Syria unrest: Thousands march in Deraa

Yemen appeared to tip closer to all out civil war on Wednesday as government troops and opposition tribesmen battled to control key positions in the capital and foreign diplomats boarded planes to flee.

But a powerful general who defected to the opposition in March has continued to keep his troops on the sidelines, leaving open the question of whether the heavy fighting would be contained to areas of the capital, Sana, and several other cities, or whether it could engulf the country.

Around the heavily fortified headquarters of Yemen’s state-run television station in Sana, government forces fired shells at tribal fighters loyal to the family of Hamid al-Ahmar, the strongest tribal rival of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who clings to power in the face of months of protests and days of mounting chaos.

On Wednesday, Kuwait, a Gulf council member, recalled its diplomats from the country’s embassy in Sana because of the “deteriorated security situation in Yemen,” Kuwait’s state-run KUNA news agency reported. A day earlier, Italy said it had temporarily shut its embassy and withdrawn its staff. The United States Embassy remains open, but last week advised all American civilians to leave the country.

Violence flared again overnight in the Hasaba neighborhood of Sana, the scene of the most intense fighting between Ahmar forces and government troops, who renewed their pitched clashes after a brief cease-fire broke down late Monday. Tribesmen controlled large portions of the neighborhood on Wednesday, including many of the ministries and other government buildings there, though the government disputed claims that the Interior Ministry had been overrun.

Heavy casualties were reported in the capital, with estimates ranging as high as 41 killed from both government forces and Ahmar tribesmen. A spokesman for the Ahmar family put the tribal casualties at 10 dead and 31 wounded.

The government was “randomly” shelling the Hasaba area “from military camps at the mountains around the capital,” the spokesman, Abdul Qawi al-Qaisi, said.

South of the capital, the city of Taiz remained in a state of lockdown Wednesday with security forces and Republican Guards moving swiftly to disperse even the smallest gatherings in the streets, residents said.

The city had been the site of Yemen’s largest antigovernment sit-in until a deadly crackdown early this week by government forces and plainclothes gunmen cleared protesters from the square they had occupied since February. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had received reports that as many as 50 people died.

In the southern coastal city of Zinjibar, bodies lay in the streets, witness said, as Yemeni troops fought with Islamic militants who took control over the weekend.

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Shells struck Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's palace in Sanaa on Friday, wounding three senior officials, but a Yemeni official said Saleh was "well."

Fierce fighting engulfed the Yemeni capital, where residents cowered in their homes as explosions rocked the city.

Two Yemeni officials said Saleh escaped unhurt, but the prime minister, his deputy and the parliament speaker had been wounded in the attack, blamed by the government on tribesmen led by the al-Ahmar family. Four guards were reported killed.

Yemen has tipped swiftly toward civil war this week, with forces of the Hashed tribal confederation battling troops still loyal to Saleh in the capital and elsewhere.

More than 370 people have been killed, at least 155 of them in the last 10 days, since a popular uprising against Saleh's nearly 33 years in power began in January.

Heavy fighting also spread for the first time to the southern part of Sanaa, an area held by forces loyal to Saleh and possibly marking a turning point in the conflict.

Explosions were heard in the southern city of Taiz, where the United Nations has said it is investigating reports that 50 people have been killed since Sunday.

Two policemen were killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, medical officials said, after security forces fired warning shot earlier at protesters gathering for Friday prayers.

Worries are growing that Yemen, home to a branch of al Qaeda known as AQAP and next to the world's biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia, could implode and become a failed state that poses a risk to global oil supplies and security.

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Syrian troops pounded a central town with artillery and heavy machinegun fire Friday, killing at least two people in the latest onslaught as authorities cut off Internet service in several regions in an apparent move to prevent the uploading of videos of anti-regime demonstrations, activists said.

The Local Coordination Committees, which helps organize and document Syria's protests, says troops bombing Rastan also opened fire on residents fleeing the town. Friday's deaths bring the toll in Rastan and nearby Talbiseh to 74 killed since the attack started last Saturday.

The bombing came as many Syrians took to the streets across the country after Friday prayers. The opposition has called for nationwide rallies to commemorate the nearly 30 children killed by President Bashar Assad's regime during the uprising.

In the southern city of Daraa, where the uprising began 10 weeks ago, scores of people rallied in the city's old quarter, chanting "No dialogue with the killers of children," an activist said.

Human rights activist Mustafa Osso said Syrian security forces opened fire Friday at demonstrators in the southern village of Inkhil, but it was not clear if there were any casualties.

Osso also said that at least 5,000 people were demonstrating in the northeastern city of Qamishli, while about 10,000 protested in the village of Amouda. Osso added there were also protests in the Damascus suburbs of Daraya, Zabadani, Harasta and Douma.

Residents and activists also reported protests in the coastal city of Banias, the northeastern city of Deir el-Zour and the central Damascus neighborhood of Midan.

Video surfaced earlier this week on YouTube, Facebook and websites of Hamza al-Khatib, a 13-year-old boy whose tortured and mutilated body was returned to his family weeks after he disappeared during the protests.

The boy has since become a symbol to Syria's uprising and many people carried his posters during anti-regime rallies this week.

Rights group says more than 1,100 people have been killed since the revolt against Assad erupted in mid-March.

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Syrian tanks took up positions outside the city of Hama on Saturday, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets to mourn the deaths of at least 65 protesters gunned down by security forces there the day before.

The government’s violent crackdown against a three-month-old popular uprising continued, with helicopter gunships killing 10 people in a neighboring province and residents of Hama bracing for a military assault that would be the first on the city since the government bombed it in 1982, killing at least 10,000 people.

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Armed men killed 120 Syrian security forces and torched government buildings Monday in a northern region where troops have unleashed deadly assaults on protesters for days, Syria said. The government vowed to respond "decisively," hinting at an even more brutal crackdown by a regime known for ruthlessly crushing dissent.

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Syria's army on Friday launched a crackdown on "armed gangs" in the flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shughur, where authorities say 120 police and troops were massacred earlier in the week.

"Army units have started their mission to control Jisr al-Shughur and neighbouring villages and arrest the armed gangs," state television said, adding that the raid had been launched "at the request of residents."

Rights activists said that most of the 50,000 inhabitants of Jisr al-Shughur had fled -- many to neighbouring Turkey -- when tanks and troops began midweek converging on the northwestern town and that it was now largely deserted.

Opposition activists and various witnesses, however, say the deaths resulted from a mutiny by troops who refused orders to crack down on protesters.

State television also accused the armed groups of "photographing themselves dressed in military uniforms before the arrival of the Syrian army, so as to send the images to (foreign) television channels that have become an instrument in the tendentious campaign being waged against Syria."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the Syrian regime of "atrocities" and of not treating protesters "humanely", Anatolia press agency reported on Friday.

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Syrian armed forces continued a "scorched earth" campaign near the country's borders with Turkey and Iraq, witnesses said Tuesday, as the US and Europe stepped up condemnation of the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on protests.

Six civilians were killed Tuesday and tanks were deployed near Syria's border with Iraq, activists said as President Bashar al-Assad came under sharp pressure to halt a crackdown on democracy protests.

The United Nations said more than 10,000 Syrians have fled into neighbouring countries to escape the crackdown. There are 5,000 people in Lebanon, said UN humanitarian affairs spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker. A Turkish official said Tuesday there are now more than 8,500 Syrians who have crossed into Turkey.

Russia and China strongly oppose UN action against Assad and could veto any resolution.

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Abdullah, who like many refugees would give only his first name, said troops had now reached Ziayni, a town just six kilometres from the Turkish border.

"They torched all the crops, they slaughtered the goats, the cows," he said.

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Syrian security forces fired on thousands of protesters Friday, killing a teenage boy and at least 15 other civilians as accounts emerged of more indiscriminate killing and summary executions by the autocratic regime of President Bashar Assad, activists said.

Nine people were killed in the central city of Homs, two in the eastern town of Deir el-Zour and two in the Damascus suburb of Harasta, one in the major northern city of Aleppo. A boy believed to be 16 years old, who was in the streets protesting, and another person died in the southern village of Dael, the Local Coordination Committees said.

It's impossible to independently confirm many accounts coming out of Syria. Foreign journalists have been expelled from the country and local reporters face tight controls.

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Syria has a pivotal role in nearly every thorny Mideast issue. A staunch Iranian ally, Syria backs the militant groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It has also provided a home for some radical Palestinian groups and has exerted influence in neighboring Iraq.

Chaos in Syria, as a result, has wide implications on the region.

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Also Friday, the Syrian unrest appeared to be spilling into neighboring Lebanon.

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The Prof said:

why is libya on the president's radar screen while syria is NOT?

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Syrian President Bashar Assad "has crossed the point of no return" and will soon meet his "demise" as a result of the violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrators, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview to the Associated Press on Monday....

"He probably will stay around for another quarter or two but that will not change his fate."

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Syrian security forces shot dead 14 protesters on Friday as tens of thousands of anti-regime demonstrators surged onto the streets after weekly Muslim prayers, and Europe condemned Damascus over its "shocking" crackdown.

The demonstrations came in response to a call by the Facebook group Syrian Revolution 2011, a driving force behind three months of protests against the autocratic rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

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Thousands of people protested following prayers across the country Friday, while at least one man was killed after security forces backed by tanks fired on the funeral procession of a man who was beaten to death in police custody, an official said.

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Syrian security forces shot dead at least 12 protesters on Friday as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across the country in the biggest protests so far against President Bashar al-Assad.

Assad, facing the greatest challenge to 40 years of Baath Party rule, has sought to crush demonstrations. But although rights groups say some 1,400 civilians have been killed since March, the protests have continued unabated and swelled in size.

"These are the biggest demonstrations so far. It is a clear challenge to the authorities, especially when we see all these numbers coming out from Damascus for the first time," said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Police fired live ammunition and teargas in the capital Damascus, killing five people, and in southern Syria near the Jordanian border, where four people were killed, witnesses sand activists said. Three protesters were shot dead in the northern city of Idlibm, they said.

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