THE WHITE House is preparing to introduce new sanctions against the Syrian regime in response to a military crackdown that yesterday saw tanks and armoured cars deployed against protesters.
The Obama administration condemned “the brutal violence used by the government of Syria”, describing it as deplorable, and adding: “The United States is pursuing a range of possible policy options, including targeted sanctions, to respond to the crackdown and make clear that this behaviour is unacceptable.”
Human rights groups estimate that about 350 people have died so far in Syria, 100 of them on Friday. Troops mounted a major assault yesterday on Deraa, the city where the uprising began a month ago, and Douma, a suburb of Damascus.
The US, having announced sanctions unilaterally, is putting pressure on Britain and other European countries to impose sanctions against the Syrian regime.
The US treasury department and other US agencies are discussing freezing the assets of senior officials accused of human rights abuses and banning them from travelling to the US or doing business there. Such sanctions are mainly symbolic, as the US has long had stringent measures in place against Syria and has little trade with the country. Sanctions by European countries, with whom Syria has extensive trade, would have more impact and several members of the Syrian government have assets in Europe.
In another sign of increasing diplomatic pressure, the UN security council is considering a draft statement condemning the violence and calling for restraint.
Such a statement, introduced yesterday by four European members of the security council - Britain, France, Germany and Portugal - is a necessary first step towards any eventual imposition of UN sanctions. The draft backs a call by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon for an investigation into the killings.
Troops and tanks yesterday rolled into the southern Syrian city of Deraa and the Damascus suburbs of Douma and Maadamiah in a sharp intensification of the government’s crackdown on dissent that began last Friday.
According to unconfirmed re- ports from Deraa, 25 people died as four tanks firing live rounds surrounded al-Omari mosque at the centre of the old quarter. In Douma and Maadamiah, dozens of arrests were made. Human rights campaigner Suhair al-Atassi said the government was waging a “savage war designed to annihilate Syria’s democrats”.
The army was expected to deploy in other restive cities and towns with the aim of smothering the uprising, which has left about 135 dead since protests took place in a dozen cities and towns on Friday. More than 340 have died during six weeks of unrest.
The military operation in Deraa, where protests began in mid-March, followed its designation by opposition activists as “liberated territory”, a development the government could not tolerate. Electricity and telephone communications were cut and the Jordanian border was sealed.
In a bid to explain the army’s deployment, the authorities said nine officers had been killed.
Since protests began, a number of shooting attacks on the army and police have been staged by unidentified elements in Deraa and elsewhere, distinguishing the Syrian revolt from the Egyptian.
The crackdown began hours after Mr Assad signed legislation lifting the 1963 emergency law and dissolving state security courts in response to demonstrators’ demands. They replied to the concessions by returning to the streets, some calling for his removal, others for the release of prisoners and investigations into state violence against protesters.
The situation in Syria is very different from that in Egypt, where 18 days of protests brought down then president Hosni Mubarak.
Al-Omari mosque square in Deraa is not Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square. Deraa is a rural backwater, not the capital. Deraa has risen, but in Damascus, the largest city, and Aleppo, the second city, protests have been rare, small and dispersed without undue violence.
In Egypt, the democracy movement was mainly secular. In Syria, mosques have played a major role in activating and organising protests. The Jordanian city of Irbid, just across the border, a stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood, is likely to have connections with the Hauran, the region where Deraa is located. The government claims the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood is exploiting the protests.
While Egyptian secular activists made good use of Facebook and Twitter to launch their uprising, the creator of the most influential Syrian webpage, “Syrian Revolution 2011”, Fida ad-Din Tariif as-Sayed Isa, is reported to be a Brotherhood member who lives in Sweden and has contact with the Egyptian movement.
Foreign journalists have been barred from entering Syria. (Additional reporting Guardian service)
