Syrian opposition figures on Wednesday warned embattled President Bashar al-Assad his regime will collapse if he fails to usher in democracy, as troops kept their grip on the flashpoint town of Dara’a.
Five European Union countries, meanwhile, are summoning Syria’s ambassadors over the violent crackdown on protesters, France said on Wednesday, saying it was joined in the move by Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain.
According to rights activists, the military assault on Dara’a, 100km south of Damascus, has killed more than 30 people since Monday.
As the military assault on the agricultural town near the Jordan border entered its third day, the newly formed National Initiative for Change (NIC) said a democratic transition will “safeguard the nation from falling into a period of violence, chaos and civil war”.
“Either the ruling regime leads itself in a peaceful transition towards democracy … or it will go through a process of popular protests that will evolve into a massive and grassroots revolution that will break down the regime and carry Syria through a period of transition after a wave of violence and instability,” a NIC statement said.
“If the Syrian president does not wish to be recorded in history as a leader of this transition period, there is no alternative left for Syrians except to move forward along the same path as did the Tunisians, Egyptians and Libyans before them,” added NIC, an umbrella group of more than 150 opposition activists in Syria and abroad.
Wave of uprising
A wave of uprising in the Arab world since December has already toppled the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt, while it has led to a fiery rebellion in Libya.
Syria has been rocked by massive pro-democracy protests since mid-March in which at least 400 people have been killed, according to human rights activists.
Protesters have taken to streets even after al-Assad scrapped nearly five decades of draconian emergency rule and abolished the repressive State Security Court on Thursday last week.
In what activists decried as a military solution by al-Assad’s regime, 3 000 to 5 000 troops backed by tanks and snipers swept into Dara’a on Monday.
An activist in the town said security forces shot dead at least six people on Tuesday, following the deaths of 25 the previous day.
The army said troops entered Dara’a “in response to calls for help” from citizens to rid them of “extremist terrorist groups” behind a spate of killings and sabotage.
Late on Tuesday, state news agency Sana reported the army “continued to chase armed groups and extremists in Dara’a who attacked military positions, cut off roads and forced passers-by to stop so they could hit them”.
Farther north in the protest hub of Banias, thousands took to the streets on Tuesday, chanting “freedom, freedom.”
Security forces also deployed in the northern Damascus suburb of Douma, where they set up identity checkpoints, a witness told Agence France-Presse (AFP). By Tuesday afternoon, Douma had become a “ghost town”, one resident told AFP by telephone.
‘Grave concern’
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was watching events in Syria “with increasingly grave concern”, after briefing the 15-nation Security Council about the crisis in the Arab world on Tuesday.
The UN Human Rights Council said it will hold a special session on Syria on Friday after a request filed by Washington, and 10 European states, as well as Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Senegal and Zambia.
Germany on Wednesday said it would strongly back European Union sanctions against Syria.
Government spokesperson Steffen Seibert told a regular media briefing that Berlin condemned “severe human rights violations” by Syrian forces.
“It is being examined, also based on a German initiative, whether it is possible to agree EU sanctions against the Syrian leadership,” he said. “We would strongly support such sanctions.”
Seibert said measures could include restricting the travel of top Syrian officials and seizing their assets, as well as cutting off economic assistance from the EU.
The Syrian Human Rights Organisation called for UN intervention.
“Syrian security forces fired on unarmed protesters killing 400 people at least since the revolution was launched in March,” it said in a statement. “This barbaric behaviour is aimed at keeping the regime in place at the expense of civilians who are killed … The Security Council must convene rapidly to stop the bloodshed.” — AFP