25 March 2011 Last updated at 11:40 ET

Syria unrest: Protests in Deraa, Damascus and Hama
Clashes at Omayyad Mosque in Damascus after Friday prayers, 25 March Clashes erupted in Damascus and other cities

BBC News - Syria unrest: Protests in Deraa, Damascus and Hama

Gunfire has been heard during a fresh protest march in the Syrian city of Deraa, reports say.

The marchers had attended funerals for some of the 25 protesters shot dead on Wednesday by security forces.

Demonstrations were also reported in the capital, Damascus, where there were some arrests, and in the towns of Hama and Tall.

Opposition activists had called for nationwide protests after Friday prayers, following a week of unrest.

The city of Deraa, south of Damascus, has become the centre of a serious challenge to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Some of the protesters started a fire under a bronze statue of his father, the late President Hafez al-Assad, witnesses reported.

More than 40 people are thought to have been killed in the town in a week of protests, although it has been hard to verify the accounts.

Unconfirmed reports on Friday said another group of protesters trying to reach Deraa were killed in a nearby village when security forces opened fire.

A human rights activist told AFP news agency the deaths occured in Salamen village. A witness told al-Jazeera television channel at least 20 had died.

In Damascus, hundreds marched on King Faisal Street chanting: "Peaceful, Peaceful, God, Syria, Freedom".
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
image of Lina Sinjab Lina Sinjab BBC News, Damascus

Thousands of protesters are marching in Deraa chanting for freedom.

They are criticising a presidential adviser who said they were protesting because they were hungry. "Deraa people are not hungry, we want freedom," they are saying.

In Damascus, one demonstration was broken up by security forces. Many people were arrested.

Another protest reported by an eyewitness took place around al-Rifai mosque in central Damascus, but it was hard to independently verify it.

"There were hundreds of us who marched after prayers, but we were surrounded and attacked by security forces," the eyewitness told the BBC.

Earlier, we tried to visit Deraa but we were stopped by security forces and sent back to Damascus.

This protest was broken up by security forces and many were arrested, reports say.

Another protest reported to the BBC by an eyewitness took place around al-Rifai near Qasar Sousah Square.

Supporters of Mr Assad were also staging protests in the capital, and clashes erupted between the two sides.

In Hama, hundreds of people were said to have gathered on the city streets to chant "freedom".

In 1982, the Syrian army put down an uprising led by the Muslim Brotherhood in Hama. Rights groups believe that tens of thousands of civilians were killed when large parts of the city were destroyed in the military assault.

In Tall, witnesses quoted by the Reuters news agency said about 1,000 people had rallied to show their support for the Deraa protesters, and were chanting slogans denouncing members of the ruling Assad family.
Changes promised

On Thursday, the Syrian government said it would consider political reforms, including the possible ending of emergency laws introduced in 1963.
Map

The government also said it would put on trial those suspected of killing several protesters in Deraa.

Mr Assad later ordered the release of everyone arrested during the "recent events", state media said.

Presidential spokeswoman Bouthaina Shaaban blamed outside agitators for whipping up trouble, and denied that the government had ordered security forces to open fire on protesters.

But she said this "did not mean mistakes had not been made".

__________________
"Patriotism means being loyal to your country all the time and to its government when it deserves it."-- Mark Twain

"Inter arma silent Musae"--when the weapons speak, the muses fall silent.

An't nanum hearm deth, doth hwaet ye willath.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished
unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. -Voltaire

Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.36

From Reuters

Yemen ruler ready to step down, Syria protests spread

By Cynthia Johnston and Mohamed Sudam
SANAA
Fri Mar 25, 2011 8:13pm EDT



(Reuters) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah said on Friday he was ready to cede power, the third Arab ruler who may be forced out by popular protests which began in North Africa and have now spread into the Gulf, Syria and Jordan.

Saleh said he would cede power only into "safe hands" and Yemeni political sources said talks were under way to work out the details of a peaceful transition.

But in Syria, protests challenging the rule of President Bashar al-Assad spread across the country after security forces killed dozens of demonstrators in the south.

"The barrier of fear is broken. This is a first step on the road to toppling the regime," said Ibrahim, a middle-aged lawyer in the southern Syrian city of Deraa. "We have reached the point of no return."

Saleh's departure would present a new challenge to Western countries already embroiled in a week-old military intervention in Libya, amid fears that instability in Saudi Arabian neighbor Yemen could open the way for al Qaeda to expand its power there.

"We don't want power, but we need to hand power over to safe hands, not to sick, resentful or corrupt hands," said Saleh, who had come under intense pressure to quit since snipers fired on anti-government protesters a week ago, killing 52 people.

That bloodshed prompted a string of defections that severely weakened Saleh's position, including by military figures such as top general Ali Mohsen, as well as diplomats and tribal leaders.

A source close to Mohsen said he and Saleh had discussed a deal in which both men and their families would leave Yemen, while political sources said broader talks were underway on a political transition.

A diplomat in the capital Sanaa, however, said it was premature to discuss an outcome. "It can go either way."

In Syria, Assad's government had promised on Thursday to look at giving greater freedom to Syrians.

But there was more bloodshed after Friday prayers, with witnesses reporting at least 23 dead, including three in the capital Damascus. Information on casualties was limited and authorities restricted journalists' movements.


HAULING DOWN ASSAD'S STATUE

In Deraa, tens of thousands marched in funerals for some of those killed earlier in the week, chanting "Freedom."

In a central square, a Reuters correspondent saw protesters haul down a statue of Assad's father, late president Hafez al-Assad, before security men in plain clothes opened fire with automatic rifles from buildings.

The crowd of some 3,000 scattered under volleys of bullets and tear gas. The reporter saw some wounded helped into cars and ambulances. It was unclear how many, if any, were killed.

By evening, however, security forces appeared to have melted away, a crowd of protesters gathered again in the main square and set a government building on fire, witnesses said.

After pulling down the statue, in a scene that recalled the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003 by U.S. troops, some protesters poured fuel into the broken cast and set it alight.

In the town of Sanamein, which is in the same southern area as Deraa, residents said 20 people were killed when gunmen opened fire on a crowd outside a building used by military intelligence. Syria's national news agency said security forces had killed armed attackers who tried to storm the building.

Demonstrations have also flared up in Jordan, and one person was killed on Friday during clashes between protesters calling for political reform and supporters of the pro-Western monarchy.

Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit warned of unspecified consequences if similar clashes occurred.

"What happened today is definitely the start of chaos and it is unacceptable and I warn of the consequences," Bakhit told Jordanian television.

The protests were the latest to erupt since the January 4 death of Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself on fire in protest at his treatment by authorities.

Anger triggered by his death forced out Tunisia's ruler and swept into Egypt -- a country which has wielded huge influence on the political and religious currents of the Muslim world -- bringing down Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak on February 11.

"The whole system is changing," said Beirut-based commentator Rami Khoury. "Every single country without exception has to make changes."

"I think we have reached a point of no return. I don't think the Middle East will be the same. It is a new order in the making," said Fawaz Gerges from the London School of Economics.


TANKS BOMBED IN EASTERN LIBYA

A revolt against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has already prompted the third Western military intervention in a Muslim country this century, after Afghanistan and Iraq.

Western warplanes bombed Gaddafi's tanks and artillery in eastern Libya on Friday to try to break a battlefield stalemate and help rebels take the town of Ajdabiyah, which commands the coastal highway linking the east and west of the country.

Rebels said they had entered Ajdabiyah from the east, Al Jazeera reported, while Gaddafi's forces held on in the west of the town.

Western countries including the United States, Britain and France began bombing targets in Libya a week ago as part of a U.N.-mandated intervention to protect civilians.

But the intensity of their firepower, along with Western capitals' expressed desire to see Gaddafi go, has drawn questions from some countries worried they had exceeded their mandate and ran the risk of killing more civilians.

The African Union said it was planning to facilitate talks to help end the war, but NATO said its operation could last three months, and France said the conflict would not end soon.

The Arab revolts are not only unseating rulers, but also threatening to reshape alliances often dominated by rivalry between Shi'ite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.

In Syria, where the minority Alawite elite rule over a Sunni-majority country, protesters have chanted slogans against its alliance with Iran and the Shi'ite armed Hizbollah group in neighbouring Lebanon.

But Saudi Arabia saw its grip challenged in Bahrain and sent troops earlier this month to help crack down on protesters -- many of them from the majority Shi'ite population -- demonstrating against the ruling Sunni al Khalifa family.

Small protests broke out in Bahrain's capital Manama for a planned "Day of Rage" on Friday despite a ban under martial law imposed last week, but were quickly crushed by security forces.

The challenge to authoritarian rulers by popular protests has so far somewhat marginalized al Qaeda, which had presented its own hardline Islamist ideology as the only alternative to what it called corrupt dictatorships.

But instability in Yemen and war in Libya could provide fresh opportunities for the group. It already has a strong presence in Yemen through Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and in North Africa through Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

"The chaos of a post-Saleh Yemen in which there is no managed transition may lead to conditions that could allow AQAP and other extremist elements to flourish," analyst Christopher Boucek wrote in the militant affairs periodical CTC Sentinel.

Yemen, which lies on key shipping routes, has often seemed on the brink of disintegration. Northern Shi'ites have taken up arms against Saleh and southerners dream of a separate state.

From the Houston Chronicle

Syrian army out in force in violence-hit port city

By HUSSEIN MALLA and ZEINA KARAM
Associated PressMarch 27, 2011, 12:17PM


— LATAKIA, Syria — Syria's army was out in force Sunday in a port city scarred by unrest aimed at symbols of the government, which is struggling to put down an unprecedented nationwide outbreak of protest and dissent.

President Bashar Assad's regime has tried to balance the use of force with promises of reform, and a lawmaker told The Associated Press on Sunday that he expected Assad to soon announce that he was lifting a nearly 50-year state of emergency. The timing remained unclear.

Syria has been rocked by more than a week of anti-government demonstrations that began with protests in a drought-parched southern agricultural city and exploded nationwide on Friday, a once-unimaginable development for one of the Mideast's most repressive governments. Security forces have opened fire on demonstrators in at least six places, leading to dozens of deaths.

Member of Parliament Mohammed Habash told the AP that lawmakers expected to receive a memo from Assad laying out a plan to end the state of emergency, possibly during a parliament session Sunday evening. He did not provide details.

The state of emergency has been in force since Assad's Baath party took power on March 8, 1963. It lets the government to detain suspects without trial and exercise strict control over the media.

It also allows civilians to be tried in military courts.

While Assad and his close associates in the Baath party maintain ultimate control of Syrian politics, the state of emergency must be formally lifted by the vote of two thirds of a Syrian cabinet meeting, then referred to parliament for final approval.

The next scheduled cabinet meeting is Tuesday.

Habash also said parliament might vote Sunday on a section of the constitution that allows mandates Baath party leadership of the nation. The amendment of the constitution's section 8 would open the way for the formation of parties besides the Baath and 11 other closely associated parties known as the National Progressive Front.

A presidential adviser offered the first hint of the reforms in an annoucement Thursday, saying the government had begun studying such changes, but the pledge did not stop protests from erupting in cities across Syria the following day.

Some of the worst violence appears to have taken place in Latakia, a Mediterranean coastal city that is a mix of Sunnis in its urban core, members of Assad's Alawite branch of Shiite Islam living in villages on the outskirts, and small minorities of Christians, ethnic Turks and other groups.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that large, religiously mixed crowds took to the steets of Latakia on Friday to express sympathy with protesters in the southern city of Daraa and demand greater civil liberties and political freedoms and an end to official corruption.

According to the witnesses and footage posted on social networking sites, shooting erupted that protesters blame on security forces, and unrest erupted that continued until Saturday. Syrian officials said the government moved the army into Latakia in heavy numbers by early Sunday.

Syrian officials said 12 people had died in Latakia, and blamed the deaths on unidentified gunmen firing from rooftops.

An Associated Press photographer saw traces of what appeared to have been a serious battle in Latakia's main Sheik Daher square. Two police cars had been smashed and rocks and telephone cables torn from overhead poles were strewn across the streets and sidewalks.

The offices housing SyriaTel, the mobile phone company owned in large part by a cousin of President Bashar Assad, had been burned.

At one of the city's two hospitals, officials said they had treated 90 wounded people on Friday. The photographer saw many suffering from gunshot wounds to the hands or feet. Others were in critical condition.

Few cars or people were on the streets and shops were closed. Soldiers patrolled in heavy numbers, stopping virtually anyone seen carrying a bag. They pulled drivers to the side of the road to ask for identification papers and search their vehicles.

Assad Faces a Critical Moment as Syrians Look for Major Changes
March 29, 2011, 5:03 PM EDT

By Massoud A. Derhally

Assad Faces a Critical Moment as Syrians Look for Major Changes - Businessweek

(See EXTRA and MET for more on unrest in the region.)

March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accepted the resignation of his cabinet in advance of a speech, in which he may offer to lift the nation’s emergency law in response to the anti-government protests that pose the most serious challenge to his rule since he inherited power from his father in 2000.

George Jabbour, a former member of parliament, said in a telephone interview from Damascus yesterday that the president is likely to announce a number of measures, including the lifting of the 48-year-old emergency law. Agence France-Presse reported that Assad will address Parliament today, citing an unidentified Syrian official.

“Everyone is waiting to see what he has to say,” said Patrick Seale, who wrote a biography of Assad’s late father, Hafez. “Can he retrieve the situation? Can he win time? I believe he has to do something dramatic if he is to regain the initiative. He has to satisfy the people’s most urgent demands.”

Assad accepted Prime Minister Muhammad Naji Otri’s resignation, state television reported yesterday. The resignation by the cabinet does not affect Assad, who asked the government to manage affairs until a new cabinet is formed.

The move follows promises by the regime to expand freedom and enact pay increases, which failed to quell the protests. More than 90 people have been killed in the government crackdown on dissent, according to unconfirmed reports cited by Amnesty International.

Waiting on Reforms

“The resignation of the government in itself is not really a radical step,” said Chris Phillips, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit in London. “The question is whether or not this will be followed by a set of reforms and I think most people will wait to see.”

Syria, where Assad’s Baath party has been in power since 1963, is the latest Middle Eastern country to be hit by a wave of uprisings that ousted longtime rulers in Egypt and Tunisia, and sparked an armed conflict in Libya. Assad’s regime is an ally of Iran and a power broker in neighboring Lebanon, where it supports the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement. The country ranks 152 in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2010 Democracy Index, below Afghanistan.

The anti-regime protest movement “has not been able to become dominant in urban Syria,” said Josh Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. “Syrians are fearful of civil war and the only way this regime is going to be changed is through civil war and the military is not going to abandon the president.”

Pro-Government Rallies

Earlier yesterday, Assad’s supporters staged rallies. The Damascus Securities Exchange canceled yesterday’s trading session to allow staff to participate in the demonstrations, according to a statement on its website.

State-run television showed live footage of hundreds of thousands pouring onto the main streets of Damascus, Aleppo, Hama and al-Hassakah. Demonstrations took place in several other cities, state television said.

The pro-regime marches were a response to protests in several Syrian cities and towns since mid-March to demand political reform, including an end to the emergency law.

Changes offered by Assad are not likely to “go far enough to please those that oppose him and want to have a multiparty political system that goes beyond the Baath party,” Landis said.

Unconfirmed reports say 37 people were killed in Damascus, the capital, and other towns including Latakia, Daraa and Homs since March 25, Amnesty International said on its website March 28. In the Daraa governorate, which is in the southwest of the country near the border with Jordan, at least 55 people died last week, according to credible sources, Amnesty said.

‘Halt Completely’

Violence in Daraa and Latakia has “come to a halt completely,” Jabbour said. “Calm has set in in the areas and measures are being taken to address the demands of protesters in Daraa. However, events in Latakia were a result of gangsters who targeted the security of Syria.”

“Many Syrians have serious grievances which they want addressed, but many others appreciate the peace and stability they have enjoyed under the Assad regimes compared to the catastrophes suffered by Iraq and Lebanon,” said Seale, in a telephone interview from London yesterday.

“It’s worth noting that different parts of Syria have different grievances,” he said. “The complaints of Daraa are not the same as those of Latakia. But right across the country there seems to be a thirst for freedom, a demand for an end to the state of emergency, a longing for really free elections and an end to police brutality.”

Public Expectations

Seale said that Syrians want to see Assad do more than lift the emergency law, which suspended many individual rights. “Public opinion is expecting him to announce a new law on political parties, which would end the monopoly of the Baath party and allow for greater freedom of assembly and expression,” he said. “There is also an expectation that he will act to curb the powers of the security services and perhaps even put on trial people responsible for the recent deaths of civilian protesters. He faces a critical moment.”

The regime has promised to release more than 200 prisoners, steps to combat corruption, a media law guaranteeing more freedom, improving living standards for residents of border areas and legal changes to ban random arrests.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have condemned the crackdown. Unrest began in Daraa earlier this month. Video footage on the Internet broadcast by the Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya news networks showed hundreds of protesters in cities such as Homs and Daraa, some tearing down poster of Assad.

Assad’s father ruled the Arab country for three decades. In 1982, he crushed a rebellion led by Islamist militants in the city of Hama, killing as many as 10,000 people, according to estimates cited by Human Rights Watch.

--Editors: Terry Atlas, Steven Komarow

To contact the reporter on this story: Massoud A. Derhally in Beirut at mderhally@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net

__________________
"Patriotism means being loyal to your country all the time and to its government when it deserves it."-- Mark Twain

"Inter arma silent Musae"--when the weapons speak, the muses fall silent.

An't nanum hearm deth, doth hwaet ye willath.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished
unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. -Voltaire

Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.36