Worst shelling of city yet as Syrians brave crackdown to protest regime

DAMASCUS: Thousands of Syrians rallied yesterday for Bashar al-assad’s removal, as the president’s forces unleashed their heaviest pounding yet of Homs in a brutal bid to crush dissent, monitors said.

The protesters emerged from mosques after the main weekly prayers, following a call by internet-based activists for a rally for a “new phase of popular resistance”.

“Get out! Get out!” they chanted at gatherings across the unrest-swept country, Youtube videos showed.

“We want revenge against Bashar and Maher,” some shouted, in reference to the president’s brother, who heads the feared Fourth Armoured Division.

Activists said the protests were among the most widespread of the 11-month uprising against the Assad regime.

The protesters turned out after the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly backed an Arab League initiative calling on Assad to step aside, and ahead of a visit by a Chinese envoy pushing for peace.

Assad, in remarks to visiting Mauritanian Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf, said reforms had to be synchronised with a “return to peace”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 16 people were killed yesterday, one of them at a protest that was fired upon in the capital, Damascus.

At least 10 000 people demonstrated in the southern town of Dael, in Daraa province, the monitor said.

In Homs, rockets crashed into strongholds of resistance at the rate of four a minute, according to an activist, who warned that the city faced a humanitarian crisis.

“It’s the most violent in 14 days. It’s unbelievable – extreme violence the like of which we have never seen before,” said Hadi Abdullah of the General Commission of the Syrian Revolution.

“There are thousands of people isolated in Homs… I, myself, do not know if my parents are okay. I have had no news from them for 14 days,” he said.

A tank fired into a residential part of Homs, before bursts of machine-gun fire clattered across the neighbourhood, a Youtube video showed.

Rights groups estimated the two-week assault on Homs had killed almost 400 people, and a medic reached on Skype said 1 800 have been wounded.

“There are injuries that cannot be treated because of a lack of medical equipment,” Dr Ali al-hazzuri said. “There are casualties who are close to dying.”

The onslaught killed five people in Homs, while another nine bodies were found.

The violence came after the UN General Assembly on Thursday demanded an immediate halt to Syria’s crackdown on dissent, which human rights groups say has cost more than 6 000 lives.

The strongly worded resolution, adopted by a 137-12 vote, calls on Damascus “to stop all violence or reprisals immediately, in accordance with the League of Arab States initiative.”

It was referring to a peace plan put forward by the panArab bloc calling on Assad to hand power over to his deputy and for the formation of a unity government ahead of elections.

Russia, China and Iran opposed the non-binding resolution. The vote came just days after Beijing and Moscow vetoed a similar resolution at the UN Security Council.

Such a strong vote in favour of the resolution adds to mounting pressure on Assad to curb the brutal crackdown.

Syrian envoy Bashar Jaafari lashed out at other Arab nations, saying Western powers had exploited the Arab League to “internationalise” the crisis.

“The Arab Trojan horse has been unmasked today,” he said.

On the eve of his arrival in Damascus, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zhai Jun said Beijing opposed armed intervention and forced “regime change” in Syria. – SAPA-AFP