Eight Syrian protesters killed by troops

SYRIAN TROOPS killed at least eight protesters yesterday while thousands rallied in support of a newly formed united opposition front, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Several fatalities were in Douma near the capital and the central city of Homs while veteran dissident Riad Seif was beaten outside a mosque in central Damascus.

Troops were also said to have cordoned off mosques in the flashpoint town of Rastan to prevent demonstrations following communal prayers yesterday. The town was recaptured mid-week by loyalist troops after five days of fighting with army defectors.

Opposition activists called for rallies to adopt the slogan, “the Syrian National Council is our representative, mine, yours and that of all Syrians.” The council (SNC), formed in Istanbul last weekend, is an umbrella organisation established to unite disparate opposition groups in the country and the diaspora.

The council’s charter calls for the overthrow of the regime rather than dialogue.

The SNC is scheduled to meet today in Cairo to form an administrative body and elect members and a chairman, according to interim chief Burhan Ghalyoun, a professor at the Sorbonne.

The council consists of representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Supreme Council of the Revolution and Syria-based local co-ordinating committees (which organise demonstrations), as well as independent activists.

The SNC will have 230 seats, 210 to be distributed to existing members and 20 to groups which may seek to join later. Seats are distributed on a ratio of six for internal dissidents to four for exiles.

Dr Ghalyoun said the council was “against foreign military intervention . . . if such intervention would pose a threat to the country’s sovereignty”. This position amounts to a shift from flat rejection of any external military involvement and reflects opposition fears that government forces could eventually crush their movement.

In Geneva, Syria’s deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad told the UN Human Rights Council that his government was under attack from “terrorists” armed by neighbouring countries. He said 1,400 civilians had been killed by “criminals” and dismissed the UN estimate of 2,900 fatalities as a result of the crackdown on protests.

Mr Mekdad appeared before the council ahead of next week’s release of a report on the situation in Syria.

Seven Syrian soldiers and five defectors or civilians were killed on Thursday in clashes in the north near the Turkish border, activists said. Syrian troops also crossed the eastern border into Lebanon and shot a Syrian farmer dead.

Four people were slain earlier in the week during skirmishes between government forces and deserters, prompting analysts to argue that the unrest which began with mass protests in mid-March was being transformed into an armed revolt.

This is true only to a limited extent. Col Riad al-Assad, a dissident army officer who has taken refuge in Turkey, has claimed he has created an opposition “Syrian Free Army” of 10,000 defectors but there have been no major pitched battles to prove his claim.

Instead, bands of deserters, armed with grenade launchers and automatic weapons, have either mounted hit-and-run operations against troops and security forces or have taken control of a town or city and staged defensive actions against concentrations of loyalist troops and tanks.

Since these engagements have been serial rather than coincidental, loyalist units have been able to retake cities that have fallen to rebel soldiers after a few days of fighting.

The situation in Syria remains deadlocked. The opposition, now better organised and more united, cannot oust the government while it cannot halt protests or prevent attacks by armed dissidents.

On the diplomatic front, Russian president Dimitry Medvedev has rejected foreign military intervention. He said the Assad regime should “go” if it fails to carry out essential reforms but said “this decision should not be taken by Nato or certain European countries, it should be taken by the Syrian people and the Syrian leadership”.