WarSclerotic

Syrian forces kill civilian, arrest leading Alawite.

  AMMAN – Syrian forces shot dead at least one civilian on Sunday in the coastal town of Jabla following a pro-democracy protest the previous night, a rights campaigner in contact with Jabla said.

In the restive city of Homs in central Syria, security forces arrested Mansour al-Ali, a prominent figure from the minority ruling Alawite sect, after he spoke out against the shooting by security forces of protesters demanding democratic change, another activist in Homs told Reuters.

Thousands of Syrians Sunday called for the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad at a funeral for protesters killed by security forces in the southern town of Nawa, a witness said.

“Long live Syria. Down with Bashar!” the mourners chanted, their calls audible in a telephone call during the funeral. “Leave, leave. The people want the overthrow of the regime”.

At least 15 people were killed on Saturday at mass funerals for the slain protesters, and rights campaigners said secret police raided homes near Damascus just after midnight on Sunday, arresting activists in the area.

Human Rights Watch is calling on the United Nations to investigate Syria for its violent crackdown on the protesters that left at least 112 dead over the weekend, the Associated Press reported on Sunday.

The New York-based group called on both the US and European Union to impose sanctions on those officials responsible for the violence.

JPost.com staff contributed to this report.

MESS Report / Assad regime is indeed threatened by Syria protests – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

If Assad does not use the same murderous force against the protesters that his father Hafez Assad used against tens of thousands of members of the Muslim Brotherhood in the city of Hama 30 years ago, he will not survive.

By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel

After weekend riots in Syria saw more than 100 dead, the highest number of casualties since the beginning of the unrest in the country, President Bashar Assad’s regime seems to be increasingly unstable. The more film clips that leak, documenting the killing of demonstrators, the more questions arise about Assad’s ability to stop the wave of protest against him.

The iron fist policy of the Syrian security forces seems to have failed. Protest is growing gradually stronger and is spreading to other cities, in quite a precise imitation of the successful revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, and of the one that slid into civil war in Libya.

	A pro-Syrian President Bashar Assad holds his portrait, Beirut, April 12, 2011.
	Photo by: AP

Assad may feel he has no choice. If he does not use the same murderous force against the protesters that his father Hafez Assad used against tens of thousands of members of the Muslim Brotherhood in the city of Hama 30 years ago, he will not survive. But times have changed. There were no cell-phone clips of the massacre at Hama, and the stormy funerals of the protesters only bring more violent clashes and bloodshed.

At Friday demonstrations the Syrian security forces fired indiscriminately at protesters. The film clips posted on the Internet document bursts of gunfire and dozens of injured in most of Syria’s cities. Yesterday’s funerals saw bigger crowds and more victims of the security forces’ fire.

Two members of the Syrian parliament have resigned in response to the rioting, not opposition lawmakers, but rather members of the ruling Ba’ath party. They both hail from Dara’a, the city where the demonstrations against Assad started. They were joined by Dara’a’s mufti, Rizq Abdulrahman Abazeid, who is a government official for all intents and purposes, who announced his resignation on Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera has joined efforts to bring down the regime, broadcasting pictures of the killing of protesters on the outskirts of Damascus, Homs, Dara’a and other places to every home in Syria.

From the Israeli perspective, there is a certain irony in Damascus’ declaring the need to seal Syria’s borders against weapons smuggling by opponents of the regime, as Syria is responsible for much of the weapon-smuggling to Hezbollah, Hamas and other terror groups.

The international community is also gradually joining the condemnation of Assad. President Barack Obama issued a statement over the weekend accusing Iran of helping Assad violently suppress the protesters.

Nevertheless, two factors are still working in Assad’s favor. First, despite the demonstrations on Damascus’ outskirts, the capital itself has seen only one small demonstration so far.

Second, senior army officers are not known to have defected ‏(as happened in Yemen and Libya‏), and troops are not refusing en masse to fire at demonstrators. But as protests continue, this could change.

Is there a link between the danger to Assad’s rule and recent actions by Hezbollah, which is apparently planning a major attack against an Israeli target abroad? When Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq and found himself in trouble internationally, intelligence sources said a provocation against Israel or the United States would come to change the picture.

Assad probably cannot allow himself a similar move right now. A Hezbollah attack could lead to a clash on the northern border. Assad has enough problems without actively participating in creating a new danger of that type.

And yet, the danger of a terror attack was real enough for senior defense officials to call the military correspondents of the three television channels on Thursday, which then opened their main new broadcasts with updated warnings about Hezbollah attacks. The move was probably intended not only to warn Israelis going abroad for the holiday, but also to let Hezbollah know its plans had been uncovered.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah swore to avenge the death of his friend, Imad Mughniyeh, in February 2008. Perhaps despite the dangers of implementing an attack, first and foremost a clash on the northern border at a time inconvenient for both Damascus and Teheran, the pressure on Nasrallah from within his organization to act could be a more significant factor.

Assad is %u2019World%u2019s Most Dangerous Man%u2019 says Joel Brinkley – Defense/Middle East – Israel News – Israel National News.

Syrian President Bashar Assad is the world’s “most dangerous man,” according to Pulitzer Prize winner journalist Joel Brinkley, who added that the Obama government has “delusional views” of the dictator.

Writing for Tribune Media Services, Brinkley said Assad overshadows Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for being dangerous because the “duplicitous dictator…has duped presidents and prime ministers into believing he is their indispensable friend – even as he facilitates the killing of American troops, collects weapons of mass destruction and serves as the supply master for terrorist groups.”

After the Muslim uprisings spread to Syria last month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton labeled Assad a “reformer,” a remark that Brinkley branded as “absurd.”

“Even now, as his own people have at last taken to the streets to challenge his rule, prompting him to shoot and kill scores of them, Washington’s criticism remains equivocal,” Brinkley wrote. “A few days ago, President Obama remarked, ‘I strongly condemn the abhorrent violence committed” by the Syrian government but then added, ‘I also condemn any use of violence by protesters.’ So both sides are equal offenders?”

The love affair between Syria and the United States, which sees Assad as the key to a regional peace and the eventual possessor of the strategic Golan Heights in Israel, goes back for decades.

Then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once remarked, “There can be no war without Egypt and no peace without Syria,” Brinkley recalled, and added, “Last month, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said she told Assad, ‘The road to Damascus is the road to peace.’”

Brinkley said the Obama administration’s views of Assad are “delusional” when considering that “since the Iraq war’s beginning, [Assad] has been the best friend of Islamic extremists transiting into Iraq. They’ve crossed the Syrian border by the busload, in full view of U.S. spy satellites.

“He sells missiles to Hizbullah, the terrorist group in southern Lebanon that is the avowed enemy of Israel and the United States.

“Khaled Mashaal, the Hamas leader, actually lives in Damascus and does his murderous business openly from a storefront.

American intelligence shows that Syria has a vast store of chemical weapons. Assad pursued a secret nuclear-weapons development program until Israel bombed it in 2007. More recent intelligence suggests that he is back at it, though this time the program is better hidden.”

Brinkley added his name to countless analysts who have questioned why President Obama backed the ouster of American ally Hosni Mubarak while trying to work with Assad, “who has openly worked against Washington.”

The journalist pointed out that the day after President Obama sent a new ambassador to Damascus, Assad hosted a state visit by Ahmadinejad. “The timing was no accident,” Brinkley concluded.

‘Gulf nations concerned with increased Egypt-Iran ties’.

  The member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are concerned with Egypt’s attempts to strengthen ties with Iran, Kuwaiti newspaper al Kabas reported on Sunday.

According to the report, several Gulf states have contacted Egypt’s ruling Supreme Military Council recently to discuss Egypt’s position in the region following February’s ouster of Hosni Mubarak.

The reported quoted sources from the Gulf nations as saying attempts have been made to invest in Egypt and help the country financially, but Cairo has continued to call for tightening of relations with Iran.

Last week, Egypt denied a report that Iran had appointed an ambassador to Cairo, ending 30 years without diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Ties between the countries were severed in 1980 following Iran’s Islamic revolution and Egypt’s recognition of Israel.

There have been signs of warming relations since mass protests deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in February.

Egypt’s foreign minister said earlier this month Cairo was ready to re-establish diplomatic ties, signaling a shift in Iran policy since the fall of Mubarak.

In February, two Iranian warships passed through Egypt’s Suez Canal after approval from the military rulers in Cairo. Israel called Iran’s move a provocation.

Reuters contributed to this report

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Special Report April 24, 2011, 8:29 AM (GMT+02:00)

Syria plunged in bloodbath

Saturday, April 23 saw the constantly mounting uprising against the Assad regime finally reaching the Syrian capital Damascus where debkafile reports 300,000 – 15 percent of the city’s dwellers – took the streets shouting: “Bashar Assad you are a traitor!” That day too the Syrian ruler unleashed his security forces for the harshest crackdown yet in order to break the back of the five-week civil uprising. The result: 350 dead, tripling the number of Friday’s bloodbath and thousands of injured.

Early Sunday, secret service thugs hauled thousands of protesters out of their homes. They broke down doors in the Harasta and Ghouta districts of Damascus, dragged their victims out and dumped them on covered trucks which drove off to unknown destinations. Ghouta is the ancient garden quarter of Damascus.
The growing number of injured are condemned to being treated privately or not at all. The authorities have commandeered ambulances to prevent them reaching hospital and hospital wards are raided by security agents who eitheir kill the wounded or arrest them.
debkafile‘s military and intelligence sources reported that Assad will decide finally at noon Sunday, April 24, whether to muster all 11 divisions of his army and let them loose on the uprising. We reported Friday that the embattled Syrian president had ordered the troops to start moving into the cities the next day. Our sources later reported that he reversed his order at the last minute, reluctant to throw his last card into his desperate bid for survival for fear of a fatal backlash. Some units had already left their bases and remain parked outside the targeted cities awaiting orders to go in.
As the unrest against his rule gains ground, the Syrian president’s options are shrinking. Small numbers of security forces can no longer venture into some of the more troubled areas of the country where armed protesters reign unless accompanied by large-scale strength with massive fire power.
debkafile reported Friday night:
Syrian army units were already sighted heading towards the cities, joined for the first time by troops normally on duty on at the Syrian-Israel border.
debkafile‘s military sources disclose their assignments:

Corps No. 1 was given responsibility for the capital Damascus and its outlying towns and districts;

Corps No. 2 was to take charge of central Syria and the towns of Aleppo, Homs and Hama;

Corps No. 3 was to spread out in the south and Jebel Druze.

It was the last straw for Assad when Friday, the strategic town of Katana west of Damascus was drawn into the protest movement and rallied against his regime. Katana houses the main bases of the Syrian armored corps, which is part of the 7th Division, and serves as divisional logistical administration center. Its population is made up mostly of the officers, men and civilian personnel serving at those bases.

Having Katana turn against the regime finally persuaded its leaders to throw every resource it had into crushing the uprising.

For the Syrian ruler, deploying the entire army is a wild gamble because more than 75 percent of Syria’s 220,000-strong rank and file are Sunni Muslims, Kurds and Druzes and therefore drawn from ethnic and religious groups long repressed by the Alawite-dominated regime.  Uniformed troops might well flout orders to shoot live rounds into crowds of protesters who are members of their community or even family. It would start the break-up of the Syrian army amid large-scale defections of officers and men.

’12 killed in Syrian protests; lawmakers, cleric resign’.

  At least 12 people were killed during a funeral for pro-democracy protesters in Syria, human rights group Sawasiah said Saturday. Syrian forces shot dead three people in the Damascus district of Barzeh on Saturday at a mass funeral of pro-democracy protesters killed a day earlier, a local human rights campaigner said.

Witnesses said mourners were chanting “People want the fall of the regime” and “Bashar, you coward, take your soldiers to Golan,” in reference to the Golan Heights where the frontier with Israel has been quiet since a 1974 ceasefire.

Two Syrian lawmakers on Saturday told al-Jazeera television that they were resigning in protest of the killing of demonstrators by regime security forces.

“After I have failed to protect my sons from the treacherous shots there is no point in me staying in parliament. I announce now that I am stepping down,” lawmaker Naser al-Hariri said.

Lawmaker Khalil al-Rifaei joined his colleague Hariri, both representatives of the troubled city of Deraa, and announced his resignation on air, saying it was because of the killings of pro-democracy protesters.

“Security solutions do not work,” Rifaei said.

Hours later, Deraa’s government-appointed mufti, or Muslim preacher, joined the lawmakers in announcing his resignation.

Being assigned to give fatwas (religious edicts), I submit my resignation as a result of the fall of victims and martyrs by police fire,” Rezq Abdulrahman Abazeid told al-Jazeera television. “When they announce at high levels that (protesters) will not be shot at, we see that the truth on the ground is not like that,” he said.

Abazeid is the first Syrian religious leader to resign in connection with the current violent suppression of protest.

Security forces open fire on funeral processions

Witnesses in Douma said that security opened fire at a funeral procession, killing at least four people.

According to the witnesses, over 50,000 people were participating in the mass funeral in the Douma suburb when security forces began shooting.

“I saw three people falling on the ground, one of them had blood gushing from his mouth. I could not tell whether he was hit in the stomach or the chest,” one of the witnesses said.

A second witness said pall bearers abandoned coffins they were carrying and ran for cover when the funeral came under fire.

In another funeral near the town of Izra’a in southern Syria, two witnesses said at least three people were killed when security forces opened fire.

They said hundreds of mourners, dispersed by live ammunition outside Izra’a, were shot at when they approached a checkpoint at the Sheikh Maskeen road juncture as they headed back to the southern border city of Deraa.

Earlier Saturday, tens of thousands of chanting Syrians demanded the “overthrow of the regime” during the funerals for scores of people killed by security forces in the country’s bloodiest pro-democracy protests, witnesses said.

Funerals were held in Damascus and at least one of its suburbs and in the southern village of Izra’a, where mourners also chanted “[Syrian President] Bashar Assad, you traitor. Long live Syria, down with Bashar.”

A group of activists coordinating the demonstrations said regular forces and gunman loyal to Assad shot dead at least 88 civilians on Friday. Rights groups had earlier put the death toll at a minimum of 70.

Friday’s violence brings the death toll to about 300, according to rights activists, since the unrest which broke out on March 18 in the southern city of Deraa.

Protests swept the country on Friday, from the Mediterranean city of Banias to the eastern cities of Deir al-Zor and Qamishli. In Damascus, security forces fired teargas to disperse 2,000 protesters in the district of Midan.

Syrian television said eight people were killed and 28 wounded, including army personnel, in attacks by armed groups in Izra’a. It said an armed group had attacked a military base in the Damascus suburb of Muadhamiya.

The Local Coordination Committees activist group sent Reuters a list with names of 88 people classified by region. The group said they were killed in areas stretching from the port city of Latakia to Homs, Hama, Damascus and the southern village of Izra’a.

UN, US, France condemn violence against demonstrators

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday condemned violence against Syrian citizens by authorities and called for a “transparent and independent” inquiry into the death of the protesters.

“The secretary-general condemns the ongoing violence against peaceful demonstrators in Syria, and calls for it to stop immediately,” said UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.

US President Barack Obama condemned Friday’s violence and accused Assad of seeking help from Iran.

“This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now,” Obama said in a statement. “Instead of listening to their own people, President Assad is blaming outsiders while seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria’s citizens….”

France’s Foreign Ministry said Paris was “deeply concerned”.

“Syrian authorities must give up the use of violence against their citizens. We again call on them to commit without delay to an inclusive political dialogue and to achieve the reforms legitimately demanded by the Syrian people.”

Those killed were among tens of thousands of people who have taken to the streets of cities and rural areas across Syria calling for the overthrow of the regime, demands which have hardened over recent weeks.

Friday’s protests went ahead despite Assad’s decision this week to lift the country’s hated emergency law, in place since his Baath Party seized power 48 years ago.

A statement by the Local Coordination Committees said the end of emergency law was futile without the release of thousands of political prisoners — most held without trial — and the dismantling of the security apparatus.

In their first joint statement since the protests erupted last month, the activists said the abolition of the Baath Party’s monopoly on power and the establishment of a democratic political system was central to ending repression in Syria.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 23, 2011, 12:39 AM (GMT+02:00)

Massacre in Syria

Bashar Assad faces the final showdown for his survival Saturday, April 23 after Friday saw the bloodiest day in the month-long protest movement against his regime: At least 90 civilians were killed and hundreds wounded by live gunshots, as well as scores of people missing. In his second statement in 24 hours, US President Barack Obama condemned the Syrian regime’s “outrageous use of violence” against the protesters saying “it must end now.” While blaming outsiders, President Assad seeks Iranian assistance in repressing Syria’s citizens,” said the US president.

In neither statement was the Syrian president urged to step down, even after the decision he took Friday to muster the entire army for crushing the surging uprising, which is expected to explode with greater fury during the funerals Saturday. Under new orders from Damascus, Syrian troops have already quit their posts on the Israeli border to reinforce units deployed in the cities.
Assad has his back to the wall: Armed protesters are barring his security forces from entering broad regions of the country unless they are accompanied by large-scale, military strength with massive fire power.

Pajamas Media » The Truth About Iran’s Support of Arab Terrorists.

Syria: Death toll rises to 300 as more protests expected.

  AMMAN – Scores of pro-democracy protesters killed by security forces will be buried across Syria in funerals expected to attract large crowds on Saturday and fuel mounting defiance against authoritarian rule.

A group of activists coordinating the demonstrations said regular forces and gunman loyal to President Bashar al-Assad shot dead at least 88 civilians on Friday. Rights groups had earlier put the death toll at a minimum of 70.

Aided by his family and a pervasive security apparatus, Assad, 45, has absolute power, having ignored demands to transform the anachronistic autocratic system he inherited when he succeeded his late father, Preident Hafez al-Assad, in 2000.

Friday’s violence brings the death toll to about 300, according to rights activists, since the unrest which broke out on March 18 in the southern city of Deraa.

Protests swept the country on Friday, from the Mediterranean city of Banias to the eastern cities of Deir al-Zor and Qamishli. In Damascus, security forces fired teargas to disperse 2,000 protesters in the district of Midan.

Amnesty International said Syrian authorities “have again responded to peaceful calls for change with bullets and batons”.

“They must immediately halt their attacks on peaceful protesters and instead allow Syrians to gather freely as international law demands,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director.

Syrian television said eight people were killed and 28 wounded, including army personnel, in attacks by armed groups in Izra’a. It said an armed group had attacked a military base in the Damascus suburb of Muadhamiya.

The Local Coordination Committees activist group sent Reuters a list with names of 88 people classified by region. The group said they were killed in areas stretching from the port city of Latakia to Homs, Hama, Damascus and the southern village of Izra’a.

It was by far the bloodiest day yet in a month of demonstrations demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption in the country of 20 million people.

“The funerals will turn into vehement protests, like past funerals,” a Syrian human rights campaigner said.

“When you have security services who are thugs it is difficult to think that they will not shoot at the crowds. Another cycle of funerals and demonstrations is likely to follow,” the rights campaigner said from the Syrian capital.

Obama says Syria seeking Iran‘s help to quell protests

US President Barack Obama condemned Friday’s violence and accused Assad of seeking help from Iran.

“This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now,” Obama said in a statement. “Instead of listening to their own people, President Assad is blaming outsiders while seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria’s citizens….”

France’s Foreign Ministry said Paris was “deeply concerned”.

“Syrian authorities must give up the use of violence against their citizens. We again call on them to commit without delay to an inclusive political dialogue and to achieve the reforms legitimately demanded by the Syrian people.”

Those killed were among tens of thousands of people who have taken to the streets of cities and rural areas across Syria calling for the overthrow of the regime, demands which have hardened over recent weeks.

Friday’s protests went ahead despite Assad’s decision this week to lift the country’s hated emergency law, in place since his Baath Party seized power 48 years ago.

A statement by the Local Coordination Committees said the end of emergency law was futile without the release of thousands of political prisoners — most held without trial — and the dismantling of the security apparatus.

In their first joint statement since the protests erupted last month, the activists said the abolition of the Baath Party’s monopoly on power and the establishment of a democratic political system was central to ending repression in Syria.

Aided by his family and a pervasive security apparatus, Assad, 45, has absolute power, having ignored demands to transform the anachronistic autocratic system he inherited when he succeeded his late father, Preident Hafez al-Assad, in 2000.

Friday’s violence brings the death toll to about 300, according to rights activists, since the unrest which broke out on March 18 in the southern city of Deraa.

Protests swept the country on Friday, from the Mediterranean city of Banias to the eastern cities of Deir al-Zor and Qamishli. In Damascus, security forces fired teargas to disperse 2,000 protesters in the district of Midan.

Amnesty International said Syrian authorities “have again responded to peaceful calls for change with bullets and batons”.

“They must immediately halt their attacks on peaceful protesters and instead allow Syrians to gather freely as international law demands,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director.

Syrian television said eight people were killed and 28 wounded, including army personnel, in attacks by armed groups in Izra’a. It said an armed group had attacked a military base in the Damascus suburb of Muadhamiya.

Syrian funerals to turn into protests – World news – Mideast/N. Africa – msnbc.com.

Reuters:

AMMAN, Jordan — Scores of pro-democracy protesters killed by security forces will be buried across Syria in funerals expected to attract large crowds on Saturday and fuel mounting defiance against authoritarian rule.

A group of activists coordinating the demonstrations said regular forces and gunman loyal to President Bashar al-Assad shot dead at least 88 civilians on Friday. Rights groups had earlier put the death toll at a minimum of 70.

The Local Coordination Committees activist group sent Reuters a list with names of 88 people classified by region. The group said they were killed in areas stretching from the port city of Latakia to Homs, Hama, Damascus and the southern village of Izra’a.

It was by far the bloodiest day yet in a month of demonstrations demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption in the country of 20 million people.

“The funerals will turn into vehement protests, like past funerals,” a Syrian human rights campaigner said.

“When you have security services who are thugs it is difficult to think that they will not shoot at the crowds. Another cycle of funerals and demonstrations is likely to follow,” the rights campaigner said from the Syrian capital.

Story: Syrian forces fire on protesters; dozens reported killed in deadliest day of uprising

President Barack Obama condemned Friday’s violence and accused Assad of seeking help from Iran.

“This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now,” Obama said in a statement. “Instead of listening to their own people, President Assad is blaming outsiders while seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria’s citizens….”

France’s Foreign Ministry said Paris was “deeply concerned.”

“Syrian authorities must give up the use of violence against their citizens. We again call on them to commit without delay to an inclusive political dialogue and to achieve the reforms legitimately demanded by the Syrian people.”

Those killed were among tens of thousands of people who have taken to the streets of cities and rural areas across Syria calling for the overthrow of the regime, demands which have hardened over recent weeks.

Activists say Assad action not enough
Friday’s protests went ahead despite Assad’s decision this week to lift the country’s hated emergency law, in place since his Baath Party seized power 48 years ago.

A statement by the Local Coordination Committees said the end of emergency law was futile without the release of thousands of political prisoners — most held without trial — and the dismantling of the security apparatus.

In their first joint statement since the protests erupted last month, the activists said the abolition of the Baath Party’s monopoly on power and the establishment of a democratic political system was central to ending repression in Syria.

Aided by his family and a pervasive security apparatus, Assad, 45, has absolute power, having ignored demands to transform the anachronistic autocratic system he inherited when he succeeded his late father, Preident Hafez al-Assad, in 2000.

Friday’s violence brings the death toll to about 300, according to rights activists, since the unrest which broke out on March 18 in the southern city of Deraa.

Protests swept the country on Friday, from the Mediterranean city of Banias to the eastern cities of Deir al-Zor and Qamishli. In Damascus, security forces fired teargas to disperse 2,000 protesters in the district of Midan.

Amnesty International said Syrian authorities “have again responded to peaceful calls for change with bullets and batons.”

“They must immediately halt their attacks on peaceful protesters and instead allow Syrians to gather freely as international law demands,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director.

Syrian television said eight people were killed and 28 wounded, including army personnel, in attacks by armed groups in Izra’a. It said an armed group had attacked a military base in the Damascus suburb of Muadhamiya.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.