Syrian Forces Kill 32 as UN’s Ban Urges Assad to ‘Listen’
September 16, 2011, 11:42 AM EDTBy Massoud A. Derhally and Zahra Hankir
(Updates with death toll in first, second paragraphs.)
Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Syrian forces have killed at least 32 protesters throughout the country since yesterday as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said “enough is enough.”
At least 24 people were killed today by security agents in the suburbs of the central city of Homs, the west central governorate of Hama, the northern province of Idlib, the eastern town of Deir al-Zour, the capital, Damascus, and the southern area of Daraa, where the uprising against President Bashar al- Assad began in mid-March, Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria and Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, said by telephone.
“For six months, we have seen escalating violence and repression,” Ban told reporters at the UN in New York yesterday. “The international community has repeatedly appealed to President Assad to stop, most recently the foreign ministers of the Arab League. He must now listen to such urgent calls.”
This year’s crackdown on dissent has left more than 3,600 civilians dead, according to Qurabi. About 30,000 have been detained and 13,000 of them are still being held, according to estimates from Qurabi and Merhi.
At least eight people died yesterday in Hama, Idlib, Deir al-Zour, the suburbs of Damascus and in Daraa. State media said one member of Syria’s security forces was killed and another four were injured in Basr al Harir, on the outskirts of Daraa, when they came under fire today from “armed groups, including gunfire from the minarets of mosques.”
Opposition Conference
Opponents of Assad plan to gather about 300 people at a conference tomorrow inside Syria, Merhi said.
Opposition groups said yesterday in Istanbul that they had formed a national council of more than 100 members, 70 of them in exile, in a push to unify against Assad’s government. Representatives are from the Sunni, Shiite, Alawite, Druze and Christian communities as well as the Kurdish minority and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Ban said the “international community should really take some coherent measures and speak in one voice.” Opposition in the UN Security Council from Russia and China has prevented adoption of a U.S. and European proposal for UN sanctions.
U.S. and European leaders have stepped up their own sanctions against Assad, including bans on oil exports, and urged him to cede power. The measures haven’t halted the suppression of what Syria’s government calls foreign-backed terrorism.
Syrian state media organizations aired what they called a “confession” by Colonel Hussein Harmoush, the most senior commander to break away from the army. Harmoush fled to Turkey after the uprising began. The Turkish government turned him over to Syrian authorities.
Harmoush, speaking on state television, said the Muslim Brotherhood smuggled weapons to several Syrian cities, including Hama and Homs, and that the leaders of “criminal groups” coordinated with each other to distribute weapons.
--With assistance from Anthony DiPaola in Dubai and Bill Varner at the United Nations. Editors: Heather Langan, Karl Maier, Ben Holland.
To contact the reporters on this story: Massoud A. Derhally in Dubai at mderhally@bloomberg.net; Zahra Hankir in Dubai at zhankir@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.
