5 killed as Syria presses crackdown

Published: November 14, 2011

NICOSIA (AFP/Reuters) - Syrian security forces on Sunday pressed a crackdown on dissent, killing five people in the central cities of Homs and Hama, rights activists said, adding two soldiers were killed in an ambush. "Security forces opened fire killing four people in Hama," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in an email received in Nicosia. In the central city of Homs, snipers killed one person on Cairo Street early in the morning, said the Observatory, which reported a similar incident in the same place the previous day. Meanwhile, engineering students were injured by a "round of mortar" fire which hit their faculty building in Baath University, also in Homs, the same source added. And two citizens, one in Homs and the other in Hama, died from gunshot wounds suffered the previous day. Gunmen believed to be defectors ambushed and killed two soldiers patrolling town of Qusayr, near Homs, the Observatory said. The deaths come one day after the Arab League decided to suspend Syria from the pan-Arab body as punishment for its brutal crackdown on dissent which has left more than 3,500 Syrians dead, according to UN figures. Meanwhile, a top US treasury official held talks on Sunday with senior Jordanian officials and banking executives on efforts to enforce economic sanctions against Syria, a US embassy statement said. Daniel Glaser, the Treasury Department's assistant secretary who investigates terrorism financing, will also discuss possible attempts by Syria to evade US and European Union sanctions through the Jordanian financial sector, the statement said. Glaser's meeting with banking sector executives "will underscore the importance of Jordan's continued efforts to maintain a transparent and well regulated financial sector", it said. The European Union and the United States recently have expanded sanctions against Syria to put pressure on Damascus to end the violent crackdown on demonstrators. The Arab League which suspended Syria on Saturday also said it had planned economic sanctions against the Syrian leadership but did not disclose details. Meanwhile, Lebanon's former prime minister Saad Hariri on Sunday slammed his country's decision to vote against Arab League punitive measures on Syria. "It is shameful and I hope the Syrian people know that this government doesn't represent the Lebanese will," Hariri said in a message posted on Twitter. "This is not the Lebanese will that voted, it is the Hezbollah government headed by (Najib) Mikati," added Hariri, who leads the pro-Western opposition camp in Lebanon. Hariri has been living abroad since Hezbollah brought down his government in January. The Arab League suspended Syria on Saturday until President Bashar al-Assad implements an Arab deal to end violence against protesters, and called for sanctions and transition talks with the opposition. Yemen, Syria and Lebanon were the only countries to vote against the measures adopted by the 22-member regional bloc, while Iraq, which like Lebanon neighbours Syria, abstained. "Finally the Arabs took their responsibilities towards the plight of the Syrian people seeking freedom, democracy and dignity," Hariri tweeted. The turmoil in Syria has driven a wedge between Hezbollah, which supports Assad's regime, and the opposition in Lebanon which resents Damascus for its 30-year political and military control over its smaller neighbour. Asked by a Twitter user whether he thought the fall of Assad's regime would have negative repercussions for the Middle East, Hariri said: "No I think it will be the best thing for the region."
The Assad regime was widely blamed for the 2005 assassination of Saad's father Rafiq Hariri, who was also Lebanon's prime minister, but Damascus has always denied any involvement.

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