Syrian Forces Kill Six Protesters as Assad Rejects Western Call to Leave
Assad Rejects Call to Leave
Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images
A young supporter holds a poster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Beirut.
A young supporter holds a poster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Beirut. Photographer: Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images
Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the threat of Western military action against Syria would be very "dangerous" as he rejected U.S. and European demands that he step down. Assad spoke yesterday in an interview on state television from Damascus. Linzie Janis reports on Bloomberg Television's "First Look." (Source: Bloomberg)
Syrian security forces killed at least eight protesters since yesterday as thousands took to the streets calling for President Bashar al-Assad to bow to demands, echoed by the U.S. and Europe, to quit office.
Two protesters were shot dead today during demonstrations by as many as 5,000 people in Homs, Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, and Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said by phone. A United Nations team visited Homs as part of a four-day mission to assess Syria’s humanitarian situation.
At least six protesters died yesterday in the governorates of Hama, Homs, Aleppo and the southern area of Daraa, where rallies against Assad’s rule began more than five months ago, Merhi and Qurabi said. Demonstrators also gathered yesterday in suburbs of the capital, Damascus, where gunfire erupted and the authorities carried out “wide-scale arrests,” Merhi said.
Assad, in an interview on state television from Damascus yesterday, rejected U.S. and European demands to step down and pledged to schedule parliamentary elections by February and review the constitution. He called the U.S. and European nations “colonialist” powers that want to violate Syria’s sovereignty.
“We don’t permit any country in the world, near or far, to interfere,” Assad said. “Any military action against Syria will have many more implications than they can bear.”
Freeze Assets
The U.S., Britain and France are preparing to ask the UN Security Council this week to freeze the foreign financial assets of Assad, a Western diplomat said. The measure would also bar foreign travel by the Syrian leader and call for an arms embargo on Syria, the diplomat said.
The three nations are planning to introduce the draft resolution that targets Assad and about five other government and military leaders, according to the diplomat, who spoke on condition of not being identified because the text hasn’t been made public.
The latest developments follow the killing of 40 protesters on Aug. 19 in a suburb of Damascus, Homs and Daraa and another 15 people the following day in Homs, according to Merhi and Qurabi. Assad told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Aug. 18 that security operations had stopped.
“It’s troubling that he has not kept his word,” Ban told reporters today in New York.
U.S. President Barack Obama, in a coordinated move with U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, issued a statement on Aug. 18 saying Assad should leave and let Syrians chart their own political future.
Broaden Sanctions
The EU followed a day later with an agreement to broaden sanctions against the regime, including preparing for a ban on the import of Syrian crude oil into the bloc.
Obama’s declaration was his first explicit call for Assad to give up power since the uprising started. He also signed an executive order freezing any Syrian government assets in the U.S. and banning the import of petroleum products of Syrian origin. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Syria earlier this month.
Faced with the most serious threat to his family’s 40-year rule, Assad has deployed tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and helicopters to crush the uprising that began after revolts ousted the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt and sparked a conflict in Libya.
Death Toll
At least 2,400 people have been killed since the protests started, according to Merhi’s and Qurabi’s organizations. The UN puts the death toll at more than 2,200. At least 500 members of the security forces have died, the government has said.
Assad, who succeeded his father as president after his death in 2000, said security has improved and that Syrian forces had foiled efforts to undermine Syria. He has blamed the protests on foreign-inspired plots. Anyone proven to have committed an offense against a Syrian citizen, whether civilian or military, will be held accountable, he said yesterday.
“Assad has lost credibility with the U.S., the Arab states and the Europeans,” Theodore Karasik, director of research at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, said by phone yesterday. “His commitment to reform is all talk.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Massoud A. Derhally in Beirut at mderhally@bloomberg.net; Bill Varner at the United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.
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