Syria: Arab countries warn Bashar al-Assad they will arm rebel fighters

ARAB countries have confirmed they will arm Syria’s rebels if the bloodshed being carried out by the forces of president Bashar al-Assad’s regime does not stop.

The warning to Damascus came as regime troops renewed their now 12-day assault on the central city of Homs.

Residents also fled from Rankous, a rural town near the capital, as it came under government artillery fire. US military satellite pictures released a few days ago had shown government artillery pieces deployed near the town.

With Mr Assad seemingly oblivious to international condemnation of his campaign to crush the revolt, Arab countries – led by Saudi Arabia – pushed for a new United Nations resolution supporting a peace plan forged at a meeting in Cairo on Sunday.

But Arab League diplomats said yesterday that arming the opposition forces was now officially an option.

A resolution passed at the meeting urged Arabs to “provide all kinds of political and material support” to the opposition. This would allow arms transfers, the diplomats confirmed.

An Arab ambassador said: “We will back the opposition financially and diplomatically in the beginning, but if the killing by the regime continues, civilians must be helped to protect themselves. The resolution gives Arab states all options to protect the Syrian people.”

Smuggled guns are already filtering into Syria but it is not clear if Arab or other governments are behind the deliveries. Weapons and Sunni Muslim insurgents are also seeping from Iraq into Syria, Iraqi officials and arms dealers said.

Mr Assad, whose minority Alawite family has ruled the mainly Sunni Muslim country for 42 years, is trying to stamp out pro-democracy demonstrations and stop insurgent raids across Syria with what UN officials describe as indiscriminate attacks and shoot-to-kill orders.

Mr Assad has dismissed his opponents as terrorists backed by enemy nations and said he will introduce reforms on his own terms.

Conflict flared anew yesterday in Rankous, near the capital. Activist Ibn Al-Kalmoun, reached by Skype from Beirut, said many residents had fled the town.

In Homs, a strategic city on the highway between Damascus and commercial hub Aleppo, the pro-opposition neighbourhood of Baba Amro was struck at dawn by the heaviest shelling in five days, the Syria Observatory for Human Rights said.

Six people were killed, it said, adding to an estimated toll of more than 400 since the latest assault began on 3 February.

Speaking via satellite phone, activist Hussein Nader said: “They are hitting the same spots several consecutive times, making venturing out there impossible. The shelling was heavy in the morning and now it is one rocket every 15 minutes or so.

“Residents are trapped. We have a man who sustained severe burns and needs a hospital.”

In a video posted online, Mohammad al-Mohammad, a doctor at a makeshift hospital in Baba Amro, said. “We appeal to anyone with conscience to intervene to stop the massacres.”

Another opposition activist, Mohammad al-Homsi, said the humanitarian situation was getting worse, with food and fuel shortages and prices tripling. Army roadblocks had been set up around opposition districts.

At the United Nations, diplomats said a draft General Assembly resolution, supporting the Arab League plan and calling for the appointment of a joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, could be put to a vote today or Thursday.

The resolution is similar to a Security Council draft vetoed by Russia and China on 4 February that condemned the Assad government and called on him to step aside. There are no vetoes in General Assembly votes and its decisions are not legally binding.