Activists show mass graves found in Syria

[Ropey]

Two videos posted by activists on YouTube showed decaying bodies being dug up from a pit in Daraa.

Dissident Ammar Qurabi said people in Daraa have reported finding four burial sites in their region in recent days, including two mass graves in the city itself. Since March 15, the area has been the flash point of a pro-democracy movement against Assad, whose family has been in power for 40 years.

Last month, Daraa came under siege when security forces occupied the area with army tanks. Human Rights Watch says the government has killed as many as 1,000 people.

Images of unrest in Syria

"We discovered 34 bodies, mostly male, scattered in the fields. Most were killed by a bullet or shrapnel during the military raid about five days ago," said Qurabi, head of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria.

Seven bodies were later discovered at a different location, he said. Residents found the grave because of the smell.

More bodies were dug up on a hill, he said. They were members of the family of Abdallah Abdel Aziz Abou Zaid, a local man, and among them were four of his children.

"The bodies of an unknown Bedouin woman and her child were also found there," Qurabi said.

The allegations could not be verified; Syrian authorities have banned foreign journalists from the country.

After the graves were discovered, Syrian authorities quickly cordoned off the area and confiscated witnesses' mobile phones before retrieving the bodies, Qurabi said.

Activists say mass graves found in Syria - USATODAY.com

Assad is a serial killer of his own people.

 

[Jos]

Yet they dont give a link to the supposed video's and I cant find them on youtube

From the link

"This information is totally false," the Interior Ministry said in a statement issued by SANA, Syria's official news agency.

The statement said the reports were part of a campaign of "incitement" against Syria.

Alternative sites make no mention of this "story":
http://english.aljazeera.net/category/person/ammar-qurabi
The person mentioned, Ammar Qurabi lives in Egypt, a long way from Syria

Ammar Qurabi, an exile in Egypt who heads Syria's National Organization for Human Rights,

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wor...an_seaside_city_of_latakia.html#ixzz1MgeBYn2j

 

[Ropey]

Pakistan had Bin laden supported and guarded as they paid the Taliban to kill their own police in order to keep up the American funding.

Sneaky little devils. Syrians are no different. They beg from both sides while attacking one to further the prospects of the other.

 

[Ropey]

The European Union has imposed sanctions including a visa ban and an asset freeze on 13 Syrian officials and relatives of Assad. The U.K. summoned Syrian Ambassador Sami Khiyami to the Foreign Office in London last week and said EU countries will take further sanctions “targeted at the highest levels of the regime” if the violence doesn’t stop. The U.S. has applied sanctions against Syrian officials.

In addition to the mass grave, the bodies of 34 people killed by government forces over the past five days were found in Jassem and Inkhel, Qurabi said. The villages are part of the Daraa governorate. The authorities have said they were chasing Muslim militants and “terrorist elements” in the area.

Mass Grave for Protesters Discovered in Syria, Activist Ammar Qurabi Says - Bloomberg

To contact the reporter on this story: Massoud A. Derhally in Beirut, Lebanon, at [email protected].

 

[waltky]

Assad may lose support of military...

Syrian Army deserter: 'We were ordered to shoot on the people'
June 13, 2011 - Darwish Mohammed Fidou deserted his unit after he was given orders to fire directly on civilians. His story bolsters growing reports of dissent within Syria's military.

Amid the gathering human toll of Syria's three-month rebellion, a rare interview with one deserting soldier may appear little more than a footnote. But the saga of Darwish Mohammed Fidou helps explain why already some 1,300 Syrians have died and an estimated 10,000 have fled the violence to Turkey and Lebanon.

Mr. Fidou was part of a military unit ordered to fire on protesters in the city of Homs, who refused and then deserted, taking part in antiregime protests in the northwest town of Jisr al-Shughur. As he escaped the violence there last week, he says he witnessed soldiers shooting at each other, an Army divided further by orders to kill demonstrators. “My heart is broken to watch my people die, the Syrian people die, to see such a thing as this,” says Fidou. “It was the same when I had orders to shoot on the people – it broke my heart.”

'Cows killed, harvest burnt'

Syria has effectively banned all foreign reporters from the country, making it impossible to verify Fidou's claims. But already 7,000 Syrians have crossed the border into Turkey in the past week, fleeing before a Syrian military advance to avenge the deaths of 120 police and security forces in Jisr al-Shughur. The town fell with little resistance, and refugees and Turks living along the border say the offensive has spread to a string of villages around the town.

“The cows were killed, the harvest was burnt,” says a young Turkish man who gave only his first name of Ali, who has traveled with a video camera to the contested areas in recent days and witnessed the onslaught. His footage has been running on Turkish news channels.

In one house with “blood all over the walls,” says Ali, “we couldn’t breathe” because of the stench of bodies of three men, eight women, and three boys. Syrian military helicopters spotted Ali’s group, and one member was killed – struck in the head by rounds from the helicopter – as they ran for seven hours trying to hide. He witnessed first the tanks firing upon the houses, “then the Army troops were coming and were burning everything.”

Reservist called up for duty, ordered to shoot people

See also:

Syria's regime cracks down hard. But is the military on board?
June 12, 2011 - Syrian troops are attacking the northern town of Jisr al-Shughur, which has a history of rebellion against the regime. Increasingly, however, there are reports of dissent within the military.

Syrian troops backed by tanks and helicopters pressed ahead Sunday with a two-pronged attack against a rebellious town in northern Syria, amid reports of clashes and the sound of explosions and gunfire. But amid conflicting reports about the violence it is still unclear who the Syrian forces are supposed to be fighting in Jisr al-Shughur, a mainly Sunni-populated town of 45,000 residents.

The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says it is targeting “armed criminal groups” inside the town responsible for killing 120 soldiers and security personnel June 6 in a series of ambushes and attacks. The opposition does not dispute the casualty figure but says the fighting was between troops loyal to the regime and army deserters who sided with local protesters. Foreign journalists are banned in Syria and determining the truth is almost impossible.

According to accounts from opposition sources, most soldiers who are alleged to have deserted are now hiding under the protection of protesters rather than directing their weapons against the security forces. If army deserters are not shooting back and if the majority of Jisr al-Shughur’s population has indeed fled as reports suggest, it would appear to add credence to the regime’s claims that armed groups are roaming the area.

This is not the first time Syrian troops has come down hard in Jisr al-Shughur, which along with the surrounding area in northern Syria has a history of rebellion against the Assad regime. In March 1980, an anti-regime demonstration turned deadly when protesters burned down the headquarters of the ruling Baath Party and raided a nearby army barracks, stealing weapons and ammunition.

Even if the security forces are not facing armed gangs, as claimed by the regime, the crackdown this weekend – including the alleged destruction of property and crops – could be intended as a demonstration of force and retribution to serve as a warning to other potentially rebellious areas.

State media report arrest of armed gangs

 

[Free Thinker]

For the sake of a better and more Just world...Assad must be taken out!

 

[waltky]

Assad oppression of Syrian people continues...

UN Agency Says 10,000 Refugees “Disappeared” from Syrian Camp
Tuesday, August 16th, 2011 - A U.N. agency says as many as 10,000 Palestinians have “disappeared” after fleeing a refugee camp in the Syrian port city of Latakia, where government security forces have carried out days of deadly attacks.

U.N. Relief and Works Agency Spokesman Christopher Gunness told VOA Tuesday the refugees fled the camp Monday under heavy gunfire and that the agency has “no idea” where they are. He called for urgent access to the camp, which houses a health clinic, schools and youth programs, and said humanitarian workers need to tend to the sick, the dying and the needy. The agency has not received a response to its request for access, but Gunness says it hopes to hear in the next day or two. Monday was the third day of an assault against anti-government dissent in Latakia, where Syrian rights activists say security forces have killed nearly 30 people since Saturday.

Meanwhile, Turkey has warned neighboring Syria that its military operations against civilians “must end immediately and unconditionally.” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Monday this “is our final word to the Syrian authorities.” In Houla, a town near the city of Homs, activists said Syrian troops backed by tanks carried out raids and arrests Monday. Latakia and Homs are among the Syrian cities that have seen large protests demanding the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Turkish foreign minister visited President Assad in Damascus last week to urge an end to his brutal crackdown against the anti-government uprising. Mr. Davutoglu said Monday that unless the bloodshed ends immediately, there will nothing left to discuss with Syrian authorities. Activists and witnesses say Syrian gunboats joined tanks in firing on Latakia Sunday, a new element in the government's crackdown that has been escalating since mid-March.

Syrian officials have given a different account of events in Latakia. They deny the city was shelled from the sea, and say that naval vessels were on routine duty to protect the coast and prevent arms smuggling. On Sunday, Syria's state-run news agency said law enforcement personnel were pursuing gunmen who it said were terrorizing residents of Latakia. Details of events in Syria are difficult to verify independently because the government allows very few foreign news reporters into the country and restricts their movements. Rights groups and activists say at least 1,700 people have been killed since the start of the government's crackdown.

Source

See also:

US: Syria Crackdown on Dissent is 'Abhorrent,' 'Repulsive'
August 15, 2011 - The Obama administration said Monday that it is pressing countries to cut financial ties with Syria in the face if what the State Department calls an “abhorrent and repulsive” crackdown on dissent. The monitoring group Human Rights Watch said it is time for the Arab League to push for an end to the violence.

Officials here say there is little more the United States can do in terms of economic pressure on Syria, and that U.S. diplomacy is focused on pressing countries that still trade with or sell arms to the Damascus government to end those relationships. The comments came as the focus of the Syrian crackdown moved to the coastal city of Latakia, where residents and human rights groups say government forces shelled southern neighborhoods and a Palestinian refugee camp, forcing thousands of people to flee.

State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland said there were “inconsistencies” in reports that Syrian naval vessels had shelled parts of Latakia. But she said armored vehicles were in the city “firing on innocents” and that it is clear that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is not responsive to growing calls to end to the violence. “This is a guy who is not hearing, as the secretary [of state] called it, the increasing chorus of condemnation from the international community, which is why we are working hard now with our partners around the world to increase the pressure - political and economic. But we share the concern around the world that this is a man who is slaughtering innocents, again and again and again,” Nuland said.

Nuland said that despite five months of violence against demonstrators, there still are countries buying Syrian oil and gas and that have not renounced arms sales to Syria. She said the United States is working to strengthen curbs on the Damascus government to insure that “the message from the international community has teeth.” Arab governments have been reluctant to criticize Damascus. But Jordan's Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit on Monday called for a quick end to Syrian military operations and urgent, concrete action on political reforms.

In a letter to Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi, Human Rights Watch urged the pan-Arab organization to hold an emergency meeting on Syria and press the Damascus government to admit a U.N.-mandated fact-finding committee, journalists and independent observers. The New York-based monitoring group said that to remain relevant, the Arab League needs to break from its history as a grouping of “autocrats who support each others crimes,” and support the interests of member countries’ citizens.

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