Assad Forces mass as a Test of Syrian lifted emergency rule

April 22, 2011, 4: 54 pm EDT by Benjamin Harvey, Tamara Walid and Massoud a. Derhally

(Updates with deployment of security forces from first paragraph.) See the EXTRA and puts more Middle East turmoil).

April 22 (Bloomberg) - Syrian security deployed across the country today to protests which could be the first test of lifting of President Bashar al-Assad yesterday of a State of emergency 48 years.The city of Latakia, site of violent protests last week, has been blocked with sand bags, Arabiya television reported, while army units encircling the town of the newspaper Al Watan third, Syria, Homs, which is close to the Governmentreported.Assad has issued the Decree yesterday ending rule of emergency, which has suspended most of the constitutional guarantees, prohibited gatherings, restricts the freedom of the media and of arbitrary detention. He abolished the Supreme Court of State security and approved a measure allowing demonstrations, which require concessions more activists planned to challenge today. "" What they try to do is to test that the lifting of the emergency law means in reality, Chris Phillips, an analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit in London, said by telephone late yesterday. "" " "A big question will be be how many people out to Aleppo and Damascus, remarkable for having been relatively calm in the city centres, the previous Friday and if they can get large scale demonstrations to go there."Torture, activists said KillingsSome that orders are yesterday of what is necessary to put an end to protests that spread throughout the country there are almost six weeks. A crackdown on dissent has caused the death, dozens of demonstrators while the Government has blamed the violence on criminals and terrorists who seek to weaken the State.At least 130 people were killed in the unrest, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch. Syrian forces have tortured demonstrators and it is impossible to verify how many remain in detention, said Human Rights Watch. Activists say the number of fatalities exceeds 200. "There are tensions well enough in all cities and presence of heavy security in preparation for the Friday prayer,"Abdul - Karim Rihawi, head of the Syrian human rights League, said yesterday in a telephone interview. "I do not think there is no tolerance for even so peaceful demonstrations" Greatest ChallengeThe protests mark the biggest challenge of rule Assad since he inherited power from his father 11 years ago.Ammar Qurabi, head of the national organization of the Syria for the human rights, said in an interview on the phone that the concessions have been won with blood. "What happened is good, but it is not enough, he said Assad moves yesterday. "The question is not a law, but a dominant environment that characterized the State and its security apparatus, the cancellation"Yassin Al - Haj Saleh, a Syrian writer and activist politics, said in a telephone interview yesterday."moreJosh Landis, a specialist in the Syria, who heads the Centre for studies of the Middle East at the University of Oklahoma at Norman, said that he expected Assad to stifle protests despite the announcement yesterday. "It will crack down hard, as it cannot allow this movement to snowball effect,"said Landis. "He made concessions, but he would not look low."At least 18 demonstrators had been killed in clashes since an address anti-government gatherings April 16 by Assad, Qurabi said this week.Assad accused the conspirators from abroad to take advantage of the unrest to undermine the Syria, mainly because of his anti-Israel groups support. Party Baath of Assad has been in power since 1963.Syria is an ally of the Iran and a power broker in neighbouring countries to the Lebanon, where it supports Hezbollah, a Muslim armed group of Shiites in war against Israel in 2006.

-Editors: Karl Maier, Jeffrey Donovan.

To contact the reporters on this story: Benjamin Harvey in Istanbul to bharvey11@bloomberg.net; Tamara Walid Dubai at twalid@bloomberg.net; Massoud a. Derhally to Beirut to mderhally@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew j. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.

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Syria: States emergency - the guardian

Weeks demonstrations in Syria reached a turning point this week. In the third city in the country, Homs, Tahrir style was broken up by a sit-in when police in the amount raised. More than 20 pro-democracy, demonstrators were killed since Monday in the city. But the switch in many minds happen earlier. It was known that he almost half a century of the State of emergency would end up as President Bashar al-Assad was. As a bold, patronize it. It was a problem of communication, he said. There was a conspiracy (the demonstrations), there were reforms and there were "need of the citizens, not only economic ones". Was he sure that its citizens understand, but as could appreciate it, what was going on when the Government not to explain what happened?

President Assad audience understood all too well. By the regime of the Salafist intruders, Muslim Brotherhood bin Stooges, saboteurs of Lebanon Saad Hariri and Saudi Arabia's Prince Bandar Sultan or of the Israeli secret service Mossad and the CIA agents supported is accused of the protesters as Syrians demanded to be heard. Chants for reform gave way to songs for regime change. "From the street, alley, from House to House, we want to rush you, Bashar", Sung mourning at a funeral. Since them, trying to rebuild at great cost, to a Syrian Tahrir square, have a physical epicenter of the revolt in a big city.

The Assad family (there are Bashar's brother Maher al-Assad, Commander of the presidential guard and his cousin Rami Makhlouf) now available to draw less political leverage, although there are many institutions of military ones. Ministry of the Interior instructions unheard. Protests continued overnight in Zabadani, based and Aleppo. A character that is inviting to join the urban Sunni population remained closed in Homs, the shops, is launched. You will be reduced not by sacking of the Governor in Homs or the head of security in Banias. What began with a brutal but routine, local incident, when police beat and tortured a group of graffiti artists in Deraa, has become a nationwide protest.

It's tempting to see regional opportunities in Syria turmoil under. This is not only the Arab League, a summit planned for may moved, paralyzing but also promote the Assad's opposition allies believe, Iran, which Hezbollah and Hamas, would be to lose with his departure. Some can be trying to identify, that foments dissent in Syria is worth a risk. This is folly in any part of the Middle East, but especially for a country with Syria's borders. No Arab spring has yet has been fuelled by foreign intervention. It could be killed by one.

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The Syria Cabinet approves end of 48 years of emergency law

April 20, 2011, 3: 53 pm EDT by Massoud a. Derhally, Nayla Razzouk and Inal Ersan

(Updates with Assad Decree today in the fifth paragraph).

April 20 (Bloomberg)--the Syria Cabinet approved a draft decree to lift a 48 years emergency legislation, the principal demand of protesters challenging the rule of President Bashar al - Assad .the Council of Ministers has also approved bills to dissolve the Court Supreme State security and regulate the right to protestMinister of Information Adnan Mahmoud said yesterday in a speech televised after the session of the Council of Ministers. The measures require the approval of the President or the Parliament to become law, former legislator George Jabbour, said in a telephone interview. Assad will give its choirs today, reported the newspaper Al Watan. "This will strengthen security and protect the dignity of citizens, Mahmoud has. The draft law on the right of protest "is similar to those in place in most countries of the world, particularly in the countries of Europe and the United States."The Syria is the last country in the Middle East to be affected by the wave of revolts that ousted leaders of Egypt and Tunisia long and sparked an armed conflict in Libya. Plan Assad is an ally of the Iran and a power broker in neighbouring countries to the Lebanon, where it supports Hezbollah, a group armed with Shia Muslims.Assad will issue a decree approving the lifting of the emergency law, Al Watan, today official who is close to the regime, has reported, quoting an unidentified top. The Act be replaced by a special Act of the fight against terrorism and an existing General punishment law applies to crimes of terrorism, said the private newspaper. Assad will also issue a decree dissolving the Court Supreme Security of the State and the Organization of peaceful rallies, Al Watan said.Not enough "the number of deaths and injuries suffered by demonstrators at the hands of the month security forces has angered and galvanized the opposition to demand much more than the modest reforms that they wanted to start", some even calling for regime change "Chris Phillips, an analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit in London, said yesterday." "Now, the official end of the emergency law is unlikely to meet the demonstrators unless it is accompanied by a significant change in the behaviour of the security services".Demonstrations erupted in mid-March, triggering a crackdown by the Government which led to dozens of deaths across the country. Assad ordered his ministers to prepare the legal framework for the demolition of the State of emergency, in a speech on April 16 without reference to other applications of protest, including the release of political prisoners.Demonstrators KilledAt at least 17 demonstrators died on April 17 in the central city of Homs anti-government gatherings, is home to one of two oil refineries in the country and Latakia, Ammar Qurabi, head of the national organization for human rights Syriasaid by telephone from Cairo. He said the security forces is separated a sit-in Homs yesterday, causing at least one death. Agency France-Press put the number of deaths yesterday in Homs to four.The Interior Ministry has accused "criminal gangs" of having killed a general and three of his parents, as well as a colonel and a soldier, in two separate attacks in Homs, in accordance with the Arab Syrian State News Agency.Assad must do more to meet the demands of the Syrian people for greater freedom and the démocratieSecrétaire foreign U.K. William Hague said after the Syrian Cabinet has approved the draft decree on the lifting of the emergency law.The move "is a step forward, there is no doubt that," Hague told Sky News television yesterday. "assad" has much more to be done to meet the legitimate aspirations of the people of his country. "Of the Baathist regime of terrorists BlamedAssad, who has been in power since 1963, has blamed the violence on the terrorists. The Ministry of the Interior announced yesterday a ban on street demonstrations. "The Department said it will not be lenient with such terrorist acts and work strictly to improve the security and stability everywhere in Syria and pursue terrorists everywhere in the world to bring to justice,"according to SANA." "Banning the demonstrations is unconstitutional, former judge Haitham al-Maleh, 80, an activist of the human rights which has been recently released from prison under an amnesty, said television Al Arabiya. "No laws or decrees have so far been enacted, so it is all the talk for the moment."The Cabinet yesterday investigated a series of decrees of project to introduce more changes, including a new right of the media to respect freedoms, said Mahmoud. The Cabinet also reviewed in the projects of laws for political parties and local authorities, said SANA.Dissatisfied with "decrees of strategic project arrived in the political reform that will help to build democracy and to increase the participation of citizens," said SANA. The Government has reviewed a draft law which would employ 10,000 graduates in public institutions, each year, he said.Government concessions do not appear to meet the demonstrators, who were always "want a little more," Theodore Karasik, Director of research at the Institute based in Dubai for the Middle East and the military analysis of the Gulf, said yesterday by phone.At least 130 people were killed in the unrest, according to Human Rights Watch. The organization based in New York, said Syrian forces have tortured the demonstrators and that it is impossible to verify how many remain in detention. Activists say the number of deaths exceed births that unrest has posed the most serious challenge to Asad, who inherited power from his father 11 years. He accused the conspirators from abroad to take advantage of the unrest to undermine the Syria, mainly because of his anti-Israel groups support.Assad issued a decree on 14 April to approve a new Government under the former Agriculture Minister Adel Safar, after protests intensified.

-With the help of Lina Ibrahim in Dubai and Thomas Penny in London. Editors: Jennifer M. Freedman, Heather Langan

To contact the reporters on this story: Massoud a. Derhally to Beirut to mderhally@bloomberg.net; Nayla Razzouk in Amman at the nrazzouk2@bloomberg.net. Inal Ersan in Dubai at the iersan@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew j. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net

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Syria's State of emergency - Aljazeera.net

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Syria's state of emergency - Inside Story - Al Jazeera English .qodLinker{border-width:0px;border-style:none;}.qodLinker img{border-width:0px;border-style:none;} NewsIn DepthProgrammesVideoBlogsBusinessWeatherSportWatch Live AfricaAmericasAsia-PacificCentral & South AsiaEuropeMiddle EastFocusOpinionFeaturesInteractiveSpotlightBriefingsYour ViewsRiz KhanWitnessInside StoryListening PostPeople & PowerMore??Counting the CostNewsThe Business Blog??? Inside Story Syria's state of emergency Bashar al-Assad, the country's president, says he will lift emergency laws that have been in place for 48 years. Inside Story Last Modified: 19 Apr 2011 06:47 Email Print Share Send Feedback

Bashar al-Assad says his country's state of emergency will be lifted by next week. He?made the announcement hours after his new cabinet was sworn in.?

It came a day after tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in the capital, Damascus, in one of the biggest turnouts since protests began a month ago.?

The lifting of the 48-year-old emergency law has been a key demand of the protesters.?The current unrest in Syria has been described as the most serious challenge facing Bashar al-Assad and his regime.?

Lifting the emergency laws was the latest in a series of concessions made in a bid to satisfy the public.?

Other concessions he has made include: Appointing a new cabinet, establishing committees to investigate the recent killing of civilians in the protests and granting Syrian citizenship to thousands of the country's Kurdish minority.

Inside Story, with presenter Darren Jordon, discusses with guests: Walid Saffour, the president of the Syrian Human Rights Committee; Ivan Eland, a senior fellow and director of the Centre on Peace and Liberty, at the Independent Institute.?

This episode of Inside Story aired on Sunday, April 17, 2011.

Source: Al Jazeera Email Print Share Send Feedback Topics in this articlePeopleBashar al-AssadWalid SaffourDarren JordonIvan ElandCountrySyriaCityDamascusOrganisationIndependent InstituteSyrian Human Rights CommitteeCentre of Peace and Liberty Featured on Al Jazeera Nigeria: Ripe for a WikiLeaks revolution? Leaked cables helped expose high-level corruption, but will those revelations impact upcoming elections? Libya after the NATO invasion There can be no quick fix for a Libya caught between a loose-cannon despot and an opportunistic Western intervention. China's interests in Gaddafi Huge oil and financial deals play major part in Beijing's support for Libya's despot and halt to foreign intervention. Recognising Palestine? The efforts of the Palestinian Authority to push for statehood are nothing more than an elaborate farce, writer says.

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