الرئيسية
A pro-Syrian regime protester waves a Syrian flag as he
stands in front of portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad, during a
protest against sanctions, Damascus, Syria, Friday Dec. 2, 2011.
International intervention, such as the NATO action in Libya that helped
topple Moammar Gadhafi, is all but out of the question in Syria. But
the European Union, the Arab League, Turkey and others have piled on
sanctions aimed at crippling the regime once and for all. (AP
Photo/Muzaffar Salman)
By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, AP
BEIRUT (AP) — The United Nations' human rights chief has
called on the international community to protect Syrian civilians as
violence surged across the country, with hours of intense shooting that
sent stray bullets whizzing across the border.
Friday's bloodshed
came as activists reported a grim milestone in the 8-month-old revolt:
November was the deadliest month of the uprising, with at least 950
people killed in gunbattles, raids and other violence as protesters
demand the ouster of President Bashar Assad.
The U.N. estimates
more than 4,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in the
middle of March, inspired by the Arab Spring revolutions sweeping the
Middle East.
"In light of the manifest failure of the Syrian
authorities to protect their citizens, the international community needs
to take urgent and effective measures to protect the Syrian people,"
Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told an
emergency meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Pillay on Thursday characterized the conflict in Syria as a civil war.
International
intervention, such as the NATO action in Libya that helped topple
Moammar Gadhafi, is all but out of the question in Syria. But the
European Union, the Arab League, Turkey and others have piled on
sanctions aimed at crippling the regime once and for all.
The
EU's latest sanctions, which were announced Thursday, target 12 people
and 11 companies with travel bans and asset freezes. They add to a long
list of regime figures previously sanctioned by the EU, including Assad
himself and high-ranking security officials.
The identities of
those on the new list were made public Friday in the EU's official
journal. They include the ministers of finance and the economy, as well
as army officers.
Also on the list are the pro-government Cham
Press TV and Al-Watan newspaper, as well as a research center that the
EU says provides support to the Syrian military in acquiring equipment
for the surveillance of demonstrators.
Three oil companies, which
the EU statement said provide financial support to the regime, were
also listed. They include the Syria Trading Oil Company, which is
responsible for Syria's oil exports.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC also said Friday it will halt its operations in Syria to comply with the penalties.
The
economic sanctions will limit the regime's access to cash at a time
when Assad is relying more than ever on the support of the business
classes.
Assad has spent years shifting the country away from the
socialism espoused by his father, which helped boost a new and vibrant
merchant class that transformed Syria's economic landscape — even as the
regime's political trappings remained unchanged.
So far, the
monied classes have clung to the sidelines, but if the economic squeeze
reaches them, it could be a game-changer for the regime.
Despite Friday's diplomatic squeeze, violence continued.
The
most serious violence appears to have occurred in the Syrian town of
Talkalakh, where witnesses reported more than six hours of explosions
and gunfire starting at 3 a.m.
"We were hearing strong explosions
and the crack of heavy machine-gun fire," Ahmad al-Fahel, who lives on
the Lebanese side of the border, told The Associated Press by telephone.
"It sounded as if they were destroying the city."
The town is
within walking distance from Lebanon, and at least two people were
struck by bullets on the Lebanese side. They included an 11-year-old
girl and a 40-year-old man, Lebanese security officials said, speaking
on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
There was no
immediate word on casualties in Talkalakh. But deadly violence was
reported elsewhere in Syria, in Homs and Idlib provinces. At least nine
people were killed nationwide, according to the Local Coordination
Committees, which is a coalition of Syrian activists groups.
The
reports of violence, and the activist groups' death toll for November,
could not be independently confirmed. The regime has sealed the country
off from foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting.
Assad is depending on the strong support of Russia and China to withstand the sanctions and growing worldwide isolation.
Russia
and China have vetoed a Western-backed U.N. Security Council resolution
condemning the bloodshed in Syria, arguing that NATO misused a previous
U.N. mandate authorizing use of force in Libya.
On Friday,
Russia's Ambassador Valery Loshchinin, whose nation has sold arms to
Syria, said opposition groups are being armed and organized from abroad.
He
echoed the Syrian government's argument that foreign powers looking to
destabilize Syria are behind the unrest — not true protesters seeking
more freedom and the end to dictatorship.
"Now, we hear,
unfortunately, that the conflict in Syria continues to be fueled by
outside forces who are interested in further destabilizing the
situation," Loshchinin told the emergency meeting of the U.N. Human
Rights Council.
"Armed terrorist and extremist groups are being
armed and organized, supplied with weapons and money from abroad," he
said. "The situation in Syria must be resolved in strict observance of
international law and the provisions of the United Nations Charter."
But
U.S. Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe accused the regime itself of
stoking the conflict "with propaganda about foreign conspiracies and
domestic terrorism."
"The propaganda is fooling no one," Donahoe said. "The regime is driving the cycle of violence and sectarianism."
The
47-nation rights council passed a resolution backed by 37 African,
European, Asian, Arab and American members chiding Syria for "gross and
systematic violations of human rights."
Russia and China were among four countries to vote against the motion.
The resolution also established the post of a special human rights investigator to investigate abuses in Syria.
___
Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and John Heilprin in Geneva contributed to this report.