Syrian Defectors Attack Again A Governmental Location
Free Syrian Army
Violence continues in Syria after the Friday protests at the end of the weekly Muslim prayer, while French foreign minister Alain Juppe met with the Turkish counterpart and issued a common statement in which they urged the UN Security Council to act as soon as possible.
Seven people have been initially reported killed in the clashes on Friday, and a renewed attack of the defector forces, grouped in the Free Syrian Army, on a pro-governmental youth group office compelled the French and Turkish foreign ministers to demand action until the situation could get worse, to the point of sliding into civil war.
Even Russia, one of the two countries that opposed the resolution against Syria at the UN, expressed concern over the possibility of civil war, as the attacks of the defecting troops caused 30 deaths in one day.
Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu called what is going on in the neighboring Syria a “massacre,” and demanded that action be taken to stop it. Turkey used to be a close ally of the power in Damascus but all changed as the regime began killing its own people.
Since the first reports about deaths reached the international media Turkey advised president Assad to stop what he was doing. In August, a Turkish delegation, led by Davutoglu himself, arrived in Damascus, and received promises that the crackdown would stop.
In September, before embarking for New York, where he attended the UN general assembly, Davutoglu was compelled to admit that the Syrian president had lied to him. The Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan went on to say that he could not trust a president who is bombarding the country’s cities from the sea, alluding to the bombing of the Mediterranean port Latakia.
After the resolution draft presented by the UN Security Council by European countries was foiled by the opposition of two large powers, Russia and China, Turkey announced that it would impose its own set of sanctions on Syria, and started with an embargo on arms and continued earlier this week with an embargo on oil transaction.
Even Iran, which is known for its own understanding on human rights, advised president Assad to attempt a reconciliation with the people and to combine the violent oppression with negotiations.
The United States of America warned that caution should be exercised when it comes to the defectors’ attacks on governmental institution, so that Assad may not have reason to say that the defectors are the so called “terror gangs” he has been blaming the revolution on since it began.
The action the French and Turkish foreign ministers demand would follow the decision of the Arab League to suspend Syria, a decision considered by Syria as “illegal” and “dangerous,” and upheld by the member states of the Arab body.
A no-fly zone has been demanded by the people, and a contact group has been suggested by the Western diplomats. These two elements defined the uprising in Libya, and led to the victory there, but is unlikely that they would be accepted by Russia and China, and even by the Arab League, which made it clear that the suspension was not a green light for the international intervention.
