35 Dead as 70,000 Rally in Homs with Arab Monitors Arrival

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Some 70,000 Syrians took to the streets of Homs as Arab League observers visited the protest hub on Tuesday and activists said security forces shot dead 35 people across the country.

"More than 70,000 demonstrators tried to enter al-Saa square in the center of the city of Homs, while the security agents used tear gas to disperse them," said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

At the same time, some demonstrators were fired on with live ammunition as they made their way to the square, and four were wounded, one seriously.

The protest comes as Arab League observers visited the flashpoint central city to monitor a deal to end a deadly nine-month crackdown on anti-regime protests.

On its Facebook page, the Observatory said separate demonstrations were held elsewhere in the city, aimed at "exposing the ill practices and crimes of the regime" to the visiting Arab League delegation.

Following the killings of civilians in Baba Amr on Monday, residents held a funeral in the nearby Kefer Ayia for some of those who died, but were fired on by security services, according to the Observatory.

Meanwhile, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground said security forces shot dead 14 people in Homs, three at Damascus University, four in the southern province of Daraa, four in Reef Damascus, three in the central province of Hama, four in the northwestern province of Idlib, two in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour and a person in the coastal city of Latakia.

Activists said the military pulled its tanks back from one district ahead of the Arab League team's arrival, only to hide them inside government zones from where they could be redeployed within minutes.

The demonstrators appeared to have been emboldened by the presence of a team of Arab League observers headed by veteran Sudanese military intelligence officer General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi.

"Till now, they have been very cooperative," Dabi told Agence France Presse by telephone before holding talks with governor Ghassan Abdel Al.

A video posted by the Observatory on YouTube showed residents of Baba Amr pleading with Dabi to go in and see the devastation.

Syria's pro-regime Dunia television reported that the observers also visited the Bab Sebaa neighborhood of Homs, where they "assessed the damage carried out by terrorist groups."

"They also met with relatives of martyrs and a person who had been abducted" by these groups, said Dunia, adding that many people decried the "conspiracy against Syria" to the monitors.

The observers are also due to travel to two other protest hubs -- the central city of Hama and Idlib in the northwest, close to the border with Turkey, the television added, without giving a timetable.

Ahead of the observers' arrival in Homs, the army pulled back heavy armor from the Baba Amr neighborhood of the city, scene of much of the violence, the Observatory said.

Eleven tanks pulled out around 7:00 am (0500 GMT), its chairman, Rami Abdul Rahman, told AFP.

The Observatory added, however, that armored military vehicles including tanks and troop carriers had "repositioned inside the government centers in Baba Amr, al-Inshaatt and Brazil Street in Homs."

It cited an activist as saying on its Facebook page that "it only takes over five minutes" for the vehicles to return.

The Observatory said the withdrawal was part of the regime's "deception" and showed its attempt to "deny the crystal clear fact" that Syrians were trying to "regain power, freedom and dignity" in a popular revolt.

The observer mission is part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria on November 2 that calls for the withdrawal of security forces from towns and residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees.

Since signing the deal, the Syrian regime has been accused of intensifying a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests, which have shown no signs of abating since they erupted in mid-March.

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have lost their lives.

The bloodshed in Homs has sparked a mounting international outcry and opposition calls for foreign intervention.

The leader of opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghalioun, urged U.N. and Arab League intervention "to put an end to this tragedy," and called on the U.N. Security Council to "adopt the Arab League's plan and ensure that it is applied."

"It is better if the U.N. Security Council takes this (Arab League) plan, adopts and provides the means for its application," Ghalioun said. "That would give it more force."

The Arab "plan to defuse the crisis is a good plan, but I do not believe the Arab League really has the means" to enforce it, he said.

"The observers are working in conditions that the Arab League has described as not being good ... I think we have not properly negotiated the working conditions of the observers," Ghalioun added.

Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi said the observer "mission has freedom of movement in line with the protocol" Syria signed with the Arab League.

Under that deal, the observers are banned from sensitive military sites.

The Observatory charged that the authorities had changed road signs in Idlib province to confuse the observers, and urged them to contact human rights activists on the ground.

Opposition groups have said the observers must stop their work if they are blocked by the authorities from traveling to places like Homs.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has said he expects the observers to vindicate his government's contention that "armed terrorists" are behind the violence.

Western governments and human rights watchdogs blame Assad's regime for the bloodshed.

Opposition leaders charge that Syria agreed to the mission after weeks of prevarication in a "ploy" to head off a threat by the 22-member League to go to the U.N. Security Council over the crackdown.

The observers will eventually number between 150 and 200, Arab League officials say.

Comments 16
Thumb jabalamel 27 December 2011, 15:14

why is saboteurs in brackets? when someone destroys the pipeline in own country that is not occupied, than it's a terrorist.

Default-user-icon Free citizen (Guest) 27 December 2011, 15:29

If the syrian regime succeeds in suppressing the revolt Assad clan will rule Syria and Lebanon for 200 years, we will become a pariah country like North Korea

Default-user-icon Shady( Free Lebanese) (Guest) 27 December 2011, 15:40

This mean that the regime who orchestrated the sabotage and who orchestrated,bombings, assasinations and others is a terrorist group. Then it means one thing:Bachar El assad is a criminal, and his regime is a terrorist group, like hizbullah in lebanon. But soon very soon we gonna tell u Bye bye 4 ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Default-user-icon Le PheneChien (Guest) 27 December 2011, 15:47

When someone shoots another over a parking space then he is a farm boy, outlaw and terrorist claiming to defend the country against Israel.
The shooter is not at fault but rather his leader should be thrown in Roumieh for committing a crime against the state laws that he sworn to protect and abide by.

Thumb naderaln 27 December 2011, 16:17

And when someone haunts the streets of their capital city against the residents, that's resistance?

Default-user-icon Tahseen (Guest) 27 December 2011, 16:35

jabalramel, yor anglish very good. Dakhlak moooo, wlek moooo, lek wearrr I can learn it zis anglish metl you ? mooooo nafs el maderseh rehna nehna weyaaak ? Lazem ne2dor dafe33 3an taj rasna 3al antarnet bel naharnet wel facebook wel youtube. Shennoo fi sahyoneeyeh ktir bel antarnet.

Missing youssefhaddad 27 December 2011, 16:53

The Syrian regime is butchering its people and the Arabs are monitoring! How can those who are dictators themselves support a freedom movement?

Missing peace 27 December 2011, 17:34

let us all congratulate mowaten and jabelamal for their sincere support to a regime that has harmed lebanon more than israel ever did and kills women and children pretending they re a danger to the regime of bashar and co!

let us be proud of their patriotism and support for a very human regime which they admire!
bravo guys!

Default-user-icon LebanonFirst (Guest) 27 December 2011, 17:35

Illigitimate governmnet waging war on the resistance? WOW! I had to do a doubletake. Your terroristic resistance's days are coming to end whether you like it or not.

Thumb geha 27 December 2011, 18:07

some persian followers believe they are right and everybody else is wrong. everybody else, who are acting as per Taef accords, as arabs :)
so being an arb is wrong in their eyes and being persian is being on the side of righteousness :)
just for their information: following the syro iranians is as much of being a traitor as following israel.
but wait, hold on: we prove a while back that the syro/iranians are friendly with the israelis! so they are much of the same :)

Default-user-icon LebnenehOhh (Guest) 27 December 2011, 19:13

EVERY news outlet around the world put the protest at "up to 20,000"... Naharnet you have done it again, your ability to manipulate news and headlines, hence peoples opinions, is astonishing!

Well done for taking the pie of worlds largest bullshiters... you have done us a favour and the late Tueni (God Bless) will be so happy he is twisting and turning in his grave!

Bravo!!!

Missing peace 27 December 2011, 19:34

"EVERY news outlet around the world put the protest at "up to 20,000"... "

nope! CNN estimates it at 50 000!....

Default-user-icon TITUS (Guest) 27 December 2011, 19:56

Assad's Criminal Regime's days are numbered! No Place for Tyranny in the 21st century. Dictators worldwide are living their twighlight years with endings that will be as horrible and barbaric as their own rule of terror! the longer they stay artificially in power the grimmer their demise will be. That also goes for the zombie terrorist Criminal organizations the likes of Hezb Ebola and Hamas and their demonic masters in Tehran and Qom. The wannabe dictators and opportunist megalomaniacs the likes of Putin and Aoun and others will get a very rude awakening! Freedom and Democracy WILL not be denied nor will Justice, the hour of reckoning is upon us!

Thumb shab 27 December 2011, 23:31

bomb Syria

Thumb jabalamel 27 December 2011, 23:54

the filthy zionist information war department is investing a lot of effort to comment on syrian events, neglecting lebanese events

Missing peace 27 December 2011, 23:55

"neglecting lebanese events"

so let us here our dear and best political analyst? come on! tell us what is neglected?