Three soldiers die in attack in north Syria

REBEL FIGHTERS killed three soldiers in an attack on a unit in the north of Syria near the Turkish border, opposition activists reported yesterday. The state news agency, Sana, said “several terrorists” has been slain in that area and that an army engineer was killed by a bomb in the Aleppo region.

According to opposition activists, three districts in the central city of Homs was shelled by the army and demonstrations erupted round the country, including in the Kafr Soussa district of Damascus, where security forces broke up a rally.

The theme for this week’s post-Friday Muslim prayer protests was “Damascus Here We Come”. This constitutes a threat to create chaos in the capital, which has largely escaped the unrest afflicting other cities.

As UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan prepared to fly to Beijing and Moscow for talks on the Syrian crisis, EU foreign ministers agreed to impose further sanctions on Syria.

The EU previously responded to the government crackdown on dissidents with a prohibition on Syrian oil exports to European customers and on dealings with Syria’s central bank, leading companies and state organisations.

British foreign secretary, William Hague, observed that it was “important that we tighten the diplomatic stranglehold” on the Syrian regime as its behaviour was “murdering and totally unacceptable in the eyes of the world”.

While he said embargoes must be used to pile pressure on the regime without harming the people, sanctions have already plunged the country into recession, caused the currency to decline in value, sent prices of basic goods soaring, and reduced oil export revenues that pay the salaries of civil servants.

Meeting in Geneva, the UN Human Rights Council adopted an EU-sponsored resolution condemning “widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms perpetrated by the Syrian authorities”, notably summary executions, torture and abuse of detainees. The resolution was passed by a vote of 41 to three – Russia, China and Cuba – with two abstentions and one absentee.

Amnesty International urged Mr Annan to charge monitors assigned to oversee implementation of a Syrian ceasefire to also record “human rights violations and abuses, including crimes against humanity”.

Since the Syrian government has refused “entry to human rights investigators”, Mr Annan can make up for their absence by including such experts in his mission. “The Syrian government’s main objective throughout the year-long uprising has appeared to be crushing opposition at almost any cost in human life and dignity,” Amnesty said.