Bashar Al Assad
Gunmen hit Syrian army from sea, Moscow slams rebels
By Ed Cropley | Reuters | 29 Apr 2012
Gunmen in inflatable dinghies killed several security officials in an attack on a military unit on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, state media said on Saturday, the first seaborne assault reported during the revolt against President Bashar Assad.
The night raid, along with the killings of at least 15 people in violence in two areas near the capital, underlined the threadbare state of a UN-brokered cease-fire deal that has Western leaders talking of tougher steps to stop the bloodshed.
Syria’s Assad 'finished,' Tunisian leader says
Source : Agencies | 24 Apr 2012
Bashar Assad’s international allies must realize the Syrian president is “finished” and persuade him to step down to avoid further bloodshed, Tunisian President Moncef Al-Marzouki said in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday.
“The Russians and Chinese, and the Iranians must understand that this man is finished and they cannot defend him. They must persuade him to leave power and hand over to his deputy,” Marzouki told the regional Arab newspaper Al-Hayat.
Assad “will go one way or another ... dead or alive,” he added.
Cheering protesters greet UN observers in Syria
By AP | Beirut | 23 Apr 2012
Chanting crowds of anti-regime protesters in rebellious Damascus suburbs welcomed United Nations observers monitoring Syria’s shaky cease-fire Monday while the European Union imposed new sanctions targeting wealthy backers of President Bashar Assad.
Also Monday, a Jordanian relief agency said Syrian troops ambushed hundreds of people fleeing the country over the weekend, and dozens of them crossed the border into Jordan with burns and gunshot wounds. The Kitab and Sunna charity said Syrian forces detained dozens of people, including about 50 women.
Gunfire gives UN mission taste of Syria challenge
By Reuters | Beirut | 18 Apr 2012
Gunfire erupted on Wednesday close to an advance team of UN observers who had been swarmed by protesters, giving a taste of the challenge facing a mission to monitor a shaky week-old truce that has so far failed to stop Syria’s violence.
Protesters denouncing President Bashar Assad had surrounded their cars near the capital, Damscus. Automatic weapons fire sent the crowds scurrying for safety.
Many killed as violence rages in Syria
By Reuters | Beirut | 06 Apr 2012
At least 24 Syrians were killed in violence yesterday, opposition activists said, only four days before a troop pullback agreed by President Bashar Assad as part of a peace plan proposed by mediator Kofi Annan.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said shelling had killed at least 10 people, including four rebel fighters, in the flashpoint central city of Homs. Two soldiers killed in separate clashes and one person was killed in the town of Douma, it said.
Syria bleeds despite pullout pledge
By Agencies | Damascus | 06 Apr 2012
Syrian troops attacked the Damascus suburb of Duma, an assault activists said shows that Bashar Assad’s government is intensifying violence in the days before the April 10 UN deadline to pull out forces from cities.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday the crisis is getting worse and claiming more lives every day despite Assad’s pledge.
Syrian troops pound cities
By Reuters | Beirut | 04 Apr 2012
Opposition activists accused Syrian troops of shelling two cities yesterday in a campaign to weaken forces fighting President Bashar Assad’s government before a cease-fire deadline next week.
Rebel fighters also kept up their attacks, killing three soldiers in separate actions in northern Syria, activists said.
Assad has agreed to a cease-fire negotiated by international peace envoy Kofi Annan from April 10, the latest effort to end a a year of bloodshed stemming from an uprising against his rule.
U.S. Joins Effort to Equip and Pay Rebels in Syria
By Steven Lee Myers | The New York Times | Istanbul | 01 Apr 2012
The United States and dozens of other countries moved closer on Sunday to direct intervention in the fighting in Syria, with Arab nations pledging $100 million to pay opposition fighters and the Obama administration agreeing to send communications equipment to help rebels organize and evade Syria’s military, according to participants gathered here.
Assad remarks give little hope of peace
By Agencies | Baghdad | 29 Mar 2012
Bashar Assad’s remarks on a UN-Arab plan yesterday gave little hope of peace as the Syrian tyrant called for an end to “terrorist acts” by foreign powers.
“It’s not surprising, but it’s discouraging and disappointing,” US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
Arab leaders, meanwhile, urged a peaceful end to the bloodshed through “serious national dialogue,” at a landmark summit in the Iraqi capital yesterday.
