Syria continues crackdown despite foreign appeals

THE Syrian army launched raids on rebel areas yesterday, defying growing international reproach over the regime’s crackdown on the five-month-old uprising.

Turkey’s foreign minister met with President Bashar Assad yesterday to express his concern as envoys from India, Brazil and South Africa also headed to Damascus to press for an end to the bloodshed, which activists say has killed about 1,700 people since March.

The visit by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is significant because Turkey until recently had close ties to Damascus. But Ankara has become increasingly critical of its neighbour over the bloodshed. Turkey’s state-run news agency confirmed that Assad met Davutoglu.

Activists said tanks stormed villages outside the besieged city of Hama and two towns in Idlib province, which borders Turkey. There was heavy machine-gun fire in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, which also has been a flashpoint.

The reports were confirmed by Local Coordination Committees, which help organise and document the protests, and the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Both groups said at least two people were killed.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner lauded the visit and said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had spoken to Davutoglu.

“They did talk about the situation in Syria, you know, and we believe it’s another opportunity to send yet another strong message to Assad that this crackdown on peaceful protesters cannot stand,” Toner said.

India’s UN ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri said his country’s representative was scheduled to arrive in Damascus last night and will join representatives from Brazil and South Africa for a meeting with Syria’s foreign minister to appeal for an end to the crackdown.

The Syrian regime has shown no signs of scaling back its crackdown despite Damascus’ increasing diplomatic isolation.

Saudi Arabia, along with Bahrain and Kuwait in the Gulf, recalled their ambassadors this week.

In an editorial yesterday, the Al Baath newspaper of Syria’s ruling Baath party said the regime was hopeful that Turkey and the Gulf Arab nations will “quickly correct their stands.”