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Iran sends 'trainers' to crush Syrian protesters
_____
Kuwait Times - 29 May, 2011
Iran is sending 'trainers and advisers' to Syria to help crush anti-government
demonstrations threatening to topple Iran's most important ally in the region,
The Washington Post reported late Friday. The influx of Iranian manpower was
adding to a steady stream of aid from Tehran, the newspaper said, citing
unnamed US officials. That aid includes not only weapons and riot gear but also
sophisticated surveillance equipment that is helping Syrian authorities track
down opponents through their Face
book and Twitter accounts, the sources said.
Iranian-assisted computer surveillance is believed to have led to the arrests
of hundreds of Syrians seized from their homes in recent weeks, the paper said.
According to one diplomat and US officials, the Iranian military trainers are
being brought to Damascus to instruct Syrians in techniques Iran used against
the nation's "Green Movement"' in 2009, the Post reported. Officers from Iran's
notorious Quds Force have played a key role in Syria's crackdown since at least
mid-April, it said. US sanctions imposed against the Quds Force in April had
been intended as a warning to Iran to halt the practice, said the Post.
At least eight people were reported killed by security forces Friday as
pro-democracy protesters took to the streets in cities and towns across the
country after Muslim Friday prayers in defiance of a government crackdown.
The death toll by early evening was far lower than last Friday when at least 44
people were killed by security forces during similar protests. Since the revolt
in Syria erupted in mid-March, Friday protests have become a weekly ritual and
are widely seen as a barometer of whether activists are able to maintain
momentum despite the repression.
Meanwhile, Syrian security forces shot dead 12 demonstrators on Friday during
protests against Baath Party rule that erupted in 91 locations across Syria,
the Syrian National Organization for Human Rights said. "The authorities are
still pursuing the calculated course of using excessive violence and live
ammunition to confront mass demonstrations," the organization said in a
statement yesterday. Scores of people of all walks of life were also arrested
including a doctor, musician, and an amateur boxer, it said. It said the
killings occurred in rural districts around Damascus, in southern Syria, the
northwestern province of Idlib, the coast and the central city of Homs.
Activists on Friday had put the death toll at eight.
State television said nine people, including police and civilians, were killed
by armed groups on Friday. The official state news agency SANA also said
yesterday that customs officials seized 36 rifles in a truck coming from
Turkey. Authorities blame armed groups, Islamists and foreign agents for the
violence and say at least 120 soldiers and police have been killed since the
protests erupted in March. Rights groups estimate at least 1,000 civilians have
been killed by security forces, the army and gunmen loyal to President Bashar
Al-Assad over 10 weeks. They said 10,000 people have been arrested, with
beatings and torture a common tactic.
Leaders of the G8 powers meeting in France on Friday condemned the violence and
called on Damascus to respond to the Syrian people's "legitimate demands for
freedom." Washington and the European Union have already imposed sanctions
against Assad and other Syrian officials. But Russia and China have been more
reticent in denouncing Assad.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the bodies of seven
protesters killed on April 29 near the southern city of Deraa were handed to
their families yesterday, including two which it said showed marks of torture.
We have the testimony of hundreds who were tortured, including scores of
videos," Observatory Director Rami Abdel Rahman said by telephone from Britain.
Witness reports of the violence, and official accounts, are hard to verify
independently because Assad's government barred most international media from
the country not long after the start of the unrest, which was sparked by
democratic revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. The biggest demonstrations
typically occur on Fridays after Muslim prayers and they ha
ve also generally been the deadliest. But the bloodshed this week appeared to
be on a lesser scale than witnessed recently.
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