SYRIA: Government supporters in Damascus say they have no faith in the Arab League as monitors tasked with assessing the implementation of a peace plan in Syria present their findings this weekend

Record ID: 280471

  • Title: SYRIA: Government supporters in Damascus say they have no faith in the Arab League as monitors tasked with assessing the implementation of a peace plan in Syria present their findings this weekend
  • Date: 21st January 2012
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (JANUARY 20, 2012) (REUTERS) PRO-GOVERNMENT SUPPORTER WITH SYRIAN FLAG AND PORTRAIT OF PRESIDENT BASHAR AL ASSAD HANGING FROM BUILDING PRO-GOVERNMENT SUPPORTERS WITH SYRIAN FLAGS CHANTING MORE OF THE PRO-GOVERNMENT DEMONSTRATION SIGN READING (Arabic) "Israel tried to kill us once, Qatar is trying to kill us a thousand times, Syrians beware."
  • Embargoed: 5th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5N67L8NSJVRRXM1MQQJNW0TXU
  • Story Text: Supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's came out for a small but strong demonstration of allegiance to the government on Friday (January 20, 2012) in Damascus. Reports from other parts of Syria said violence broke out in other cities after Friday prayers as security forces countered anti-government protesters.
    Arab peace monitors have completed a month-long mission and Arab foreign ministers are meeting this Sunday to decide whether or not to prolong or end the mission.
    In Damascus Syrians said they had no faith in that mission.
    At the small pro-Assad demonstration, near the Omayyed mosque, dozens of young men chanted: "We are your men, Bashar" and "Shabiha forever, for your eyes, Bashar", a reference to a militia that operates alongside security forces.
    One of the demonstrators, Rouba, said she was angry that Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al Thani, suggested sending Arab troops to Syria.
    "Since we have lost our faith in the Arab League long time ago so we don't have faith in their report either you know? So what's the point I mean such a mission, Hamad says that he wants Arabic troops to Syria? We can't have faith in something like that. Not in the Arab League nor in the mission,", Rouba said.
    Some Arab countries, led by Qatar, which heads the League's committee on Syria, say the mission has failed. Damascus is against Qatar's idea of sending in Arab troops. Nor is it endorsed by any other country in the 22-member League.
    And Iraq and Lebanon have said they will not enforce Arab sanctions on Syria, offering a trade lifeline to a country whose other neighbours are Turkey, Jordan and Israel.
    Syrian businessman, Louai, believes the Arab League has failed to listen to the Syrian people.
    "In my opinion, I do not have faith in the Arabic League because the league since its foundation until now, did not give us the feeling that it is Arabic. It have not taken the opinions of the citizens in the whole Arab nations and their issues. So unfortunately, I do not have faith in the League," he said.
    Hundreds of people have been killed since the monitors arrived in Syria, where an armed insurgency has grown in recent months, contesting Assad's grip on several parts of the country.
    But the opinion amongst these Syrians in Damascus is that they have been let down by the Arab League and resent foreign interference in their country's affairs.
    "Frankly, as a Syrian citizen, I do not expect anything from them, I do not trust the mission," says Nourhan, a student.
    Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, the head of the monitoring mission, is expected to fly to Cairo, the headquarters of the Arab League, on Saturday to report on what his 165 members have witnessed since they deployed in Syria on Dec. 26.
    Critics of the peace mission say it has done little more than provide diplomatic cover for Assad to pursue a crackdown that has already killed more then 5,000 people by a United Nations count. Others believe it provided a diplomatic conduit to the remote Assad government.
    Either way it will concentrate the minds of international leaders critical of Assad's regime and force them to consider what action, if any, they must take to stop what the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, described as the "ferocious repression" of Assad's opponents by the authorities.
    Sarkozy has called on the United Nations (U.N.) to act. The international body has so far been paralysed by divisions over Syria.
    Saying the unrest and the crackdown was dragging Syria towards chaos and would only benefit extremists the French President has also urged the Arab League to intensify its monitoring efforts.
    The Syrian authorities accuse foreign-backed militants of killing 2,000 members of the security forces since the unrest began in March, inspired by Arab uprisings elsewhere.
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