U.N. Security Council may tackle alleged abuse as fear grows in Syria
>From Rima Maktabi, CNN
April 26, 2011 -- Updated 1102 GMT (1902 HKT)
Click to play
Obama mulls next steps in Syria
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* NEW: Witness: Bodies are discreetly laid to rest because people fear
walking the streets
* Witnesses report a gruesome crackdown by soldiers in Daraa
* The Syrian government says Daraa citizens wanted the army to stop
"terrorist groups"
* Protesters want freedom, regime reform, and the ability to create
independent political parties
(CNN) -- The United Nations Security Council could take up the issue of alleged
human rights abuses in Syria on Tuesday, a day after witnesses said thousands
of troops invaded the heart of the country's recent protests and carried out a
bloody crackdown.
A U.N. diplomat said a draft Security Council statement sponsored by France,
Portugal and the United Kingdom condemned the violence and called for
restraint. It also supported Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's call for an
independent investigation on the matter.
A final statement could be agreed upon by Tuesday, the diplomat said.
As the international community considers its next steps, fear permeated the
western Syrian city of Jableh on Tuesday. A witness there said security forces
have set up checkpoints, inspecting identification papers and arresting people.
Map: Unrest in Syria
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Pre-dawn raid in Daraa fuels fear, anger
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The witness said the bodies of 13 people who died Sunday were discreetly taken
to their resting places because people were afraid to walk in the town. Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights has said at least 13 civilians were killed in
Jableh by gunfire from security forces on Sunday.
Businesses and schools in Jableh were closed Tuesday, the witness said.
In the Damascus suburb of Douma, one witness compared the city to a "prison."
Witnesses said security forces were arresting people throughout the city,
including three hospital doctors.
A witness in Douma said Tuesday that security forces have set up sandbag
barricades around and inside the city. Checkpoints around the city were being
manned with heavy machine guns, while those inside the city are manned by
lighter weapons, the witness said.
He said shops were closed and parents are afraid to send their children to
school.
The reports of trepidation follow a day of gruesome violence at the hands of
Army and security forces, witnesses said.
Between 4,000 and 5,000 members of the Army and security forces equipped with
tanks raided the southern city of Daraa Monday and began shooting
indiscriminately, in some cases shooting into homes as people slept, according
to an activist with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The activist said even people were confirmed killed in the Daraa, where Syria's
current unrest started.
Other witnesses described a trail of dead bodies in the streets.
"Ambulances could not help the injured because of the snipers and army officers
who are deployed all over the city," one witness in Daraa said. "They shoot on
anything that moves."
A military official -- the second commander in a brigade that entered Daraa --
defected over the violence, according to the activist with the human rights
group and another opposition source. The commander was then arrested, the
activist said.
The Syrian government had a different account of events in Daraa.
"In response to the calls for help from the citizens of Daraa and their appeal
to the Armed Forces as to intervene and put an end to the operations of
killings, vandalism, and horrifying (actions) by extremist terrorist groups,
some army units entered ... Daraa to restore tranquility, security and normal
life," state-run news agency SANA reported, citing an official army source.
Several members of such groups were arrested and "huge quantities of weapons
and ammunitions" were confiscated, the government said, adding that
confrontations "caused the martyrdom" of some members of the army and security
forces as well as deaths and injuries among "some members of the extremist
terrorist groups."
CNN has not been allowed into Syria and is unable to verify independently the
witness accounts or government reports.
The United States is preparing new sanctions against members of President
Bashar al-Assad's regime who are overseeing the violent crackdown, according to
several senior U.S. officials with knowledge of the action.
A new Treasury Department executive order targeting senior officials accused of
human rights abuses would involve an asset freeze and travel ban, as well as
prohibiting them from doing business in the United States.
"The Syrian people's call for freedom of expression, association, peaceful
assembly and the ability to freely choose their leaders must be heard," Tommy
Vietor, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said in a statement
Monday.
The U.S. State Department also issued a statement Monday urging U.S. citizens
to defer any travel to Syria.
"U.S. citizens in Syria are advised to depart while commercial transportation
is readily available," the statement said. The department also ordered all
eligible family members of U.S. government employees as well as certain
non-emergency personnel to depart Syria.
U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay issued a statement saying Syria has offered
"paper reforms followed by violent crackdowns on protesters."
Her office has received a list naming 76 people killed on Friday during
evidently peaceful marches, but the number may be much higher, Pillay's office
said. The office is also looking into reports of 13 people killed in funeral
processions Saturday.
Protests that have taken place across Syria began in Daraa last month following
a violent crackdown by security forces on peaceful demonstrators protesting the
arrests of youths who scribbled anti-government graffiti. Protesters have asked
for freedom and regime reform, and public discontent with al-Assad's government
has mounted.
Activists also want the easing of the ruling Baath Party's power and a law that
would permit the establishment of independent political parties.
In recent days, witnesses in Syria had told CNN they want the security
apparatus, which includes Syria's secret intelligence operatives, dissolved,
and would rather see the army take to the streets. They believed the army would
be friendlier to protesters, as was the case in an Egyptian uprising earlier
this year, but video from Syria on Monday showed what appeared to be members of
the army carrying out al-Assad's crackdown.
Monday afternoon, Jordan Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh confirmed to CNN that
Syrian authorities have closed off the border with Jordan.
Because Daraa lies on the border, sealing it makes it difficult for besieged
residents to flee the military offensive.
The Syrian government has accused protesters of shooting at security forces,
while opposition activists and demonstrators accuse the government of killing
protesters.
The Syrian government and security forces have been largely silent to
international media over the past month and generally speak only through state
media.
SANA reported Monday that "seven martyrs who were killed in Nawa near Daraa by
armed criminal groups were laid to rest." So were two "martyrs" killed in
Moathamia, in the Damascus countryside, the report said, citing "an official
source at the General Command of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces."
A military doctor "said that the martyrs' bodies had signs of mutilation that
defies all humane principles, and that the firearm injuries were made to the
head, torso, back and limbs of the victims, and that the bodies were mutilated
with knives and sharp implements afterwards," the report said.
In a statement Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he
condemned "any violence and killings perpetuated by Syrian security forces."
"This violent repression must stop," Hague said. "President Assad should order
his authorities to show restraint and to respond to the legitimate demands of
his people with immediate and genuine reform, not with brutal repression."
CNN's Elise Labott and Raja Razek contributed to this report.
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