JERUSALEM — Thousands of Israeli Arabs demonstrated against Syrian President Bashar al-assad on Friday, calling for him to step down and end his violent suppression of a nationwide revolt.
Chanting “Bashar al- Assad leave” and “Let the people live,” protesters in the northern town of Kafr Kanna set fire to posters of the Syrian president.
Assad has shown no sign of easing his campaign to stamp out an 11- month uprising against his rule. His forces on Friday resumed attacks on opposition strongholds in the city of Homs, which has now been under fire for two weeks.
The United Nations says more than 5,400 civilians have been killed in the uprising and the UN General Assembly on Thursday told Assad to stop the violence and surrender power.
Syrian authorities say they are fighting foreign- backed “terrorists.”
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday he expected Assad to f all “within weeks.”
Last month, Israel’s army chief Lieut.- Gen. Benny Gantz said the Jewish state was preparing to take refugees from Assad’s minority Alawite sect into the Golan Heights, in the event of the president’s downfall.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.
Despite the fact that the two countries have never made peace, the Golan frontier has largely been quiet.
Demonstrations against Assad were reported by activists in several cities across Syria, including the capital Damascus and t he commercial hub Aleppo, after Friday Muslim prayers despite the threat of violence from security forces.
China’s vice foreign minister, Zhai Jun, arrived in Damascus in a show of support for Assad after the UN General Assembly passed a resolution telling the increasingly isolated president to halt the crackdown and surrender power.
China, along with Russia, had voted against the motion and says Syria must be allowed to resolve its problems without being dictated terms by foreign powers.
Its stance on Syria will “withstand the test of history,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in Beijing.