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Reuters
Demonstrators gather during a protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad after Friday prayers in Binsh, near Idlib, on Friday.
Tens of thousands of Syrians braved tear gas and gunfire to protest across the country Friday, vowing to storm the capital Damascus to oust President Bashar Assad as the European Union ramped up pressure on the regime by imposing sanctions on his wife and other close relatives.
Security forces deployed in many cities to disperse protests, but opposition groups reported fewer protester deaths than in past weeks. Activists said more than 20 people were killed nationwide in army attacks on opposition areas or clashes with armed rebels.
International condemnation and high-level diplomacy have failed to stop the year-old Syria crisis, which the U.N. says has killed more than 8,000 people, many of them civilian protesters.
Friday's sanctions bring to 13 the sets imposed by the EU to try to compel the regime to halt its violent crackdown on dissent. The U.S. and others have also imposed sanctions. Previous measures were aimed at Syrian companies and Assad himself.
EU bans Assad's wife from traveling and shopping within its territories
Those imposed Friday targeted Asma Assad, Syria's British-born first lady, banning her from traveling to EU countries and freezing any assets she may have there. They also included the president's mother, sister, sister-in-law and eight government ministers.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said sanctions were weakening the regime.
"Their economic situation becomes ever more difficult. Syria has few reserves," he said. "We think its economic situation will become untenable."
The new sanctions came on a day of renewed violence across Syria, with the army raining mortar rounds into the rebellious city of Homs, killing civilians, opposition supporters said.
Live television feeds from around Syria showed a slew of anti-Assad rallies, including in the Damascus district of Barzeh, in the northwestern city of Hama, in Qamishli in the Kurdish east, and in the southern province of Deraa.
"Damascus here we come," read several placards held up by the relatively small crowds. Activists said eight people were wounded after demonstrations near five Damascus mosques were broken up by security forces.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 13 civilians were killed in government attacks Friday. Government troops and armed rebels clashed in a number of places, with at least seven soldiers and one rebel fighter killed, the group said.
Another group, the Local Coordination Committees, said government troops killed 36 civilians on Friday. It did not provide details on each civilian killed.
On the diplomatic front, the U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who is leading international efforts to stop the relentless mayhem, planned to travel to Moscow and Beijing this weekend for talks on the crisis, his spokesman said.
At least 500 children killed in conflict
While sanctions have hurt Syria's economy, they appear to have had little effect on the regime's actions.
In Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council blasted Syria's crackdown and extended the mandate of a U.N. expert panel tasked with reporting on alleged abuses in the country.
A resolution passed by the 47-member body condemned "widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms perpetrated" by Syrian authorities, including summary executions, torture and sexual abuse of detainees and children.
Also Friday, UNICEF said at least 500 children have been killed in the conflict, while hundreds more have been injured, detained or abused. The U.N. children's agency said schools have closed and health centers have shut down or become too dangerous for many families to reach.
Throughout the conflict, China and Russia have protected Syria from censure by the U.N. Security Council, fearing a strongly worded resolution condemning Assad could pave the way for military intervention, as happened in Libya last year.
Russia, however, softened its stance Thursday by calling for Assad to pull his troops out of Syrian cities. The U.N. has been trying to secure a cease-fire so all parties could hold a dialogue on a political solution to end the conflict. So far, both sides have refused talks.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Observatory, said Friday evening that he had yet to confirm the death of one protester during the day, saying this is unusual because many more protesters are often killed by security forces.
"We hope it happens like this every time because we don't want anyone to die," he said.
The Syrian government has barred most media from working in the country, and activist accounts could not be independently verified.
Syria's state news agency said hundreds marched in a pro-Assad demonstration in the capital Damascus and published photos of them carrying Syrian flags and Assad photos.
In Jordan's capital Amman, blind Syrian cleric Ahmad al-Sayasneh called on a congregation of 1,000 Syrians to "remain steadfast until our tyrant leadership is ousted."
It was the cleric's first public appearance since fleeing Syria two months ago. Al-Sayasneh rose to prominence though his fiery sermons calling for civil disobedience at a mosque in the southern Syrian town of Deraa, considered the uprising's birthplace.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
I'll give the Syrians credit for having some very large stones..
The Assad regime has already proven that killing unarmed civilian protesters , is just another day at the office..
Yes, this is the case in most of the Muslim nations. Assad is still the best among the bad lot!
It is worse in seventh century bigoted Sunni Islamic Bahrain, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and more nations.
They have oil and so they are able to get away with murder including banning religious practices of non-Muslims.
jonathon-1982062 Iam glsd to see somebody that getting the picture right, the innocents rebels are nothing but thugs brought in with money from SAUDIA RAABIA AND QATAR plus some the muslim brotherhood the terrorize the christians in Syria and Iraq , I mean if ASSAD so brutal why does not he unleach his air force and heavy arms like ISREAL AND TURKY do , they can get by with as self defense in ASSAD case its murder . what a BS .
my turn: The whole Syrian and Iranians dramas orchestrated by Sunni seventh century desert mindset bigoted barbaric Saudi, Kuwaiti, UAE rulers, oil companies, Christian and Jewish right-wings and their puppet politicians and media.
They are similar to Iraqi wars and the oil prices manipulations to the highest levels.
Oil prices are jumping again to $123 a barrel!
Syrian rebels are supported by al-Qaida, who are hunting the US and other western nations and people, all over the world. On Syria and Iran, oil producing and price manipulating gangsters are one.
Can there be more barbaric and beastly rulers than the Saudis?
And the band played on.
Not much of a crowd in the picture - definitely thin to nothing at the edges. So tens of thousands, I am not so sure.
Bob-3360448,
Need to get your eyes checked, Bob. The square is packed to all sides up to the buildings. You cannot see how many are behind the camera, or around the corners.
When oil bands of Sunni Saudis, Kuwaiti, UAE, oil companies, Christian and Jewish rights' play and others start dancing as in Iraq, tens look tens of thousands!
Another oil bands are playing on in Iran. Iran has WMDs to dangerous levels. So choke the oil supplies such that oil prices jump and oil monies collection agencies get busy with plates going all around!
Peaceful protests can only go so far in effecting the desired changes. After a certain amount of time it becomes crystal clear that the people are going to have to fight "fire with fire" and that becomes a civil war between the people and their government. But if that is what it takes in certain situations to effect the desired changes - so be it!!!
The United States was founded by "terrorists" (What was the Boston Tea Party if not an act of terrorism?) who went to war to obtain their freedom and then fought a civil war that expanded those freedoms to a larger portion of the population - which also illustrates that it is the end result that determines the righteousness of the cause.... If you lose, regardless of which side you are on, you get the short end of the stick in the history books....
One of my favorite truisms is "Nobody gives a $h1t until personal risk is introduced into their environment." How much more personal risk does the US government need to introduce in the lives of its citizens (Patriot Act and NDAA for example) before we all get dam mad enough to do more than just piss and moan about it and act as is necessary to remedy the problems???
The most important lesson from history is that the power has ALWAYS belonged to "the People" - that would be the 99% in current lingo - all it takes is the will to wield that power!!! Ya'all ready to rumble????
i would hardly call dumping some tea into the harbor an act of terrorism; vandalism maybe but definitely not terrorism . your kind of idiotic hyperbole doesnt bring anything to the conversation
Translation: My personal opinion differs from yours on one of the things you said. Therefore go @!$%# yourself.
goatstag in post 4 said in part; "The United States was founded by "terrorists" (What was the Boston Tea Party if not an act of terrorism?"
I'm not following you here. I can see how dumping tea from a ship into the harbour is vandalism. I don't see it as an act of terrorism. What have I forgotten or otherwise don't see?
Anarchy! Yahooooo! Oooops! #&*%.
History of an occupation
Hope these apply to seventh century bigoted Sunni Saudi beastly and barbaric ruler, his 5000 princes and princesses, Kuwaiti ruler with more than 85 wives, UAE rulers with another battalions of girls and women to go around!
Sooner these happen, better it will be for the liberations of Shiites and other Islamic sects and infidels, non-Muslims.
It will be a big relief to the world from their Islamic extremist brand of Salaffi and Wahhabi and their mosques springing up all around!
Also we will have less of Iraqi wars and no Syrian and Iran scare and war mongering!
There will be no roles for George Bushes, John McCains, Netanyahos!
"the European Union ramped up pressure on the regime by imposing sanctions on his wife and other close relatives."
If Assad's wife can't get the latest Christian Dior fashion for her dress collection now or the latest Gucci shoes and handbags, she will have a hissy fit. That will really put the pressure on president Assad such as he has never felt before. :)
no shortage of people to gather in the streets to protest something. if only they had education (or at least normal jobs and didnt spend all day with their heads in the cloud of religion), life would be better for them.
also, enough kids at the rally? its just a sausagefest with some boys thrown in. better watch out for kony...
Mike,
"if only they had education (or at least normal jobs and didnt spend all day with their heads in the cloud of religion), life would be better for them."
I'm sure that is part of the problem. The unemployment rate in Syria in 2002 was 26%. It has since declined to 8.3%, but that's still high, and it's particularly high for the youth, who constitute about 25% of the population. They can't find jobs.
Mike,
Where do you get the erroneous idea that they spend all day with their heads in the clouds. I just got back from 6.5 years in the Middle East, and the people there work a hell of a lot harder than 90% of Americans - and most of them do it for less than $5 per day. Kids aged 6 and up have full time jobs to help support their families.
After all Muslims should protest on some thing. Quran burning is one of the most common issues.
Assad should bomb these Sunni Islamic mad heroin addicts once for all!
It will be a break for some time!
Where are the women in those protests? sorry but not biting, no women = Syrians don't want a democracy, they don't want equality for women, they want shariah law.
due to the internet opposed people in arab spring see how people in other countries experience the freedom and protected rights around the world and they themselves are repressed and restricted from experiencing, and yes, woman are protesting in syria by the tens or hundreds of thousands.
Where are they in the pictures John? I haven't seen any pictures showing women protesting. Compare with pictures during the protests in Iran. In Iran women are protesting side by side with men.
To the Greens: V!
@ John - Eventho in most pictures there is only men, I did find some pictures with (and articles about) Syrian women protesting, I will give you that. However they don't seem to be present in most protests, it seems to be protests specifically for women, where you see mainly women in the crowd, similar to the protests in Libya (there was women protesting there too, in a similar way), while in Iran women were almost always present, as active as the men, protesting alongside with them.
Hopefully I will be proven wrong about this (sharia law), the future will tell.
You don't see women because the rebels are Sunni religious extremists. The Assad government is a secular government with freedom of religion to all faiths,and equality for women. The women that don't want to wear head covering don't. One of the first things that happened in Iraq with the Islamists in power,was women forced to cover up. The same is happening in all the so-called "Arab Spring" countries. That's why the Saudi religious zealots are bankrolling all these revolts. They see this as a chance to impose radical Islam on the whole Arab World. And we are stupidly helping them do it. If Assad falls the millions of Syrian Shia,Christians,and secular Sunni,will be at the mercy of those fanatics.
Uncle Bob 512 you got it right buddy tell that to Hillary Clinton and John Mccain sorry but Mccain needs to go back to arizona and live with Sarah Pailn he made her enough money just by taking her out of Alaska . and they should play Nintendo war games toghther. Because he does not know anything about foriegn policy and nor does she . THANK GOD FOR SMALL favors
someone should "Saddam" Assad before he gets a "Gadhafi"
What do you mean brave? Are they brave when they put bombs that kill other innocent civilians? Let's remember that they are armed with machine guns, rifles, bombs, therefore, if this is being brave, what is your definition of coward? I haven't seen American media referring to OWS as brave and they don't have weapons, and they match better the meaning of the word of brave than your perceived "brave". I do know they have a manifesto and maybe is that manifesto that republicans fear most and of course American media and that is why they are criticized. Remember, when you give adjetives to those groups we don't like, the other side feels the same about your "braves." Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and don't you forget it.
OWS??? ARE YOU SERIOUS??? The only dangers of being shot at for the OWS was by their own drug dealers! Was the OWS not protesting the government? Were they shelled from heavy artillery by their government? The OWS had nothing to fear because they were protected %100 by the very system they were protesting, and they knew it! It took no bravery to camp out in a public park, just stupidity! From what we have seen lately is the OWS has been performing wanton public vandalism at night against private unguarded institutions, is this not cowardice? You should be deeply ashamed at your attempt to compare what the Syrian people are facing and what the OWS faced. Syrian civilians are dying in their homes with their children, OWS were OD'ing under their tarps, you are disgusting!
History of an occupation
Hey, Ken, say hello to Barbie for me, tell her she is a doll! There are stupid and there are stupid. All you have to say is they are drug dealers? I don't know how old you are, but I'm sure that you are a product of those drug dealers of the 60s. I wish I could understand why all the retards flock to tea partiers, republicans? Maybe they are attracted to the flame of stupidity, slogan peddling, racism like moths to the real flame, but too stupid to realize it. You can have your opinion, but not your own facts. "Leaked: Republicans Scared of Occupy Wall Street." FYI, Frank Luntz, one of the darling of the racist parties said that. Second stupid, may I call you stupid? Thanks. As I was saying, stupid, you haven't seen how the police treat them? I have and it's shameful and brings back memories of the Viet Nam war protests. Also, don't forget, stupid, that the NYPD, the most corrupt police department in the nation and possibly in the world, has been caught dropping homeless people into OWS demonstrations trying, like you, to cheapen, to ridiculize their movement and if they go to such extremes, don't you know, stupid, from there to planting drugs is just an achooo! They are well known, and of course, I referring to NY's gestapo, framing others for crimes not committed is one of their many MOs. You didn't see, how convenient, how that Iraqi veteran, minding his own business was almost killed? And do you know, stupid, he still hasn't recuperated 100% and he may never will. But, I hear you, stupid, you confirmed my premise and your darling, Frank Luntz that corporations, tea partiers, republicans, and of course you are scared to death of them, otherwise, if that wans't true, why come out swingin with lies galore? You are so stupid that you can't see the forest from the trees. The Syrians "brave" although armed with weapons and OWS a bunch of "drug dealers.? And that is your logic? I, thank God, can distinguish between a real hero, OWS, and phony "heroes" and the word, actions don't compare, but frankly, I don't give a damn, cause you are too stupid to see it. I haven't heard, or seen a tea partier and their racism galore ever telling the truth, they love to "refudiate" any thing and every thing w/o facts and that, stupid, is your problem. And I know that you are so stupid that can realize they are fighting for you also, if there is one thing I do know for sure, you are not part of 1%, ergo, this has to be stupidty to the nth degree. Living from pay check to pay check and criticizing the people that are working, fighting for you has to be masochistic til death do you apart.
Hell no-568603
Its amazing when someone has their head shoved so far up their ass they have such a narrow field of view through their nostrils they can't see further than the tip of their nose... Oh you poor baby, can't get a CEOs job right out of high school? Must be the government's fault! Most OWS protesters are underachievers with socialist or communist tendencies (its obvious in their demands) as they want the rewards for someone else' hard work! Funny how you keep mentioning political parties as if it has anything to do with OWS demands, this proves you are really really STUPID! Democrat & Republican governments will treat the OWS the same, as anti-government, anti-establishment thugs without anything better to do. It's something they will both leave to the municipal police and offices to handle. Because the government hasn't changed much the past 100 years but you truly believe a different administration will really bow to OWS demands, why would they give in to whiny delinquents that most already have records for creating public disturbances; these are the same punks you will find breaking into shops & burning cars during at anti-globalization, anti-free trade, and in fact anti-government anything. many are professional protesters that are paid from anti-american bursaries from foreign countries! . BTW dip@!$%# - I am not American, I couldn't care less what your political views are and I couldn't give a @!$%# who's in power. This shows you as being short sighted and moronic to try and place me into some mold your mind creates!~ But I have been one that put up with these stupid ass delinquents that did nothing but destroy our community park, and also brought in drug dealers (some were dealers themselves), commit Rape (do you ever watch the news or are you allowed a TV?), and lately resorted to damaging public and private property as their anniversary.. and ALL THIS FOR WHAT? They want the rich to hand over the money to them,, boo-fUCHIN-hoo! They should be all tossed into work camps to work off the damage they did that regular (the real 99.999% that wish these punks would get a jobs) people in the community had to pay for. I work and pay for what I have all myself, life is 100 % about personal choices, the moment you start to blame a politician because you can't afford a new car, get off the friggin LSD and get a better job!!!
History of an occupation
Freedom isn't free. These people are risking and sacrificing their lives in a way that very few of us Americans will ever understand.
Poor Mrs Assad. The world doesn't love her anymore. Maybe she can shop in Iran, Russia, or China. They like her. Can't wait until the whole thing comes crumbling down. If she manages to flee back to Britian, they will never leave her alone. Maybe they'll arrest her and throw her in a 2 x 4 jail cell. She how she likes that. It is all coming apart, thanks to the brave Syrian people. No thanks to Iran or Russia or China, or even Syris' neighbors, brother and sister Muslims who haven't donn too much UNTIL now.
.