotal role in most of the flashpoint issues of the Middle East – from the Arab-Israeli peace process to Iran’s widening influence. Instability has thrown into disarray the U.S. push for engagement with Damascus, part of Washington’s hopes to peel the country away from Hamas, Hezbollah and Tehran.

Syria steps up attacks on protesters in Daraa; 18 killed – Arab News.

In this citizen journalism image made on a mobile phone and acquired by the Associated Press, Syrian women seek an end to the siege violence against protesters during a rally in Daraya, southwest of Damascus, on Monday. (AP)

1 of 2

US treads warily in Syria, considers sanctions | Top AP Stories | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle.

By MATTHEW LEE Associated Press © 2011 The Associated Press

April 25, 2011, 10:48PM

WASHINGTON — Despite a ruthless crackdown on pro-reform demonstrators, there is no international appetite for a warlike approach to Syria — a crucial Mideast playmaker with ties to Iran and a say in any eventual Arab peace with Israel.

In contrast with the quick international decision to launch an air campaign in nearby Libya, the United States is responding cautiously to mounting civilian deaths in Syria, preparing steps such as slapping financial penalties on Syrian leaders.

As violence escalated anew on Monday, the White House stepped up its condemnation of President Bashar Assad’s regime, but stopped well short of demanding the ouster of a leader some U.S. Democrats had considered a potential reformer and peace broker.

U.S. officials said Washington has begun drawing up targeted sanctions against Assad, his family and inner circle to boost pressure on them to halt the repression. Meanwhile, the U.S. also was conferring with European countries and with the United Nations about options for Syria, where more than 350 people have been killed in weeks of protests and government attempts to quell them.

Thousands of soldiers backed by tanks poured Monday into the city where the five-week-old uprising began, opening fire indiscriminately on civilians before dawn and killing at least 11 people, witnesses said. Bodies were scattered in the streets. Widespread arrests — often of men along with their families — appear to be an attempt to intimidate protesters and set an example for the rest of the country.

The offensive was planned in detail with electricity, water and mobile phone services cut off and knife-wielding security agents conducted house-to-house sweeps.

Late Monday the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning, advising Americans to avoid traveling to Syria. Those in the country to should leave as soon as possible, while commercial transportation is still available, the warning stated. Certain nonessential personnel in the U.S. Embassy in Damascus have been ordered to leave, along with the family of embassy staff. The Embassy would remain open for limited services, the warning stated.

President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan voiced their concern Monday during a telephone call over what the White House called “the Syrian government’s unacceptable use of violence against its own people.”

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney deplored the latest developments in Syria and said that sanctions against the Assad regime were a possible response “to make clear to the Syrian government that we believe it needs to cease and desist from the violence it’s been perpetrating against its own citizens.”

“Syria already is under some significant sanctions by the United States, but we’re looking at other means to increase the pressure on the regime and the Syrian government in a targeted way,” Carney said.

He declined to say whether Assad had lost the support of his people, saying “it is up to the people of Syria to decide who its leader should be. That’s what we believe.”

Assad appears dug in and prepared to risk international condemnation in order to squash dissent. He faces little danger of invasion or attack from outside his borders, largely because Syria’s neighbors and Western powers fear the consequences of war or the fall of the Assads after four decades of iron rule. And unlike in Libya, there is little evidence of an organized rebel military faction that could take on Assad’s forces with help from outsiders.

And unlike in Libya, and even in Egypt, where a longtime ruler fell earlier this spring, what happens in Syria is likely to have a direct effect on Israel, the main U.S. ally in the Middle East. The crackdown in Syria has ignited debate over whether Israel’s interests would be better served by the survival of the Syrian leader or the end of the one of the most despotic regimes in the Middle East.

The deadly bloodshed in Syria is increasingly unnerving Israeli leaders, who are suddenly confronting the possibility of regime change in the neighboring country after years of relative stability.

Israel and its U.S. backers do not want to be seen as opposing the forces of reform sweeping the region — which have toppled autocratic rulers in Egypt and Tunisia and weakened those in Yemen, Libya, Jordan and Bahrain — particularly if they deliver a blow to Israel’s archenemy, Iran.

But although Syria is despised in Israel for its close alliance with Iran and support for the Iranian proxies Hamas and Hezbollah, the Syrian leadership has meticulously enforced quiet along the countries’ shared border and has expressed willingness in the past to talk peace with Israel. There is widespread worry in Israel and Washington that if Assad does not survive, any successor could be far more extreme, Islamist and belligerent.

Syria has multiple sectarian divisions, largely kept in check under Assad’s heavy hand and his regime’s secular ideology. Assad and the ruling elite belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The majority of the population is Sunni Muslim.

The Syrian uprising began in mid-March, touched off by the arrest of teenagers in Daraa who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall. But the relentless crackdowns have only emboldened protesters, who started with calls for modest reforms but are now increasingly demanding Assad’s downfall.

New U.S. penalties would likely involve asset freezes and travel bans on Assad, members of his family and senior regime officials. Syria already is subject to numerous penalties as it is deemed a “state sponsor of terrorism” by the State Department. The new sanctions being considered would target specific individuals accused of ordering or committing human rights abuses, a U.S. official said.

Similar sanctions were crafted for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his family and top aides. But a closer model for the probable Syria sanctions would be the penalties the administration put in place against senior Iranian officials for human rights abuses in the aftermath of disputed elections in 2009, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations.

In Obama’s phone call with Turkey’s Erdogan, both leaders specifically reiterated their insistence that Gadhafi must step down and depart Libya, according to a summary of their conversation provided by the White House. Illustrating the different approach to Syria, the White House summary did not even mention Assad by name.

The official said that sanctions are expected to be announced sometime soon, once Obama has signed an executive order authorizing them. The official could not specific about the timing but acknowledged an urgency to act and noted that calls for sanctions to be imposed quickly have been growing as Assad’s crackdown on protesters has intensified.

Obama’s national security team discussed possible sanctions Friday during a meeting of the No. 2 officials at the Departments of state, defense, the National Security Council and intelligence agencies.

Also under consideration is a televised statement by Obama condemning the violence, the official said. The White House on Friday released a written statement in Obama’s name demanding that “this outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now.” But Obama’s top aides believe an on-camera reaction from the president might carry more weight.

“The Syrian people should certainly be respected, their rights should be respected, they should not be attacked, they should not be killed … we call for processes of reform,” Carney said. He argued that there were numerous differences between the situation in Syria and the one in Libya, where the U.S. called for Gadhafi’s exit and, with United Nations backing, launched airstrikes and sorties aimed at protecting civilians and enforcing a no-fly zone.

The administration’s move toward targeted sanctions suggests Obama has all but abandoned efforts to engage the Syrian leadership and gently encourage reform and changes in its policies toward Iran and Israel.

Since he took office in 2009, Obama tried to engage Assad’s government and promote reforms. The administration welcomed Turkey’s efforts to push backdoor peace talks between Syria and Israel and, over congressional opposition, pointedly returned an ambassador to Damascus in order to restore high-level contacts.

Carney maintained that even though Syria’s government has ignored U.S. calls to stop the recent bloodshed, placing a U.S. ambassador in Damascus has proven useful “precisely because we can speak very clearly in this case regarding our opposition and concern” about the government’s actions.

The U.S. could yank its ambassador, a powerful but symbolic step, but sanctions would probably come first.

Syria is believed to arm Hezbollah, the Lebanese guerrilla group that fired thousands of rockets into Israel during a month-long war in 2006. Syria also houses the headquarters of Hamas, a violently anti-Israel Islamic group that has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and rocket attacks from its Gaza Strip stronghold. Last month, Israel’s navy seized a ship carrying weapons that it said were sent by Iran and Syria to Hamas.

Aside from some air battles in 1982, Israel and Syria have not gone to war since 1973. Syria has not responded to direct attacks on its soil widely attributed to Israel, including a 2007 airstrike on a suspected nuclear reactor or the assassination of a top Lebanese guerrilla the following year.

Syria also has engaged in multiple rounds of peace talks, most recently in 2008. Although these talks have not yielded an agreement, their repeated failure has led to nothing worse than a continued chill. Syria has demanded that Israel relinquish the Golan Heights, a strategic overlook that it captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War.

___

Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.