Syrian army defectors kill 27 in clashes

IN one of their deadliest attacks yet, Syrian army defectors killed at least 27 government soldiers and police in clashes in the south, activists said. The escalating political unrest yesterday prompted Canada to become the latest country to urge its citizens to leave Syria.

The fighting took place around daybreak in the southern province of Daraa, where the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s authoritarian regime began in March.

Attacks by army defectors have been escalating in recent weeks, raising concerns the country is headed toward civil war.

Sanctions by Western powers and the Arab League have added to the growing pressure on Assad from within Syria.

Defectors from the Free Syrian Army, whose leaders are based in exile in neighbouring Turkey, fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a bus carrying policemen into the town of Busra al-Harir, killing 12 of the officers, said an activist based nearby.

That set off clashes with an accompanying force of soldiers. The defectors killed 13 of them, said the activist, who would only agree to be identified by his first name, Omar.

The fighters killed two more soldiers in an attack on a checkpoint, he said.

“The army was shelling the town with tanks shortly before the attack by insurgents,” Omar said.

Syrian troops are usually accompanied by policemen in buses whose job is to round up people after the army enters an area.

Citing witnesses on the ground, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported clashes in Daraa province. Syria has sealed off the country to journalists, making it impossible to confirm the accounts.

Amid the turmoil, Canadian foreign affairs minister John Baird said Canadians should leave Syria as soon as possible while commercial flights are still available. Washington issued a similar warning for US citizens in September.

The Obama administration is predicting Assad’s downfall. State Department official Frederic Hof told Congress Assad’s repression may allow him to hang on to power, but only for a short time.

“Our view is that this regime is the equivalent of dead man walking,” said Hof, the State Department’s point man on Syria. He said Syria was turning into “Pyongyang in the Levant,” a reference to the North Korean capital. He said it was difficult to say how much time Assad has left but added: “I do not see this regime surviving.”

The UN raised its death toll for the Syrian uprising substantially this week, saying more 5,000 people have been killed since the start. Assad’s regime is growing more isolated with the mounting international sanctions to punish his regime for its bloody crackdown that has mostly targeted unarmed, peaceful protesters.

Human Rights Watch issued a report alleging that dozens of Syrian military commanders and officials authorised or gave direct orders for widespread killings, torture and illegal arrests during the wave of anti-government protests.

The 88-page report by the New York-based group is based on more than 60 interviews with defectors from the Syrian military and intelligence agencies. It identifies 74 commanders and officials behind the alleged abuse.