Syria: Observers in firing line as Syrians rue lack of progress

MOHAMMED said he and his cousin had joined the crowds on the streets, welcoming Arab League observers with cries against the regime, when the Syrian security forces hit back.

“Snipers began shooting at us from the rooftops. Bullets hissed, everyone scattered, the observers escaped just like we escaped,” said Mohammed, speaking by phone from a small mountain village in Syria’s mountainous Jebel Az Zawiyah region.

Mohammed’s cousin did not make the escape. Hearing a sickening thud, Mohammed saw Youseff Barakat, 20, collapse, crumpled on the floor.

“He had just defected from the army days before, he said he refused to follow orders fire on his own people. We wanted to take him to the traditional burial ground for our village, but Assad’s thugs were everywhere, blocking our path.”

For Mohammed and his family, the Arab League’s observer mission in Syria has failed to stop the ten months of violence in their country. “They have no power, they come surrounded by Assad security forces, what do they do for us?”

Leading campaigning group Avaaz criticised the observer mission, claiming that 746 civilians have been killed since the mission began. Human Rights Watch records attacks by security forces on more than 20 demonstrations organised for monitors’ visits.

“Arab League observers have now observed Assad’s brutality first hand. Their mission has been treated with contempt and failed on every objective. Protesters are targeted under their noses and many of the people they speak to are immediately attacked. It’s time for the Arab League to push for help from the UN Security Council to stop the horror-show in Syria,” said Ricken Patel, executive director of Avaaz, in a report issued ahead of an Arab League meeting on Sunday to decide the fate of the mission.

The organisation urged the league to call on the UN Security Council to impose punitive measures against Mr Assad.

The observer mission was sent to oversee compliance with the conditions of the protocol, including the complete withdrawal of security forces and armed troops from all Syrian cities and towns, the release of those detained since the beginning of the uprising, and free access for international media.

But in many cases observers found themselves thrown into a tumult that was already beyond their control.

Activists have accused observers of showing little enthusiasm for their cause, and the regime of compromising the mission.

“Protestors were killed by security forces in the town next to ours on the day of their visit,” recalled Mohammed.

“The area was shelled, homes were being destroyed, but the observers refused to go. When they come they just meet with the security services.”

“Government officials have been sent to our villages, posing as monitors, and taken videos of opposition activists that they can arrest,” he added. The claim could not be independently verified by The Scotsman.

The head of the opposition Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghaliun, headed to Cairo to lobby Arab ministers to refer the observer mission’s findings to the UN Security Council for tough action.

Mr Ghaliun planned to ask the League “to transfer the file on Syria to the UN Security Council with a view to securing a decision to establish a buffer zone and a no-fly zone” in Syria, an SNC statement said.

Two senior officials in the 22-member pan-Arab body said the discussions are leaning toward keeping the 150-member mission in place because the time is not right for “escalation” and the international community is not yet ready for intervention in Syria.