Syrians defy army and take to the streets again

SYRIANS took to the streets again yesterday following Muslim communal prayers, defying the military crack-down on protests and calling for regime change.

Marches reportedly took place in half a dozen cities and towns but a heavy troop presence smothered protests in restive suburbs of the capital, Damascus, and north of the commercial hub Aleppo where pro-government demonstrations have taken place this past week.

Opposition sources said at least 15 people had been killed in the day’s demonstrations.

The slogan for this week’s protests proposed by Syrian Revolu- tion 2011 – a Sweden-based Muslim Brotherhood administered Facebook page – was “Bashar [al-Assad] is no longer my president and his government no longer represents me.” Human rights activist Mustafa Osso said the armed forces had deployed along the northern border with Turkey, causing displaced Syrians to leave temporary shelters on the Syrian side and cross into Turkey. Some 1,500 were said to have boosted the total to 11,700 being accommodated in six tent camps administered by the Turkish Red Crescent Society.

The opposition says 1,400 people have been killed and 10,000 detained since mid-March when protests erupted in the southern town of Deraa near the Jordanian border. The Syrian authorities accuse Muslim militants and armed gangs of killing more than 200 police and security officers.

An ongoing army operation to seal the border has prompted US secretary of state Hillary Clinton to warn “Syrian forces [to] immediately end their attacks and their provocations that are not only now affecting their own citizens but [raising] the potential of border clashes.”

The Syrians “have to know what they’re doing ... this is not the first time they had a provocation that led the Turks to take action to protect their own interests,” she has stated. But analysts dismiss the possibility of clashes. Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been pursuing a good neighbour policy with all of Turkey’s neighbours and would not risk angering the Arabs, who are traditionally wary of Turkey, once the regional imperial power, and suspicious of its moderate Muslim fundamentalist government. Turkey would also not want to upset Syria’s ally, Iran.

Turkish foreign minister, Ahmad Davutoglu, said he had expressed to his Syrian counterpart Ankara’s “concerns and thoughts” about Syrian army operations near the border. He said he had urged Damascus to adopt reforms so that peace could be achieved.

The EU has announced it is freezing assets of and imposing a travel ban on three commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard accused of “providing equip- ment and support to help the Syrian regime suppress protests”.