Syria's Assad denies civil war, blames the West

BEIRUT -- Syrian President Bashar Assad denied his country is in the midst of a civil war and accused Western nations of demonizing him in an interview with RT, a Russian satellite and cable channel.

"We do not have a civil war. It is about terrorism and the support coming from abroad to terrorists to destabilize Syria,” the Syrian president told the Russian station, reprising his oft-repeated charge. “You have divisions, but division does not mean civil war. It is completely different. ... The problem is not between me and my people.”

The Syrian opposition also does not label the conflict a civil war, calling it instead a grass-roots uprising aimed at ousting a murderous dictator.

In the 25-minute interview, which aired Friday and was conducted in the renovated Presidential Palace in Damascus, Assad said forces in the West had worked to turn him into an international villain like former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

"The West creates enemies; in the past it was the communism, then it became Islam, and then it became Saddam Hussein,” Assad said. “Now, they want to create a new enemy represented by Bashar.”

Mystery surrounds arrested Iranian blogger's reported death

BEIRUT -- Human rights activists are calling on Iran to investigate the apparent death of a blogger who was in custody after being arrested for criticizing the government in online postings.

Sattar Beheshti, 35, reportedly died this week while in detention after his arrest Oct. 30 by Iran’s cyber police unit.

Beheshti maintained a website, My Life for My Iran, on which he criticized the Iranian government, said the human rights group Amnesty International.

The exact time and cause of his death are not publicly known, Amnesty said in a statement.

“The Iranian authorities must immediately carry out an independent investigation into his death, including whether torture played a part in it,” Amnesty International said.

Bashar Assad: To live and die in Syria

BEIRUT -- Syrian President Bashar Assad says he has no intention of leaving Syria, despite demands from Washington and elsewhere that he relinquish power.

“I am Syrian. I’m made in Syria,” Assad said in an interview with the Russia RT television channel. “I have to live in Syria and die in Syria.”

Brief excerpts of the interview appeared Thursday on RT’s  website. The full session will be aired starting Friday, the station said.

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The Syrian president, speaking in English, repeated his oft-stated position that he has no plans to step down, despite demands for his resignation from armed rebels and their backers in the West and elsewhere.

Moscow, which has been a staunch ally of Assad, has called for negotiations that would include representatives of his government.

Rebels apparently target Alawite stronghold in Damascus again

BEIRUT -- Mortar shells apparently fired by anti-government rebels fell Wednesday in a Damascus district that is home to many members of President Bashar Assad’s Alawite sect, the second deadly attack in the area this week, raising the prospect of inflamed sectarian hostilities in the tense Syrian capital.

The mortar rounds struck as rebels appear to have stepped up a campaign of violence in the capital. Car bombs and other attacks have become almost daily occurrences, despite heavy security and many government checkpoints.

The official Syrian state news service said Wednesday’s mortar salvos targeted the Mazzeh Jabal 86 neighborhood, killing three people and leaving six others hospitalized, including three in critical condition.

State media blamed the attack on “terrorists,” its standard term for mostly Sunni Muslim rebels seeking to overthrow Assad’s government.

Mazzeh Jabal 86 is home to many officers in the Syrian military and security services, which are dominated by members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect, considered an offshoot of the Shiite branch of Islam. Syria’s Alawite minority is largely supportive of Assad in the face of the Sunni-led uprising against his family's more than 40 years of autocratic rule.

Reuters news service quoted a rebel Islamist group saying Wednesday’s mortar volleys targeted but missed the presidential palace, which sits on a  hill overlooking the capital.

The mortar attack came two days after a car bomb exploded in a crowded square in the Mazzeh Jabal 86 district, killing 11 people and injuring dozens, state media said

Along with bombings, targeted killings of government figures and supporters also appear to be on the upswing in the capital.

On Wednesday, the state news agency reported that “an armed terrorist group” assassinated a judge, Abad Nadweh, using a bomb that was attached to his car and detonated remotely.

The judge’s killing came a day after the brother of the speaker of the pro-Assad parliament was shot to death in his car in Damascus as he headed to work, according to official accounts.

Last weekend, rebels in Damascus abducted and executed a well-known Palestinian Syrian television actor, Mohamed Rafeh. Rebels accused Rafeh of being a government informant and enforcer. Friends and family say the actor was killed in retribution for his outspoken support of Assad.

Earlier this week, heavy fighting was reported in Damascus between pro and anti-Assad Palestinian factions.

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Photo: A handout picture released by Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reportedly shows damage caused by a mortar attack Wednesday in a residential district of Damascus. Credit: European Pressphoto Agency / SANA.

Wave of bombings, killings goes on in Syria

BEIRUT -- A series of blasts claimed more civilian lives Tuesday  in the vicinity of the Syrian capital as scores were reported killed across the country in bombings, shelling, air raids and clashes between government forces and rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar Assad.

On the streets of Damascus, meanwhile, assassins shot and killed the brother of Jihad Laham, the speaker of the Syrian parliament. Mohammed Osama Laham was shot by “terrorists” -- the government term for armed rebels -- as he drove in his car to work, according to the official Syrian news agency.

Opposition leaders say the Syrian parliament has long been a rubber stamp for Assad, whose family has ruled the country for more than 40 years. The parliament was revamped earlier this year as part of Assad’s proclaimed “reform” agenda, denounced as a sham by the opposition.

Both sides in the almost 20-month-old conflict have been accused of engaging in targeted assassinations.

The capital and its environs have endured a wave  of deadly bomb attacks in recent weeks. It is not clear if the bombings are part of a coordinated rebel strategy or targeted attacks by various groups.

On Tuesday, the official state media reported, 11 people were killed and scores injured as three bombs  exploded in the Wuroud district in the western Damascus suburb of Qudsaya. The government news agency said “terrorists” detonated a car bomb and two other explosive devices.

Photos displayed on state media showed children and other bloodied civilians, identified as bombing survivors,  at what appeared to be a hospital.  In one image, a woman with blood splattered on her face and clothes and apparently awaiting treatment cradles in her arms a sleeping girl whose yellow sweater is also stained with blood.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based pro-opposition group, estimated that at least 119 people were killed Tuesday across the country. At least 40 died in government bombardment of northwest Idlib province, which is mostly controlled by rebels.

The government has been using jet fighters firing rockets and bombs to attack opposition strongholds throughout the country, including the suburbs of Damascus.

Opposition activists have been reporting about 150 people killed daily inside Syria. The uprising that began in March 2011 has cost more than 30,000 lives, according to opposition groups. The government does not publish cumulative casualty figures.

In New York, Jeffrey Feltman, the United Nations' under-secretary-general for political affairs, warned Tuesday that the situation inside Syria “is turning grimmer every day.”

“The risk is growing that this crisis could explode outward into an already volatile region,” he said.

Some violence from Syria has already spilled into neighboring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan; Israel has accused Syria of moving tanks into a demilitarized zone in the contested Golan Heights, captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War.

The United Nations has been unable to negotiate a truce to the Syrian fighting.  A special envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran Algerian diplomat, is trying to craft a proposal to help end the bloodshed, though a weekend truce he helped broker last month fell apart quickly amid violations by both sides.

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Photo: A picture supplied by the  Syrian Arab News Agency shows damage it says was caused by car bombs in the western Damascus region on Tuesday. Credit:  European Pressphoto Agency / SANA

 

Car bombs, aerial attacks pummel Syria

BEIRUT — A car bomb exploded Monday in a district of Damascus that is home to many security personnel and members of President Bashar Assad’s Alawite sect, killing 11 people and wounding dozens of others, the official state news media reported.

The attack was part of a wave of violence reported Monday across Syria, including a massive car bombing apparently targeting a military post in the central province of Hama and aerial bombardment of rebel-held towns in northwestern Syria. Scores were reported killed.

Monday’s car bombing in Damascus’ Mazzeh Jabal 86 district, which has a large concentration of Alawites, is the latest in a series of explosions in the Syrian capital that could inflame sectarian tensions. Mostly Sunni Muslim rebels have been fighting to oust Assad, whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of the Shiite branch of Islam.

Other Damascus-area bombings in recent weeks have hit near a revered Shiite shrine, Sayyida Zainab, and in the Bab Touma district, a historic Christian neighborhood in Damascus’ Old City.

Bomb explodes in central Damascus, injuring 11

BEIRUT--A bomb exploded Sunday near the offices of a trade union in central Damascus, injuring 11 people, state media reported.

The official Syrian news service blamed “terrorists,” its usual label for armed rebels seeking the overthrow of President Bashar Assad.

The target of the attack was not immediately clear. The district where the bomb exploded is also home to a hotel and several security installations. Initial reports included no confirmation of fatalities.

The attack once again seemed to demonstrate rebels’ ability to strike at the heart of the Syrian capital, despite heavy security and a plethora of checkpoints throughout Damascus.

Rebels appear to be stepping up bomb attacks in and around the Syrian capital, where a number of car bombs and other blasts have exploded in recent weeks. The string of bombings comes as Syrian troops have pushed many armed rebels out of city neighborhoods and into outlying districts.

The apparent opposition bombing campaign has dramatized the capital’s vulnerability and rebels’ skill at piercing the security cordon. But the bombs have also unnerved capital residents and killed and injured many civilians. The attacks run the risk of alienating Syrians and buttressing Assad’s argument that his foes are foreign-backed “terrorists,” not democracy-seeking revolutionaries.

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Photo: Site of bombing in central Damascus. Credit: EPA/STR

New Damascus bomb attack kills 6 as Syrian violence escalates

BEIRUT -- A bomb exploded Wednesday near a Shiite Muslim shrine outside Damascus, the latest deadly bombing attack in and around Syria's capital.

Official state news media reported that six people were killed and 13 injured in the blast in the Sayyida Zeinab area, named after the mausoleum of the granddaughter of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

The shrine, southeast of Damascus, is a focus of pilgrimages by Shiite Muslims from throughout the world.

Wednesday's attack was at least the second in the Sayyida Zeinab district, a working-class areas with a mixed population, including a concentration of Shiite Muslims, among them war refugees from neighboring Iraq. Some worry that the majestic shrine itself could eventually be targeted, just as mosques and shrines were bombed during the sectarian warfare in Iraq.

Human rights observers have voiced fears that Syria's 19-month old conflict is becoming more sectarian in nature. Rebels, mostly from the nation's Sunni Muslim majority, are trying to overthrow the government of President Bashar Assad, a member of the minority Alawite sect, a Shiite offshoot.

It was unclear whom Wednesday's bomb attack targeted. Media reports from Syria indicated that the bomb exploded near a vegetable market.

The official Syrian news service said the bomb was detonated in a garbage bag along a crowded street.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, as is often the case in Syria, where bombs have been detonating on public streets since December.

Despite tight security in the capital, the Damascus area has seen at least three bombings in the last 10 days, with almost two dozen people killed and scores wounded.

Recent attacks include a car bombing Monday in the Jaramana suburb, home to many Christians and Druse largely considered loyal to the government, and a blast on Sept. 21 in the Old City’s Bab Touma district, a historic Christian area.

An often-violated weekend cease-fire called for the Muslim Eid-al-Adha holiday ended on Monday, and violence has picked up throughout much of the country.

On Wednesday, opposition activists reported new government airstrikes on rebel strongholds east of the city, continuing a pattern of stepped-up aerial attacks. Rebel fighters generally lack antiaircraft weapons to counter jets and helicopters, though insurgents have reported shooting down some government aircraft.

With the weekend truce considered a failure, Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations/Arab League special envoy for Syria, was said to be formulating new proposals.

The veteran Algerian diplomat was in Beijing on Wednesday after an earlier visit to Moscow. China and Russia have used their positions on the U.N. Security Council to block international moves against Assad, with such efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis ending in an impasse. Brahimi is expected to present fresh ideas before the Security Council within weeks.

The Syrian conflict has so far left at least 20,000 people dead, according to independent estimates, though opposition activists have put the death toll at more than 30,000.

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Photo: A Syrian Arab News Agency image shows a father standing next to his injured daughter as she receives treatment in a hospital following a bomb attack Wednesday in the Sayyida Zeinab district outside Damascus. Credit: SANA / EPA

 

Micro-bus in Damascus reportedly hit by shell; at least 10 dead

BEIRUT -- On what was supposed to be the last day of a holiday cease-fire in Syria, a government shell struck a micro-bus in Damascus on Monday, killing at least 10 people, many of them children, activists said.

Photos and videos reportedly take at the scene in the Al-Hajar al-Aswad neighborhood showed children’s bloody bodies lined up on the ground and the injured being taken away by taxis or other buses. Government forces later raided the Palestine Hospital in the neighborhood and arrested some of the wounded, activists said.

The incident came on the final day of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday that was marked by clashes and airstrikes rather than the hoped-for lull in violence. Reports of the attack could not be independently confirmed because the Syrian government restricts media access to the conflict zone.

Other opposition-held neighborhoods and suburbs also were constantly shelled on Monday, activists reported.

In the Damascus suburb of Jaramana, considered to be an area loyal to the government, state media reported that a car bomb killed at least six people and injured more than 50.

Syrian government agrees to temporary cease-fire

BEIRUT — Responding to international peace efforts, Syria said Thursday its forces would observe a cease-fire from Friday to Monday, the period of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

In an early evening bulletin, the official state news service and state-run television reported that the "general command" of the armed forces announced a “cease of military operations” for four days as of Friday. Despite the truce,  the  military reserves the right to respond to attacks or counter any efforts to reinforce or resupply rebels from neighboring nations, state TV said.  Further details were not immediately available.

The cease-fire could provide a glimmer of hope in a bloody, 19-month conflict that has  caused vast devastation and loss of life and threatens to destabilize much of the Middle East. But many observers regard the chances of a wider peace in Syria -- or even four days without some violence -- as slim.

Rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad have generally reacted warily to the cease-fire initiative. The government calls the rebels "terrorists" and "mercenaries" and says it will not negotiate with armed groups. Rebels say Assad must step down before any peace talks begin.