BEIRUT — Syrian forces fired shells at a central city that has come to symbolize the anti-government uprising Monday, activists said, while the country’s Muslim Brotherhood branch said it would work for a democratic state if President Bashar Assad falls.
The announcement by the exiled Syrian Muslim Brotherhood was an appeal by the Sunni Muslim group to minority groups who fear for their place in a post-Assad Syria.
The uprising, which started last March with protesters calling for political change, has stoked tensions among Syria’s various religious and ethnic groups.
Many in the opposition are from the country’s Sunni majority. Religious minorities - Christians, Shiites and Alawites, who include Assad - have largely stuck by the regime.
Speaking to reporters in Turkey, Brotherhood official Ali Bayanouni said the group would not monopolize power.
“The regime now is accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of trying to control Syria alone and of having aims of being the only rulers of Syria in the future,” he said. “We are here today to reassure everyone that we will cooperate with all the other partners in the Syrian opposition to build a new Syria, a free Syria, a democratic Syria, and we will not attempt to be the only ruling party in Syria.”
The group issued a 10-point statement on the future of Syria, calling for a modern democratic state with equality among all citizens and respect for human rights.
The reassurance came after Islamist parties catapulted to power in Tunisia and Egypt in the wake of Arab Spring uprisings, feeding concerns about religious and secular freedom.
The movement has had no strong presence inside Syria since 1982, when Assad’s father and predecessor, Hafez, ordered the military to quell a Brotherhood rebellion in the central city of Hama, sealing off the city in an assault that killed between 10,000 and 25,000 people.
Membership in the group inside Syria is punishable by death, but the group has remained active outside Syria’s borders.
Syria’s uprising has become increasingly militarized, with many in the opposition arming themselves in self defense or to attack government troops. The U.N. says more than 8,000 people have been killed in the year-long conflict.
The U.S., Europe and many Arab countries have condemned violent crackdowns by Assad’s security forces and called for him to resign.
Kofi Annan, the United Nations and Arab League envoy to Syria, said Monday that there can be no deadline for ending the Syrian crisis, but it’s urgent to move ahead quickly to stop the killing.
Annan has been in Moscow since Saturday for talks on Syria with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Annan left Monday for Beijing.
“I told the parties on the ground [that] they can’t resist the transformational winds that are blowing,” he said. “They have to accept that reforms have to come, change has to come, and that is the only way to deal with the situation.”
While the U.N. is not discussing military intervention, Annan said it could send teams to monitor an eventual cease-fire.
Russia is Syria’s most important ally and while Moscow - along with China - has twice shielded Syria from U.N. sanctions, both countries favor Annan’s mission.
Turkey, which once had strong ties to Damascus, has now become a tough critic, even allowing opposition groups to organize on its soil.
A Foreign Ministry official said Monday that Turkey is closing its embassy in Damascus because of security concerns. The Turkish ambassador and other diplomats will return to Turkey, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Turkey’s consulate in the northern city of Aleppo will remain open, according to a statement posted late Sunday on the embassy’s website.
Norway also said Monday that it will close its embassy.
Other countries, including the U.S., France, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have already closed their embassies.
The situation in Syria is set to be a primary topic at an Arab League summit opening today in Baghdad. Syria,whose Arab League membership has been suspended, will not attend.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Monday that leaders will likely agree on a “do-able” solution to end the conflict in Syria. He said it will be in line with earlier Arab League proposals for Assad to peacefully transfer power to his vice president until new, open elections can be held.
“It’s up to the Syrian people to determine their own future,” Zebari told reporters. “It’s not up to other countries to dictate to the Syrians what kind of leaders they have or don’t have. I don’t think there will be a call on Bashar to step aside.”
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is traveling abroad this week for two international conferences focused on Syria.
Clinton will be in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, on Friday and Saturday. There, she’ll meet with Saudi King Abdullah and participate in an event dedicated to the “strategic cooperation” between the U.S. and Gulf Arab states. She then will travel to Istanbul for Sunday’s 60-nation “Friends of the Syrian People” conference.
Assad’s forces kept up offensives against opposition areas Monday, but they faced resistance from armed rebels in some places. Activists said regime forces shelled parts of the central city of Homs and carried out arrests raids elsewhere.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nine civilians were killed in Homs out of the day’s total death toll of 19. Two of the dead appeared to have been tortured, it said.Both were recently arrested in the southern province of Daraa.
Two rebels were killed in clashes with government soldiers, 11 of whom were killed in rebel attacks.
Another group gave much higher casualty figures. The Local Coordination Committees said 59 people were killed across Syria, 33 of them in Homs province. Government forces appeared to be preparing to retake rebel-held parts of the country’s third largest city, it said.
The groups’ numbers could not be independently verified.
Syria’s state news agency said Monday that Syrian troops foiled an attempt by an “armed terrorist group” to sneak into the country from Turkey. It said the troops killed and wounded some of the attackers and seized their weapons.
It also said an armed group blew up a pipeline used to transport gasoline between Homs and Hama. The Syrian Oil Ministry is working to repair the pipe, it said.
YEMEN
Yemen’s new president was in Saudi Arabia for talks Monday amid allegations that former ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh is trying to undermine the new government and the country’s political transition.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency said Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi met with the Saudi king and other officials, including the kingdom’s intelligence chief, in Riyadh. It was Hadi’s first official foreign trip since he was elected Yemen’s president in a symbolic one man race in February as part of a Gulf-backed deal to end months of political turmoil.
Hadi’s visit and a White House statement Sunday expressing concern over purported disruptive behavior by some former regime loyalists reflect growing concerns that Saleh may be trying to orchestrate a return to power by portraying the new government as incapable of dealing with the country’s problems.
On Monday, opposition parties and activist groups issued a statement demanding Saleh leave Yemen. The statement said Saleh is using his presence in Yemen and role as head of the ruling party to launch a counterrevolution.
Saleh’s office released a statement calling the opposition’s demands for him to leave or resign as head of his National People’s Congress party “wishful thinking.” The statement dismissed reports of meddling as “lies” and “attempts to cover up the blatant failures of the government.”
EGYPT
Egypt’s powerful Islamists faced a backlash on two fronts Monday as they try to solidify their hold on the country’s politics, as liberal politicians quit a panel tasked with drafting a new constitution to protest its domination by Islamists.
The ruling military also issued a veiled threat of a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood if the group persists in demands to form a new government.
The warning pointed to a growing possibility of confrontation between the Brotherhood and the military, which emerged as Egypt’s two most powerful institutions after the fall of longtime authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak a year ago.
The Brotherhood’s leader, Mohammed Badie, said in comments posted on the group’s website Monday that it is “quite possible” for the Brotherhood to reverse an earlier decision not to field its own candidate in presidential elections due in May.
Two prominent liberal Egyptian politicians - independent lawmaker Amr Hamzawy and Christian activist Mona Makram Obeid - were the first to announce they were pulling out of the 100-member constitutional panel Monday.
Lawmaker Emad Gad said 11 other liberal politicians have also decided to pull out and were due to formally announce their decision today, a day before the body is to hold its inaugural session. The group includes eight members of the panel and three “reserve” members, who would serve if a member bows out. Gad is one of the three reserve members pulling out.
LIBYA
Libya’s leader acknowledged Monday that his government has failed to act quickly to restore stability, as at least 20 people were killed in tribal battles in a southern city.
Libya’s National Transitional Council chief Mustafa Abdul-Jalil was welcomed as a well-intentioned figure when he took over from Moammar Gadhafi last year. Even he agrees now with critics that his government is not providing strong-enough leadership.
“I am not satisfied with the performance of the government or the NTC, because it is too slow in making decisions and is weak and lacks confidence in its decision making,” Abdul-Jalil said during a visit to the eastern city of Benghazi.
In the southern city of Sabha, 400 miles south of Tripoli, clashes broke out after a man from the Tabu tribe purportedly killed a member of the Abu Seif tribe.
Surgeon Ahmed Ali al-Hefnawi said most of the 20 dead fighters were killed by gunfire. Ahmed al-Hamrouni, a former rebel commander in the city, said the tribes were fighting with automatic rifles and rockets with a range of six miles.
TUNISIA
Islamic law will not be enshrined in Tunisia’s new constitution, preserving the secular basis of the North African nation, Tunisia’s ruling Islamist Ennahda Party said Monday.
Ziad Doulatli, a party leader, said the first article of the new constitution would remain the same as in the 1959 version and it will not call for Shariah, Islamic law, to be the source of all legislation, as many conservatives had wanted.
Information for this article was contributed by Lara Jakes, Suzan Fraser, Sameer N.Yacoub, Ahmed Al-Haj, Aya Batrawy, Hamza Hendawi, Matthew Lee, Bouazza Ben Bouazza, Rami Al-Shaheibi and Bradley Klapper of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/27/2012