Incident

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Incident

Syrians flee town as troops approach

08 June 2011 23:37 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Turkey called on Syria on Wednesday to rein in violence against civilians and promised not to turn away refugees as some residents of a Syrian border town headed for the Turkish frontier in fear of a military assault, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
"Syria should change its attitude toward civilians and should take its attitude to a more tolerant level as soon as possible," said Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who has had warm relations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Assad’s government has accused armed bands of killing scores of its security men in Jisr al-Shughour and has vowed to send in the army to carry out their "national duty to restore security."
Accounts of the violence that began in the hilly town of Jisr al-Shughour Friday vary, with officials saying gunmen ambushed troops and residents reporting an army mutiny.
The bloodshed has triggered international alarm that Syria may be entering an even more violent phase after three months of popular unrest that has cost more than 1,000 lives.
France and Britain, allies in the war against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, will put forward a U.N. Security Council resolution Wednesday condemning Assad’s crackdown on protesters, British Prime Minister David Cameron said.
"And if anyone votes against that resolution or tries to veto it, that should be on their conscience," Cameron said.
The draft resolution condemns the repression and demands humanitarian access, Cameron said in London. But it was unclear how Russia, which holds a veto, would vote. Citing NATO’s inconclusive bombing of Tripoli, Moscow says it will not back intervention against Syria in the Security Council.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, at U.N. headquarters in New York, said it was "a question of days, maybe hours" before the Council voted on a resolution condemning Syria. A draft circulated last month does not propose military intervention.
At Jisr al-Shughour, home to tens of thousands of people, residents said they were taking cover and bracing for attacks. Some 120 men, women and children fled into Turkey overnight to seek refuge, the Anatolian news agency said.
Erdogan, who has distanced himself from Assad since the Syrian uprising began, said Turkey would not "close its doors" to refugees fleeing Syria.
Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops had deployed in villages around Jisr al-Shughour, including Ariha to the east and on the main Latakia highway to the southwest.
Residents said about 40 tanks and armored vehicles were about 7 km (4 miles) from Jisr al-Shughour, which was now mostly empty, save for youth protesters.
Ali Haj Abrahim said his son Bilal, who had volunteered to help the wounded at the weekend, was shot by security forces on Sunday on the outskirts of Jisr al-Shoughour.
"Two machinegun rounds tore through his chest and his left shoulder. He was 26 with a geography degree, married four months ago. His wife is pregnant," Haj Ibrahim said.
"We are not taking condolences. We consider his martyrdom a wedding for the defense of freedom," he told Reuters.
Abdulrahman said there were protests against Assad on Tuesday in suburbs of Damascus, including Harasta and Douma, and in Deir Al-Zor and Qamishli in the northeast. Pro-Assad rallies were also held in some of the capital’s suburbs.
The government has expelled independent journalists, making it hard to determine clearly what is happening in the country.
Despite enthusiasm for pro-democracy movements that have unseated presidents in Tunisia and Egypt, few Western leaders -- let alone their autocratic Arab partners -- have shown a willingness to intervene in Syria, an Iranian ally whose volatile mix of ethnic and religious groups sits astride a web of regional conflicts.
FOREIGN PRESSURE
Assad’s family and supporters from the minority Alawite sect have dominated Syria since his late father seized power 41 years ago. He has responded with promises of reform, and a crackdown on protesters in towns across the country. His officials accuse radical Islamists of fomenting a violent, armed revolt.
Neighboring countries, including Israel and Turkey, worry that a collapse into chaos in Syria could set off sectarian conflict and the emergence of violent, radical Islamists, as happened in neighboring Iraq after the U.S. invasion of 2003.
But Western powers are keeping up the pressure on Assad, with U.S. President Barack Obama urging him to lead a transition to democracy or "get out of the way."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, in some of London’s strongest language yet against the 45-year-old leader, on Tuesday told parliament: "President Assad is losing legitimacy and should reform or step aside." He said European governments were looking at further sanctions.
Russia appears opposed to a general condemnation of Assad, let alone authorizing military action against him.
"The prospect of a U.N. Security Council resolution that’s along the same lines as Resolution 1973 on Libya will not be supported by my country ... The use of force, as Libya shows, does not provide answers," said Russia’s envoy to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov.
Syria’s ambassador to France Lamia Chakkour denied a report Tuesday that she had resigned in protest at the government’s repression of protests, saying it was part of a campaign of disinformation against Damascus.