Archive for March 2, 2012

By Al Arabiya with Agencies

Syrian security forces opened fire to disperse demonstrations in the cities of Aleppo and Damascus on Friday as thousands took to the streets across Syria, activists and monitors said.

As many as 56 people have been killed by the fire of Syrian security forces on Friday, mostly in Homs, Al Arabiya reported citing activists at the Local Coordination Committees. A shell hit a protest in Rastan killing 16 people, activists said.

“God curse you Hafez for having a son like that,” shouted protesters in reference to Assad’s late father who ruled Syria for three decades until he died in 2000. “The people want to announce Jihad (Holy War),” read a banner.

The northern city of Aleppo was the scene of 12 protests, with demonstrators chanting support for Homs and other areas besieged by regime forces, according to local activist Mohammed al-Halabi.

“Hundreds were taking part several demonstrations in the Halab al-Jadida district, while thousands demonstrated in other areas such as Salah Eddin, Fardoss and Marjeh,” he told AFP.

He said security forces fired live rounds at protesters in Salah Eddin and Saif a-Dawla neighborhoods, where several people were wounded and others arrested.

Five demonstrators were shot and wounded as security forces fired to disperse a protest outside Salam mosque in the Barzeh area of Damascus, after weekly Muslim prayers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Activist Mohammed al-Shami told AFP that thousands of demonstrators turned out in several areas of the capital and its suburbs, such as Mazzeh, Hajar al-Aswad, al-Aasali, Douma, Qadam, Qaboon and Kfar Sousa.

“We shall not abandon Homs. We shall not abandon Deraa,” protesters chanted in a video posted online, hailing the main centers of dissent against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that it was unable to enter the Homs district of Baba Amro on Friday, where it had hoped to bring in aid and evacuate the sick and wounded.

via Death toll mounts as demos come under fire; Red Cross not allowed to enter Baba Amro.

(CNN) — An aid agency says truckloads of food and medical supplies arrived Friday in the besieged rebel stronghold of Homs as Britain’s leader warned President Bashar al-Assad’s regime will face “a day of reckoning.”

The harsh rebuke by British Prime Minister David Cameron came the same day the opposition accused Syrian forces of executing 10 people in Baba Amr, one day after troops seized the flashpoint neighborhood in a nearly yearlong uprising that has left thousands dead.

“Above all, what I think matters is building the evidence and the picture so we hold this criminal regime to account, and to make sure it is held to account for crimes that it is committing against its people,” Cameron told reporters outside a meeting of leaders of the European Union in Brussels, Belgium.

“And one day, no matter how long it takes, there will be a day of reckoning for this dreadful regime.”

via Britain’s prime minister warns of ‘a day of reckoning’ for Syrian regime – CNN.com.