U.N. Security Council may tackle alleged abuse as fear grows in Syria >From Rima Maktabi, CNN
April 26, 2011 -- Updated 1102 GMT (1902 HKT) Click to play Obama mulls next steps in Syria STORY HIGHLIGHTS * NEW: Witness: Bodies are discreetly laid to rest because people fear walking the streets * Witnesses report a gruesome crackdown by soldiers in Daraa * The Syrian government says Daraa citizens wanted the army to stop "terrorist groups" * Protesters want freedom, regime reform, and the ability to create independent political parties (CNN) -- The United Nations Security Council could take up the issue of alleged human rights abuses in Syria on Tuesday, a day after witnesses said thousands of troops invaded the heart of the country's recent protests and carried out a bloody crackdown. A U.N. diplomat said a draft Security Council statement sponsored by France, Portugal and the United Kingdom condemned the violence and called for restraint. It also supported Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's call for an independent investigation on the matter. A final statement could be agreed upon by Tuesday, the diplomat said. As the international community considers its next steps, fear permeated the western Syrian city of Jableh on Tuesday. A witness there said security forces have set up checkpoints, inspecting identification papers and arresting people. Map: Unrest in Syria Bloody new crackdown in Syria Pre-dawn raid in Daraa fuels fear, anger Vanishing in Syria RELATED TOPICS * Syria * Bashar Assad * War and Conflict The witness said the bodies of 13 people who died Sunday were discreetly taken to their resting places because people were afraid to walk in the town. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said at least 13 civilians were killed in Jableh by gunfire from security forces on Sunday. Businesses and schools in Jableh were closed Tuesday, the witness said. In the Damascus suburb of Douma, one witness compared the city to a "prison." Witnesses said security forces were arresting people throughout the city, including three hospital doctors. A witness in Douma said Tuesday that security forces have set up sandbag barricades around and inside the city. Checkpoints around the city were being manned with heavy machine guns, while those inside the city are manned by lighter weapons, the witness said. He said shops were closed and parents are afraid to send their children to school. The reports of trepidation follow a day of gruesome violence at the hands of Army and security forces, witnesses said. Between 4,000 and 5,000 members of the Army and security forces equipped with tanks raided the southern city of Daraa Monday and began shooting indiscriminately, in some cases shooting into homes as people slept, according to an activist with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The activist said even people were confirmed killed in the Daraa, where Syria's current unrest started. Other witnesses described a trail of dead bodies in the streets. "Ambulances could not help the injured because of the snipers and army officers who are deployed all over the city," one witness in Daraa said. "They shoot on anything that moves." A military official -- the second commander in a brigade that entered Daraa -- defected over the violence, according to the activist with the human rights group and another opposition source. The commander was then arrested, the activist said. The Syrian government had a different account of events in Daraa. "In response to the calls for help from the citizens of Daraa and their appeal to the Armed Forces as to intervene and put an end to the operations of killings, vandalism, and horrifying (actions) by extremist terrorist groups, some army units entered ... Daraa to restore tranquility, security and normal life," state-run news agency SANA reported, citing an official army source. Several members of such groups were arrested and "huge quantities of weapons and ammunitions" were confiscated, the government said, adding that confrontations "caused the martyrdom" of some members of the army and security forces as well as deaths and injuries among "some members of the extremist terrorist groups." CNN has not been allowed into Syria and is unable to verify independently the witness accounts or government reports. The United States is preparing new sanctions against members of President Bashar al-Assad's regime who are overseeing the violent crackdown, according to several senior U.S. officials with knowledge of the action. A new Treasury Department executive order targeting senior officials accused of human rights abuses would involve an asset freeze and travel ban, as well as prohibiting them from doing business in the United States. "The Syrian people's call for freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and the ability to freely choose their leaders must be heard," Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said in a statement Monday. The U.S. State Department also issued a statement Monday urging U.S. citizens to defer any travel to Syria. "U.S. citizens in Syria are advised to depart while commercial transportation is readily available," the statement said. The department also ordered all eligible family members of U.S. government employees as well as certain non-emergency personnel to depart Syria. U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay issued a statement saying Syria has offered "paper reforms followed by violent crackdowns on protesters." Her office has received a list naming 76 people killed on Friday during evidently peaceful marches, but the number may be much higher, Pillay's office said. The office is also looking into reports of 13 people killed in funeral processions Saturday. Protests that have taken place across Syria began in Daraa last month following a violent crackdown by security forces on peaceful demonstrators protesting the arrests of youths who scribbled anti-government graffiti. Protesters have asked for freedom and regime reform, and public discontent with al-Assad's government has mounted. Activists also want the easing of the ruling Baath Party's power and a law that would permit the establishment of independent political parties. In recent days, witnesses in Syria had told CNN they want the security apparatus, which includes Syria's secret intelligence operatives, dissolved, and would rather see the army take to the streets. They believed the army would be friendlier to protesters, as was the case in an Egyptian uprising earlier this year, but video from Syria on Monday showed what appeared to be members of the army carrying out al-Assad's crackdown. Monday afternoon, Jordan Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh confirmed to CNN that Syrian authorities have closed off the border with Jordan. Because Daraa lies on the border, sealing it makes it difficult for besieged residents to flee the military offensive. The Syrian government has accused protesters of shooting at security forces, while opposition activists and demonstrators accuse the government of killing protesters. The Syrian government and security forces have been largely silent to international media over the past month and generally speak only through state media. SANA reported Monday that "seven martyrs who were killed in Nawa near Daraa by armed criminal groups were laid to rest." So were two "martyrs" killed in Moathamia, in the Damascus countryside, the report said, citing "an official source at the General Command of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces." A military doctor "said that the martyrs' bodies had signs of mutilation that defies all humane principles, and that the firearm injuries were made to the head, torso, back and limbs of the victims, and that the bodies were mutilated with knives and sharp implements afterwards," the report said. In a statement Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he condemned "any violence and killings perpetuated by Syrian security forces." "This violent repression must stop," Hague said. "President Assad should order his authorities to show restraint and to respond to the legitimate demands of his people with immediate and genuine reform, not with brutal repression." CNN's Elise Labott and Raja Razek contributed to this report. ------------------------------------ Post message: prole...@egroups.com Subscribe : proletar-subscr...@egroups.com Unsubscribe : proletar-unsubscr...@egroups.com List owner : proletar-ow...@egroups.com Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! 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