Syrian Scuds 'land near Turkish border'

Syrian Scuds 'land near Turkish border' 

Several Scud missiles fired at rebels by Syria have landed "fairly close" to the Turkish border, NATO's senior military commander said in a blog explaining why Patriot anti-missile batteries are being deployed to Turkey.

Friday's comments by US Admiral James Stavridis, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, were the first to confirm that Scuds have come down near the border of Turkey, a NATO member state.

Stavridis also described the situation in Syria as "chaotic and dangerous".

'Very worrisome'
   
US and NATO officials said on Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces had fired Scud-style ballistic missiles at rebels in recent days in what US officials described as an escalation of the 20-month civil war.

"Over the past few days, a handful of Scud missiles were launched inside Syria, directed by the regime against opposition targets. Several landed fairly close to the Turkish border, which is very worrisome," Stavridis wrote.

US, Netherlands and Germany to send two Patriot missile batteries to Turkey [Al Jazeera]

Syria on Thursday denied it had used Scud missiles in its fight against what it calls "terrorist groups".

Stavridis voiced particular concern about Scuds because they can be fitted with chemical warheads. Syria is known to possess chemical weapons.
   
"Given a number of recent cross-border incidents with artillery and mortars landing in Turkey and killing Turkish civilians, we are concerned with possible Scud missile activity inside Syria. Scuds ... are particularly worrisome because they can carry chemical payloads," he said.

Turkey has scrambled jets along its frontier with Syria and responded in kind when shells from Syria landed inside its borders. If any Scuds strayed over the border into Turkish territory, it could carry the risk of spreading the conflict.

Ankara twice this year has invoked Article 4 of the NATO charter which provides for consultations when a member state feels its security is threatened.

'Chaotic situation'

NATO agreed last week to Turkey's request to send Patriots to reinforce its air defences against possible missile attack from Syria. The United States, Germany and the Netherlands are to send six Patriot batteries in all.

"Syria is clearly a chaotic and dangerous situation; but we have an absolute obligation to defend the borders of the alliance from any threat emanating from that troubled state," Stavridis wrote.

In-depth coverage of escalating violence across Syria

The alliance said sending Patriots was purely defensive and that it has no intention of intervening in Syria, but Russia said it was a step towards NATO involvement in the war.
   
Stavridis said the Patriots would help defend "the population centres in southern Turkey" and he said he would retain "operational command responsibility" for the Patriots.

"I anticipate we'll begin moving the systems toward Turkey very soon, and hope to have systems in place in the coming weeks after final national decisions are made and assets are allocated to NATO Command," he said.

The Netherlands, which is sending two Patriot batteries and up to 360 personnel to operate them, expects its missiles to be operational by the end of January, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday.

Leon Panetta, the US defence secretary, signed an order on Friday to send two Patriot missile batteries to Turkey with 400 American personnel.

Also on Friday, Germany's lower house of parliament approved the sending of two Patriot batteries and 400 soldiers to Turkey as part of the NATO plan.

Annan meets Assad in Damascus amid violence

Annan meets Assad in Damascus amid violence

Former UN chief's mission to reach settlement in year-long crisis comes as government launches a fresh assault in Idlib. Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general, has begun negotiations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus amid a fresh assault by the government on a restive city in the country's northwest. Witnesses told Al Jazeera that Syrian army tanks supported by soldiers on foot entered the city of Idlib at around 6am on Saturday, supported by artillery and mortar fire. Tanks on the southwestern edge of the city were also firing into Idlib, and helicopters were hovering overhead, they said. Annan's high-profile mission to find a political resolution under the auspices of the Arab League and United Nations has met with disapproval from the country's most prominent opposition bloc, which has said that his visit will amount to a waste of time without military pressure on Assad's government. Some Arab League members, most notably Gulf nations, have called for arming Syrian rebels and sending an peacekeeping force. On Saturday, Qatar called for recognising the SNC as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. China and Russia, after blocking Arab and UN resolutions seeking to usher an end to Assad's rule, are now seeking to negotiate with Arab leaders. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in Cairo on Saturday to meet with Arab League foreign ministers, said Russia wants to bring about an immediate end to the violence in Syria but that the current approach from other nations was unrealistic because it only held Assad's government responsible. Two-track diplomacy Lavrov faced a tough audience, with many Arab countries angered by Russia's opposition to proposals to begin a transition from Assad's government or send in a peacekeeping force. Qatar's representative criticised Russia and China, saying they sent the wrong signal to Assad and that "patience has run out". He also called again for sending Arab peacekeepers into Syria. Assad's crackdown has not abated since army troops recently pushed fighters out of Baba Amr, an opposition district in Homs, a western city near the Lebanese border. On Friday, 54 people were killed acros the country, almost half of them during government raids in the nearby Idlib province, according to the London-based opposition activists' group, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Ten people were killed by gun and mortar fire in Homs, and security forces shot dead others around the country during protests, the group said. Five more bodies were found in Baba Amr. "Thirty tanks entered my neighbourhood at seven this morning and they are using their cannons to fire on houses," said Karam Abu Rabea, a resident in Homs's Karam al-Zeitoun neighbourhood. This week's regular Friday protest marked the anniversary of Kurdish unrest in Syria in 2004 when about 30 people were killed. Thousands of Kurds demonstrated in northeastern cities, YouTube footage showed, some carrying banners that read "Save the Syrian people". Other clips showed hundreds of protesters in the Assali district of Damascus, burning posters of Assad's father Hafez al-Assad and chanting "God damn your soul, Hafez". Speaking in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Friday, Valerie Amos, the UN humanitarian chief, said she was "struck" by the devastation she saw during a visit to Homs on Wednesday. She said she had made a request to the Syrian government for unhindered access to the worst-hit areas, but the government had asked for more time. The Syrian government had agreed to join UN agencies in a "limited assessment" of the situation, she said. The UN estimates that at least 7,500 people have died since protests first broke out a year ago.

US imposes sanctions on Syrian president alasad

US imposes sanctions on Syrian president

US officials say sanctions are to increase pressure on Bashar al-Assad to end his violent crackdown on protesters.

Syrian rights activists say at least 700 civilians have been killed in two months of clashes [Reuters]

The United States is to impose sanctions on Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, and six senior Syrian officials for human rights abuses over their brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.
The White House announced the sanctions on Wednesday, a day before Barack Obama, the US president,  was to deliver a major speech on the uprisings throughout the Arab world with prominent mentions of Syria
The sanctions are part of "an effort to increase pressure on the government of Syria to end its violence against its people and begin transitioning to a democratic system," a US official told the AFP news agency on the condition of anonymity.

Syria denies 'mass grave' claims , Syria mass grave

Syria denies 'mass grave' claims

Syria's interior ministry has denied the existence of a mass grave discovered near Deraa, the southern city targeted by security forces in a crackdown on anti-government protests, according to the state-run SANA news agency.

Syrian Revolution Video,Syria Revolution Video 2011 , Video of Syrian Revoluti

Syrian Revolution Video,Syria Revolution Video 2011 , Video of Syrian Revolution

Protesters killed in Syria shooting | Syria Revolution

                     Protesters killed in Syria shooting                 

A rights group says at least nine people have been killed in Jableh, a coastal city in Syria, where witnesses told Al Jazeera that security forces opened fire on protesters.

They said by phone from the city that some of the security men were in uniform, others in plain clothes.
Thousands of security forces accompanied by "other armed thugs" besieged Jableh and indiscriminately opened fire at civilians, Abu Ahmed, a Jableh resident, told Al Jazeera.
Citizens were "all unarmed and peaceful," and were "surprised" to see heavily armed forces, he said.
Another activist said the security forces ringed Jableh and started to open fire after a visit by a new regional governor who met local dignitaries in the mosque.

Deaths reported in Syrian protests Gunfire and deaths reported amid more protests in Syria but identities of perpetrators and victims remains unclear.

Deaths reported in Syrian protests Gunfire and deaths reported amid more protests in Syria but identities of perpetrators and victims remains unclear.

Deaths reported in Syrian protests

Gunfire and deaths reported amid more protests in Syria but identities of perpetrators and victims remains unclear.

Boys hold a banner in the port city of Baniyas. Protests took place in several cities across Syria on Sunday [Reuters]

At least five people are reported dead amid fresh protests near the restive Syrian city of Homs, but the identities of those killed remains unclear.