Army deserters killed at least 27 soldiers and security service agents south of Damascus yesterday in the third straight day of regime losses as Human Rights Watch said half of the rebels it spoke to had mutinied over orders to shoot civilians.
The clashes in Daraa province where protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime first erupted in mid-March came as the European Parliament called on the embattled leader to step down.
Burhan Ghaliun, head of the Syrian National Council (SNC), the country’s most representative opposition grouping, said he hoped world powers will soon heed UN chief Ban Ki-Moon’s call to act “in the name of humanity.”
Yesterday’s fighting broke out at dawn at checkpoints in three separate places in Daraa province, the Britain-based Syrian Obser-vatory for Human Rights said in a statement.
The clashes came after army defectors killed at least eight loyalist troops on Wednesday and seven on Tuesday as they stepped up attacks that they have said were reprisals for security force attacks on civilians.
In a new report, Human Rights Watch noted that half of the more than 60 rebel soldiers it interviewed said they had mutinied after receiving direct orders to shoot on civilians.
It also named 74 military and intelligence officers “who allegedly ordered, authorised, or condoned widespread killings, torture, and unlawful arrests” in its report titled: “By All Means Necessary.”
“Defectors gave us names, ranks, and positions of those who gave the orders to shoot and kill,” said Anna Neistat, the watchdog’s associate director for emergencies.
“Each and every official named in this report, up to the very highest levels of the Syrian government, should answer for their crimes against the Syrian people”, Ms Neistat said, urging the UN Security Council to refer the case to the International Criminal Court.
Because Syria is not an ICC member, the court can only intervene after a Security Council referral, a move that would be subject to a veto by permanent members China and Damascus ally Russia.
Russia, which along with China blocked a resolution condemning Assad in October, said this week the West is pursuing an agenda of “regime change” by putting pressure on Damascus but not on armed groups.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe appealed for a change of heart by Beijing and Moscow, echoing a similar call from Washington on Wednesday.
“More than 5,000 killed, three million Syrians are affected by bloody repression, unspeakable abuse and daily crimes against humanity,” Juppe said in Libya.
“Faced with this wild and murderous rampage, the international community must not remain silent.”
In Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted a resolution demanding the end of the “brutal repression” in Syria and urging President Bashar al-Assad to “quit power immediately.”UN chief Ban piled the pressure on Wednesday saying the status quo “cannot go on.”
“In the name of humanity, it is time for the international community to act.” In Istanbul, dissidents announced the creation of the Al-Leqaa opposition movement with the goal of toppling Assad’s regime – drawing praise from the SNC which welcomed it as one of its components.
The Syrian National Council meanwhile prepared to hold a three-day congress in Tunisia from Friday, with its leader saying he expected the Security Council to adopt an Arab League blueprint for peace.