Assad rebuffs Arab League as rebels strike in Damascus

The Arab League has rebuffed a request by Damascus to amend plans for a 500-strong monitoring mission to Syria, after President Bashar al-Assad vowed to continue his crackdown and said he would not surrender to outside pressure.

Within hours of Mr Assad ignoring a deadline to halt repression of protesters, residents said two rocket-propelled grenades hit a major ruling party building in Damascus yesterday morning, the first such reported attack by insurgents inside the capital.

Confronted since March by street demonstrations against 41 years of rule by his family, Mr Assad said he had no choice but to pursue his crackdown on unrest because his foes were armed.

“The conflict will continue and the pressure to subjugate Syria will continue. Syria will not bow down,” he said in an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper.

Arab League secretary-general Nabil Elaraby yesterday rejected Syria’s request to alter a plan for the fact-finding mission – which would include military personnel and human rights experts – in a letter to Syria’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem

Mr Moualem said the plan as it stood compromised the country’s sovereignty, but Damascus had not rejected the mission.

He said the proposed mission has “pervasive jurisdiction that reaches the level of … violating Syrian sovereignty” and said he would send the Arab League a letter with questions about its role. The Cairo-based League had given Damascus three days from a meeting on 16 November to abide by a deal to withdraw military forces from restive cities, start talks between the government and opposition and pave the way for an observer team.

It was not immediately clear what action the Arab League would take after the deadline passed unheeded by Damascus.

Syrian authorities blame the violence on foreign-backed armed groups which they say have killed some 1,100 soldiers and police. By a United Nations account, more than 3,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the unrest.

In the interview, Mr Assad said there would be elections in February or March when Syrians would vote for a parliament to create a new constitution and that would include provision for a presidential ballot. The Free Syrian Army, comprising army defectors and based in neighbouring Turkey, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Baath Party building in Damascus.

There was no independent verification of the claim, and Mr Moualem denied that any attack had taken place. But a witness said security police blocked off the square where the building is located and reported seeing smoke rising from it and fire trucks in the area.

It was the second reported hit on a high-profile target in a week, underscoring a growing opposition challenge to Mr Assad from a nascent insurgency alongside mostly peaceful protests that have persisted despite the intensifying crackdown.

The Syrian Free Army said the grenade attack was a response to the refusal of Damascus to release tens of thousands of political prisoners and return troops to barracks, as called for by the plan agreed between the Arab League and Damascus.

Activists in the central city of Homs said the body of Farzat Jarban, an activist who had been filming and broadcasting pro-democracy rallies there, was found dumped near a private hospital on Saturday with two bullet wounds.

“Security police are no longer just shooting protesters, they are targeting activists when they least suspect it,” said a doctor from Homs who has fled to Jordan.