Assad admits to mistakes in response to protests

SYRIAN PRESIDENT Bashar al-Assad has admitted his security forces “made some mistakes” in dealing with initial anti-government protests and said “efforts were under way to prevent their recurrence”.

He offered this assurance during a meeting with deputy foreign ministers of UN Security Council members India, Brazil and South Africa who had travelled to Damascus to call for an “immediate end to all violence” in Syria.

According to a statement issued by the Indian UN mission, Dr Assad also “reassured the delegation of his commitment to the reform process. He said that political reforms were being finalised in consultation with the people of Syria and the national dialogue would continue to give shape to the new laws and to arrive at a suitable model for the economy.”

He said constitutional revisions would be completed by next February or March.

The visit of the delegation was particularly important to Dr Assad because these three countries, along with China and Russia, refused to agree to a council resolution condemning Syria’s suppression of the five-month revolt, compelling its western sponsors to accept a weaker presidential statement. Lebanon dissociated itself from this document.

US president Barack Obama did not, as expected, call for Dr Assad to resign but said Syria would be better off without him.

US UN envoy Susan Rice said Washington intends to increase pressure on Syria to halt its crackdown on protests, including providing “evidence of crimes” to anyone intending to investigate the regime’s conduct.

The US treasury department has imposed sanctions on the state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria; its Lebanon-based subsidiary, the Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank; and Syria’s largest mobile provider, Syriatel.

Meanwhile, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Syrian troops conducted operations in the restive northwestern town of Qusair near the Lebanese border, killing half a dozen people and wounding 19. The tanks and troops also moved into the town of Saraqeb on the Turkish border, detaining at least 100 people.

Opposition and rights activists say 1,700 people have been killed and 12,000 imprisoned during the rebellion, and that 3,000 have disappeared.