Syria threatens to attack protesters

Fairfax Media

BEIRUT: Syrian forces encircling the city of Homs have issued a 72-hour ultimatum for all protests against the President, Bashar al-Assad, to stop, or a new offensive will begin.

The warning came as the regime's troops massed outside the city, apparently preparing for a major operation. Homs has been a centre of unrest since the beginning of demonstrations against Mr Assad in March.

The biggest protests have traditionally taken place on Fridays, the day of prayer in the Muslim world, when mosques fill with worshippers.

This time, the security forces tried to curb the unrest by issuing an explicit threat. ''We have been given 72 hours to stop protesting, or they are going to hit us hard,'' said an opposition activist in Homs going by the name Abu Rami.

However, demonstrations swept across the city after prayers. People left the mosques and filled the streets, chanting: ''Syria wants freedom'' and ''Bashar is an enemy of humanity''.

Witnesses said the security forces fired live rounds at some crowds. By Friday night the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based group, estimated that up to 10 people, including two children, had been killed in Homs.

Abu Rami said the security forces were ''going mad in Homs'', adding: ''They are shooting everything, especially at people going outside from the mosques.''

The Syrian National Council, an alliance of opposition parties, claimed that the forces outside Homs were preparing a ''massacre''.

At least 24 people were killed across the country on Friday, including four children, adding to the UN's estimate that more than 4000 people have died since protests began in March.

Meanwhile, Syria has appealed to the international community to help it find an ''honourable exit'' to the crisis it is facing, notably by stopping the flow of weapons into the country.

''We are appealing to the outside world and our brothers in the Arab world to help Syria [prevent the] channelling [of] weapons'' into the country, Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi told a news conference.

''We want the others, all the others, to support the Syrian evolution, not the armed confrontation in Syria. If we all work together we can find an honourable exit to the crisis.''

Mr Makdisi also denounced the US TV network ABC, which this week broadcast an interview with Mr Assad. He said ABC had edited the interview and broadcast only what it wanted the world to hear.

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