Violence keeps Syria on edge, Arab mission in doubt [View all]

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Last edited Fri Jan 20, 2012, 09:15 AM - Edit history (1)

AMMAN | Fri Jan 20, 2012 6:54am EST

AMMAN (Reuters) - Scattered violence broke out on Friday in Syria, where Arab peace monitors have completed a month-long mission, ahead of Muslim prayers that are often followed by demonstrations for and against President Bashar al-Assad.

Security forces prevented prayers at the Omari mosque in the southern town of Deraa, cradle of a 10-month-old anti-Assad revolt, for the fifth Friday in a row, activists said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a heavy security presence around mosques in the port city of Latakia and said shooting had erupted in several other restive towns.

The British-based group said a security officer had been assassinated in Deraa, possibly because he had changed sides. In the northwestern province of Idlib, security forces returned the bodies of six people who had disappeared two days earlier.

more:http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/20/us-syria-idUSTRE8041A820120120

Syria activists divided over value of monitors

DAMASCUS: The mandate of a much-criticised Arab League monitoring mission in Syria has expired amid calls from opposition activists to abandon the effort as a failure.

Arab ministers are due to meet tomorrow to decide whether to extend the mission for another month or seek tougher action against the government led by the President, Bashar al-Assad, whose crackdown on a 10-month-old uprising has so far left more than 5000 people dead.

The estimated 125 monitors who are still in the country are awaiting the league's decision in their hotels after delivering a report on their activities on Thursday. About 40 monitors have already left because they felt unsafe, an Arab League official in Cairo said.

Many activists and human rights groups, who initially campaigned for monitors to be admitted to the country, now say they want Arab leaders to give up the mission and refer the Syria crisis to the United Nations Security Council in the hope of securing tougher world condemnation of the crackdown.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/syria-activists-divided-over-value-of-monitors-20120120-1qa42.html#ixzz1k0J6Zw4f



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/syria-activists-divided-over-value-of-monitors-20120120-1qa42.html#ixzz1k0J0vveB



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/syria-activists-divided-over-value-of-monitors-20120120-1qa42.html#ixzz1k0IkiCBB