Syrian Army Defectors Battle State Forces as 40 Demonstators Are Killed - Bloomberg

Syrian Army Defectors Battle State Forces as 40 Demonstators Are Killed - Bloomberg

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“The general strike took place in several Syrian cities and has terrified the regime as the Hama governor threatened to seal off the stores in the city and forces threatened to set these stores on fire,” Ali Hassan, spokesman for the Syrian Revolution Council, an opposition group, told Al Arabiya in an interview .

The protests of Assad’s government followed successful efforts to topple regimes in Egypt and Tunisia. Longtime Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi was killed by revolutionary forces in that country and Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh resigned last month in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Security forces opened fire at protesters demanding Assad’s ouster, killing at least 43 people since Dec. 9, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Observatory, said in an e-mailed statement from London.
Tanks Burnt

Heavy clashes between the Syrian army and defectors in the southern province of Daraa were reported by the Observatory, which said three army tanks were burnt. Security forces killed 14 people today, Al Jazeera television said, without specifying where. More troops have defected in recent days and the clashes occurred as they sought to protect civilians from attacks by government forces, Al Jazeera reported.

The Syrian National Council, an umbrella group uniting several opposition groups, said the United Nations is unable to prevent the regime from “killing its innocent citizens and shedding their blood in front of the whole world,” and called on other countries to intervene in an e-mailed statement today.

More than 5,000 people have been killed opposing the government, and the number of detainees has reached more than 15,000, the statement said. The UN has said 4,000 people have been killed in the violence.

The Arab League foreign ministers will discuss Syria in a special Dec. 17 meeting at its Cairo headquarters, Egypt’s state-run Middle East News Agency reported today, citing an unidentified diplomat.

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