At least 160 reportedly killed on eve of observers’ visit to Syria

At least 160 reportedly killed on eve of observers’ visit to Syria

KAREEM FAHIM
BEIRUT— The New York Times News Service

Syrian rights activists and opposition groups said on Wednesday that forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had killed at least 160 defecting soldiers, civilians and anti-government activists over the past three days in northwestern Syria.

If confirmed, the killings would constitute one of the worst spasms of violence in the nine-month-old uprising.

Word of the killings, which the activists and opposition groups said had taken place near the city of Idlib near the Turkish border, was reported a day before observers from the Arab League are to visit Syria for the first time to monitor pledges by Mr. al-Assad’s government to withdraw its troops from besieged areas.

Some activists said the President’s forces had intensified a campaign of deadly violence and intimidation partly because the impending arrival of Arab League monitors may prevent such action in coming days.

“I fear the security forces may be trying to crush this thing before the monitors get in,” said Murhaf Jouejati, a member of the Syrian National Council, an opposition group.

The Syrian government, which has sought to characterize the anti-Assad uprising as a Western-backed insurrection by terrorist gangs and thugs, has not commented on reports of the killings. But the official Syrian Arab News Agency said on its website that Syrian authorities in the cities of Idlib, Homs and Daraa had “stormed dens of armed terrorist groups, arresting tens of wanted men who committed crimes of killing, attacked and sabotaged private and public properties.”

The agency said “a number of the terrorists have been killed and others wounded,” and that “big quantities of weapons, ammunitions, explosives and night goggles, in addition to modern communication sets, have been seized.”

It was impossible to corroborate the conflicting accounts because of restrictions on foreign press access in Syria, where, according to a United Nations estimate, more than 5,000 people have been killed since March. But in a statement, the secretary-general of the Arab League, Nabil al-Araby, suggested the reports by the opposition groups were credible, expressing concern about them and urging the Syrian government to “protect civilians.”

The Obama administration, which has become increasingly critical of Mr. al-Assad and has urged him to leave office, also gave credence to the new opposition reports of killings. In a statement, the White House said it was “deeply disturbed” by those reports.

The 22-member Arab League, a historically perfunctory body, shocked the Syrian regime more than three weeks ago by condemning Mr. al-Assad’s harsh repression of the political opposition movement there and threatening harsh economic sanctions. Since then Mr. Assad has manoeuvred to stall for time and agreed only a few days ago to allow Arab League monitors to visit.

In a possibly related development ahead of the Arab League monitors’ visit, Iran’s official media reported Wednesday that five Iranian engineers working on a power project in central Syria had been kidnapped by “unknown armed men,” presumably opponents of Mr. al-Assad. Iran is one of the few remaining allies of Mr. al-Assad’s government.

New York Times news service

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