The international community may be forced to ‘militarise’ the crisis in Syria unless president Bashar al-Assad stops the onsalught on his people, a senior US official warned on Wednesday.

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Syria and Damascus

“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous•Strongs 4654: mappalah, map-paw-law´; or mappelah, map-pay-law´; from 5307; something fallen, i.e. a ruin:—ruin( ous). heap.”
—Isaiah 17:1

“Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.”
—Jeremiah 49:24

The official from the State Department told The Daily Telegraph that while the White House wants to exhaust all its diplomatic options, the debate in Washington has shifted away from diplomacy and towards more robust action since Russia and China blocked a United Nations resolution condemning Syria.
The Pentagon’s Central Command has begun a preliminary internal review of US military capabilities in the region, which one senior official called a “scoping exercise” that would provide options for the president if and when they were requested.
The White House said it was talking to allies about holding a “Friends of Syria” meeting in the near future and was considering delivering humanitarian aid to affected areas in the country.
“We are, of course, looking at humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, and we have for some time. We’re consulting with our international partners, and we anticipate this being one of the focuses of the discussions that we’ll have,” said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary.
Influential figures in Washington have recommended setting up a “humanitarian corridor” or safe haven, while others, such as Senator John McCain, have said it was time to consider arming the rebels of the Free Syrian Army.

Any plan to supply aid or set up a buffer zone would involve a military dimension to protect aid convoys or vulnerable civilians.
“The decision-makers have not determined we are at a point of no return,” the senior official told The Daily Telegraph. “There is still a window, it is just that that window is closing.
“I don’t know how much longer it is going to go on before people start looking at what else is on the table, because nothing is off the table.
“We definitely don’t want to militarise the situation. If it’s avoidable we are going to avoid it. But increasingly it looks like it may not be avoidable,” he said.
“There is always hope that this can be solved without it turning into a full-scale civil war and without the use of force, but it really involves Bashar al-Assad receiving the wake-up call.” Any outside military involvement in Syria has been regarded as more difficult and more risky than the mission in Libya.
It has a complex geography and ethnic mix and is the linchpin of a volatile region. But since the Russian veto at the UN, there is no doubting an extra urgency in the attitude of concerned governments and agencies.
Navi Pillay, the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, called for swift action to safeguard Syrians targeted by the security forces.
She stressed the “extreme urgency for the international community to cut through the politics and take effective action to protect the Syrian population”.

An estimated 6,000 people have died since the start of the upheaval that began with protests in March 2011 amid the Arab Spring.
Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, proposed holding a conference “as soon as possible” to “promote international understanding with all countries concerned”. He is due to hold further talks in Washington soon with Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State.
Ünal Cevikoz, the Turkish ambassador to Britain, said delivering humanitarian aid could be discussed at the proposed conference, but like the Western powers, he said his country remained against military options, including arming the Free Syrian Army.
He denied reports that discussions on military options between the US and Turkey were already under way.
“Humanitarian aid may become necessary. There is growing scarcity of food that may lead to famine. It is a serious crime not only to kill but to create the conditions of exterminating a city and its people,” he added, referring to the city of Homs, which Mr Assad’s forces have bombarded for five days.
The Turkish initiative would run parallel, he said, to the “Friends of Syria”, but it would aim to bring together a broader range of nations.
“Today we are at a very critical juncture and the international community has to take the initiative and has to move forward with strong messages to the Syrian regime,” said Mr Cevikoz.
Turkey, which has a 560-mile border with Syria, has been at the forefront of international criticism against Damascus and has become a haven for opposition activists. After 11 rounds of sanctions against Syria, the European Union is also discussing further sanctions, including freezing the assets of Syria’s central bank, banning the importation of Syrian phosphates and suspending trade in gold and other gems.
“We’re trying to make things change,” said a senior EU official. “We’re facing a wall, and we have to find a way of climbing over that wall and moving ahead.”
The opposition to Mr Assad has been calling for a humanitarian corridor or buffer zone or a Friends of Syria group for months. The Syrian National Council, the principal opposition body, endorsed military intervention in December.
The Arab League has shown unprecedented initiative in drawing up a plan for democratic transition in Syria. Qatar, the current president of the 22-nation group, is rumoured to be secretly supplying rebels as it did in Libya.
Radwan Ziadeh, a member of the SNC executive, said the US had to take a more prominent role. “Everyone is waiting for signals from Washington,” he said.

Syria’s army pounded the rebel city of Homs on Wednesday as Turkey sought international action to protect civilians from former ally President Bashar al-Assad, a move that risks the wrath of Russia and China.

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Syria and Damascus

“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous•Strongs 4654: mappalah, map-paw-law´; or mappelah, map-pay-law´; from 5307; something fallen, i.e. a ruin:—ruin( ous). heap.”
—Isaiah 17:1

Dozens more were killed during the day, according to the opposition, drawing comparison with the plight of Benghazi which triggered Western attacks on Libya last year and accelerating a global diplomatic showdown whose outcome is far from clear.

“I’ve seen whole families killed this week,” an activist called Ahmed told Reuters from Homs, the scene of one of the bloodiest government onslaughts in the 11-month-old revolt against Assad. “Now I feel like I’m just waiting to be the next to die,” added the accountant aged 28.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Reuters before flying to Washington for talks on Syria that Turkey, which once saw Assad as a valuable ally but now wants him out, could no longer stand and watch and wanted to host an international meeting to agree ways to end the killing and provide aid.

“It is not enough being an observer,” he said. “It is time now to send a strong message to the Syrian people that we are with them,” he added, while refusing to be drawn on what kind of action Turkey or its allies would be prepared to consider.

Syrian army tanks and artillery pounded areas of Homs where revolt had flourished, demolishing buildings where people were living, short of water, food and medical supplies and pinned down by sharpshooters on rooftops.

Syrian state media blamed foreign-backed “terrorists” for killing 30 security personnel on Tuesday and causing an explosion that set a refinery ablaze.

“All the international community should work together to help,” Davutoglu said. “Especially those who cannot even go from one street to another in Homs. You have pictures of children running from one house to another house while under artillery attack … They cannot continue these methods of oppression.”

Syria’s position at the heart of the Middle East, allied to Iran and home to a powder-keg religious and ethnic mix, means Assad’s opponents have strenuously ruled out the kind of military action they took against the isolated Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Some form of corridors for aid and evacuation, or ceasefire accords inside Syria, may be the most achievable demands.

RUSSIAN WRATH

Russia and China, which let the United Nations support the air campaign in Libya, provoked strong condemnation from the United States, European powers and other Arab governments when they vetoed a much less interventionist resolution in the Security Council last week that called on Assad to step down.

While Moscow sees him as a buyer of arms and host to a Soviet-era naval base, for both Russia and China Syria is also a test case for efforts to resist U.N. encroachment on sovereign governments’ freedom to deal with rebels as they see fit.

Campaigning for next month’s presidential election that he is certain to win, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who first won the presidency after storming the rebel Russian city of Grozny, said: “A cult of violence has been coming to the fore in international affairs … This cannot fail to cause concern.

“We of course condemn all violence regardless of its source, but one cannot act like an elephant in a china shop.

“Help them, advise them, limit, for instance, their ability to use weapons but not interfere under any circumstances.”

It is unclear what Turkey, a NATO member and rising Muslim, democratic force in the Middle East, could do to bring Moscow into any international initiative alongside those regional and world powers which have sided with the rebels against Assad.

“Now it is still time for diplomatic efforts, and we are using all diplomatic means,” Davutoglu told Reuters when asked when Turkey, which has taken in refugees and rebel commanders, might envisage sending its own forces across the border.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who had described the Russian and Chinese veto at the U.N. as a “fiasco,” telephoned outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday and afterward issued a statement repeating that Assad had lost “legitimacy.”

The Kremlin said Medvedev told Erdogan that the search for a solution should continue, including in the Security Council, but that foreign interference was not an option. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who visited Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, said the president’s opponents should sit down and talk with him.

Medvedev also spoke with French President Nicolas Sarkozy asking him and other Western countries to avoid “hasty, unilateral moves” towards Syria and said that the position of the international community should be “balanced and objective,” the Kremlin said.

As the diplomatic gears turned, the military offensive in Homs and elsewhere showed no sign of let up. Activists in the city also accused militiamen of slaughtering three families in their homes – the sort of incident that is fueling fears of a descent into more widespread, Iraq-style sectarian killing.

The day’s death toll stood at over 100, activists said, offering figures that could not be independently verified.

U.N. APPALLED

The United Nations’ top human rights official called on Wednesday for urgent international action. Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights, said: “I am appalled by the Syrian government’s willful assault on the city of Homs, and its use of artillery and other heavy weaponry in what appear to be indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas in the city.”

Speaking by satellite phone from the beleaguered Bab Amro neighborhood, activist Hussein Nader said that the bombardment has lessened on the district by dusk but that tanks had moved closer to the besieged district, where 30,000 inhabitants have been without water, electric or telephone lines days.

He said bombardments has killed 42 civilians on Wednesday with many others wounded: “There are neighborhoods on the eastern side of Bab Amro that are disaster zones from heavy shelling apparently designed to open the way for tanks.

“Dozens of people are under the rubble with no way to get to them because they are firing at anyone who moves in the street.”

He said activists were trying to distribute water in bottles but that bandages and antiseptics had run out.

Asked about resistance in the district, Nader said the Free Syrian Army was outgunned and that fighters were laying low, awaiting an impending tank infantry onslaught on the district.

The onslaught on Homs has not relented despite a promise to end the bloodshed that the Syrian leader gave to Russia.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe dismissed Syrian pledges of peace as deceit, “and we’re not going to fall for it.”

A group known as the Syrian Revolution General Commission called in a statement in the afternoon for outside humanitarian protection and that the day’s death toll stood at 100 – similar to the figure distributed by activists for Tuesday.

OPPOSITION DEFIANT

Syrian opposition figures, who said Lavrov had brought no new initiative, spurn Assad’s promises of reform as meaningless while his troops are killing civilians and say he must go.

Walid al-Bunni, a senior member of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC), dismissed Lavrov’s dialogue proposal.

“The Arab initiative is clear. Assad must step down and Syrians will then be ready to sit together at a table with whoever succeeds him to discuss a democratic transition,” the head of the SNC’s foreign policy committee told Reuters.

Among other points of pressure, a senior EU diplomat said European Union governments had reached an agreement in principle to impose sanctions on the Syrian central bank this month as part of new measures intended to force Assad out.

In Cairo, a representative of a Gulf Arab state to the Arab League told Reuters that military intervention, such as that backed by Qatar and other Arab states in Libya, should be an option: “There are many alternatives and among them is sending peacekeeping troops whether Arab or international.

“The mission of such forces in case they were sent would be to create safe zones to protect civilians and prevent the Syrian army from entering them,” the Arab diplomat said, adding that an arms embargo should also be considered.

“We should think about a clear mechanism to restrain the Syrian army,” he said. “The Syrians have taken the Russian and Chinese veto as a license to kill.”

Separately, eleven kidnapped Iranians in Syria have been released but 18 others are still being held hostage, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said.

Hossein Amir Abdollahian said the kidnappers wanted to pressure Tehran to abandon its support of the Syrian government, but Iran would not change its position.

(Additional reporting by Simon Cameron-Moore and Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara, Steve Gutterman in Moscow, Erika Solomon in Beirut, John Irish in Paris and Yasmine Saleh and Ayman Samir in Cairo; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

BEIRUT (AP) – Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution backing calls for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, despite international outrage Saturday over a devastating bombardment of the city of Homs by his regime’s forces. Activists said more than 200 were killed in the bloodiest episode of the nearly 11-month uprising.

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Syria and Damascus

“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous•Strongs 4654: mappalah, map-paw-law´; or mappelah, map-pay-law´; from 5307; something fallen, i.e. a ruin:—ruin( ous). heap.”
—Isaiah 17:1

The overnight onslaught on restive neighborhoods in Homs, Syria’s third largest city, signaled a willingness by Assad’s regime to bring a new level of violence to stamp out an opposition that has grown increasingly bold and armed.
Its timing, hours before a planned vote on the U.N. resolution, suggested Assad was confident of his ally Russia’s protection on the world stage.
STORY: Russia, China veto U.N. resolution on Syria
STORY: Obama urges international help for Syria
Residents of Homs on Saturday described a night of ceaseless bombardment by mortars and rockets that lasted until dawn, sending them fleeing to lower floors and basements. When daylight came, dozens of buildings were left punctured by shells, facades collapsed, and some streets were stained with blood.
Thousands gathered for a funeral ceremony for some of the victims in the worst hit neighborhood, Khaldiyeh, where more than 60 coffins and bodies in white shrouds were lined up in a park, according to footage of the scene.
“A few more nights like this one and Homs will be erased from the map,” Ammar, a resident, said, speaking on condition that only his first name be used for fear he and his family could be targeted. “We are being massacred.”
Activists’ reports of the death toll could not be independently confirmed, and the counts varied due to the confusion of tracking the dead.
The Syrian government denied any bombardment took place at all, saying the high death tolls were opposition propaganda aimed at pressuring the United Nations and the bodies were those of people who had been kidnapped previously by “terrorists.”
The bloodshed added heat to negotiations that have been going on for days, as Western and Arab nations tried to overcome Russia’s opposition to the resolution. The measure would have backed an Arab call for Assad to hand over his powers to his vice president and allow formation of a unity government.
“The Assad regime must come to an end,” President Obama said in a statement Saturday before the vote, calling on the Security Council to “stand against the Assad regime’s relentless brutality.”
But Russia demanded further changes be made, saying the draft did not make enough demands on the armed opposition in Syria and calls for Assad to step aside could wreck chances for a negotiated solution to the country’s upheaval. In the end, the resolution’s proponents pushed ahead with a vote, challenging Moscow to veto or back down.
After the veto, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said her country was “disgusted” by the vote.
“It is a sad day for this council, a sad day for Syrians and a sad day for all friends of democracy,” French Ambassador Gerard Araud said. He said Russia and China had “made themselves complicit in a policy of repression carried out by the Assad regime.”
Syria has been a key Russian ally since Soviet times and Moscow has opposed any U.N. call that could be interpreted as advocating military intervention or regime change. Russia and China also used their veto powers as permanent council members in October to block a previous Western attempt to condemn the violence in Syria.
Assad has seen the Russian backing as crucial as he wages a crackdown that has killed well over 5,400 people since March, according to a U.N. estimate.
In a sign of Assad’s thinking, a pro-Syrian Lebanese politician who met with the Syrian leader last week told a Lebanese newspaper that Assad was “confident in the Russian position.”
Wiam Wahhab said Assad told him that the time had come to decisively put an end to the uprising. “The price of chaos is worse than the price of decisiveness,” he quoted Assad as telling him.
The regime has appeared more determined to crush army defectors who have joined the uprising and grown increasingly bold, trying to overtly establish control of pro-opposition cities and neighborhoods. Last week, regime forces carried out a heavy offensive to crush defectors who held sway in suburbs of Damascus, bringing them to the doorstep of the capital.
There were signs that the bombardment in Homs was in response to moves by army defectors to solidify control in several neighborhoods.
Residents reported that defectors set up new checkpoints in several areas, and two Homs activists said defectors attacked a military checkpoint in the Khaldiyeh district Thursday night, capturing 17 soldiers. The activists spoke on condition of anonymity to protect themselves from retaliation.
On Saturday, thousands protested across Syria in solidarity with the beleaguered city. “Homs, your blood will not go in vain,” read a banner held by a protester a Damascus suburb.
At least 21 people were killed in violence outside Homs on Saturday, including 12 shot when security forces opened fire on a funeral procession for victims of a shooting in the Damascus suburb of Daraya a day earlier, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Tunisia decided to expel Syria’s ambassador and end its recognition of Assad’s regime in response to what it called a “bloody massacre” in Homs. Angry Syrians stormed their embassies in Berlin, London, Athens, Cairo and Kuwait, clashing with guards and police and — in Cairo — setting fire to part of the embassy.
In Khaldiyeh, an overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim district of Homs, residents checked on relatives after a night spent in hiding and cleaned streets of shattered glass, debris and bloodstains. As many as 30 buildings were left uninhabitable by the extent of the damage, said local activist Majd Amer.
Mohammad, a Khaldiyeh resident who like most in Homs declined to be further identified, said the shelling started shortly before midnight and lasted until early Saturday.
“We were sitting at home and the mortars just started slamming into buildings around us,” he said by telephone. “There was nothing that prompted it, not even protests … people are terrified today.”
“It’s a catastrophe, no other way to describe it,” he said.
Online video by activists taken during the onslaught showed chaotic scenes in a makeshift clinic set up in what appeared to be a Khaldiyeh mosque, the room filled with wounded men with gashes and broken limbs being bandaged as well as several dead bodies. In another video, fire ravaged a house that had been shelled, as people poured water on the blaze.
The videos could not be independently verified.
The Syrian Observatory said the death toll in Homs was at least 217, counting victims whose names it had collected. About 140 of the deaths were in Khaldiyeh, it said. The Syrian National Council, one of the main opposition groups, put the toll at more than 220.
“This is the worst attack of the uprising, since the uprising began in March until now,” said Rami Abdul-Rahman, the head of the Observatory, which tracks violence through contacts on the ground.
The group’s figures could not be independently verified.
Residents said most shelling came from a military installation west of Khaldiyeh and Alawite-dominated neighborhoods to the east. Syria’s Alawite minority, which belongs to an offshoot of Shiite Islam, forms the backbone of Assad’s regime and the military leadership.
Homs has been one of the biggest centers of anti-regime protests since March and has seen increasingly large numbers of army defectors. It has been hit by near daily regime raids and fighting. It has also seen bloody bouts of tit-for-tat killings between its Alawite and Sunni communities, a harbinger of what many Syrians fear could happen if the country descends into an outright confrontation of armed forces.
Syria’s uprising began with peaceful protests around the country. But in the face of the regime’s withering crackdown, the opposition has increasingly taken up arms. Military and security forces have responded with progressively greater force.

Bombs killed at least 14 prisoners in a Syrian security vehicle on Saturday, and fierce battles erupted between rebels and state forces as the Arab League considered whether to keep monitors in place.

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Syria and Damascus

“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous•Strongs 4654: mappalah, map-paw-law´; or mappelah, map-pay-law´; from 5307; something fallen, i.e. a ruin:—ruin( ous). heap.”
—Isaiah 17:1

The League looks set to extend its monitoring mission in Syria, given the lack of any Arab or world consensus on how to halt the bloodshed there, an Arab diplomatic source said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the 10-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, said an explosive device planted on a road in the northwestern province of Idlib had killed 15 detainees and wounded dozens.

Syria’s state news agency SANA said a “terrorist” group had set off two explosions on the road between the towns of Idlib and Ariha, killing 14 prisoners and wounding 26. Six police guards were also wounded, some critically.

Activists in Idlib offered a very different account, saying the vehicle had actually been carrying dead bodies. They uploaded videos of corpses on the bloodied floors of a hospital morgue, some of which appeared to be decomposing, and said they had come from the vehicle.

Foreign journalists are mostly banned from Syria and such reports are impossible to verify.

Elsewhere in Idlib, clashes broke out between rebels and troops in the city of Maarat Noaman.

“Ten soldiers were trying to desert and their escape sparked clashes between the army and the rebels. One rebel was martyred when he helped give the defectors cover and nine army personnel were killed,” the Observatory’s head Rami Abdelrahman told Reuters by telephone from Britain.

The Observatory said troops had clashed with army deserters who had joined the insurgency in the town of Jebel al-Zawiya, also in Idlib province, which borders Turkey.

FIGHTING NEAR DAMASCUS

Rebels seized parts of the town of Douma near Damascus before retreating, activists said. Explosions and gunfire rocked the area, a hotbed of revolt after dark.

The fighting began on Saturday afternoon, after security forces killed four people when they fired on a funeral march for a slain protester. Ensuing clashes left dozens wounded, activists said.

Syria accuses its neigbours of failing to combat arms smuggling to insurgents across their borders. On Saturday Syrian forces killed a Lebanese fisherman and wounded another when they seized their boat at sea, the father of the dead man said.

Residents said the Syrians may have suspected the men of smuggling.

Hundreds of people have been killed during the month-long observer mission, despatched to assess Syria’s implementation of an Arab peace plan originally agreed in early November.

Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, head of the 165-strong monitoring team, was due in Cairo on Saturday to submit his report for a League committee on Syria to consider on Sunday.

Syria is keen to avoid tougher action by the Arab League or the United Nations. It has tried to show it is complying with the plan, which demands a halt to killings, a military pullout from the streets, the release of detainees, access for the monitors and the media, and dialogue with opposition groups.

Critics say the Arab monitors have only given Assad diplomatic cover to pursue a bloody crackdown on his opponents.

The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) told Reuters it had formally asked the League to refer the Syrian crisis to the U.N. Security Council.

But an Arab source said the League was most likely planning only to extend the mission’s mandate: “Yes, there is not complete satisfaction with Syria’s cooperation with the monitoring mission. But in the absence of any international plan to deal with Syria, the best option is for the monitors to stay.

This month the Syrian authorities have freed hundreds of detainees, announced an amnesty, struck a ceasefire deal with armed rebels in one town, allowed the Arab observers into some trouble spots and admitted a gaggle of foreign journalists.

“TERRORISTS”

Assad also promised political reforms, while vowing iron-fisted treatment of the “terrorists” trying to topple him.

Burhan Ghalioun, head of the SNC, was in the Egyptian capital for meetings with opposition colleagues and Arab League officials.

The group said in a statement he would ask for the case to go to the Security Council in order to get a resolution imposing a no-fly zone or safe zone.

Western powers have failed to overcome Chinese and Russian opposition to any Security Council resolution condemning Syria or imposing sanctions.

The United States and the European Union have toughened their own punitive measures, but have shown no desire to mount a Libya-style military intervention to help Assad’s opponents, who include both armed insurgents and peaceful protesters.

Washington warned on Friday that it might soon close its embassy in Syria due to worsening security conditions and said it believed Assad no longer had full control of the country.

U.S. concern about the safety of its mission in Damascus, which was attacked by a pro-Assad crowd in July, intensified after three deadly blasts in the Syrian capital in recent weeks, blamed by Syrian authorities on al-Qaeda suicide bombers.

Closing the embassy would not amount to cutting diplomatic ties, but would reduce direct U.S. contacts with Damascus.

A White House spokesman said Assad’s fall was “inevitable” and demanded he halt violence against protesters in which the United Nations says more than 5,000 people have died since March. Syria says 2,000 security personnel have been killed. (Writing by Alistair Lyon and Erika Solomon; editing by Andrew Roche)

An Arab observer delegation in Syria is running into further difficulties, with two members either quitting or threatening to do so within 24 hours because their mission is proving ineffectual in ending the suffering of civilians.

To view popup window put your cursor on the blue words

Syria and Damascus

“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous•Strongs 4654: mappalah, map-paw-law´; or mappelah, map-pay-law´; from 5307; something fallen, i.e. a ruin:—ruin( ous). heap.”
—Isaiah 17:1

An observer who declined to give his name said on Wednesday he was ready to walk out, exposing rifts in an Arab peace effort a day after Anwar Malek, an Algerian observer, told Al Jazeera TV he had quit Syria because the peace mission was a “farce.”

Both men, clearly appalled by what they had seen, spoke of continued violence, killings and torture, saying the bloodshed had not abated as a result of the presence of the Arab League mission. Both described Syrians’ suffering as “unimaginable.”

Malek’s departure was a blow to the mission, already criticized by Syria’s opposition as a toothless body that only served to buy President Bashar al-Assad time.

Its work has already been hampered by an attack on monitors in the western port of Latakia this week that lightly wounded 11 and prompted the League to delay sending new observers to Syria to join about 165 already there.

Another resignation would further undermine its credibility.

Asked if he agreed with Malek’s characterization of the mission as a failure, the monitor said: “It is true, it is true. Even I am trying to leave on Friday. I’m going to Cairo or elsewhere… because the mission is unclear…. It does not serve the citizens. It does not serve anything.”

“The Syrian authorities have exploited the weakness in the performance of the delegation to not respond. There is no real response on the ground.”

The monitor, speaking by telephone from Syria, asked not to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

“The military gear is still present even in the mosques. We asked that military equipment be withdrawn from the Abu Bakr al-Siddiq mosque in Deraa and until today they have not withdrawn.”

The Arab League monitoring mission began work on December 26. Its task is to verify if Syria is complying with an agreement to halt a crackdown on 10 months of protests against Assad in which the United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed.

OPPOSITION ALARMED

A U.N. official told the Security Council on Tuesday that Syria had accelerated its killing of protesters after the Arab monitors had arrived.

Assad mocked the Arab League in a speech in which he said that it had failed for six decades to promised to take a position in Arab interests. He said he would strike down a revolt he slammed as foreign plot.

The choice of a Sudanese general to head the mission had already alarmed opposition activists who say Sudan’s own defiance of a war crimes tribunal means the monitors probably will not recommend strong action against Assad.

The unnamed monitor said the Syrian authorities had shown little genuine willingness to comply with the plan while the observers lacked the expertise to do their mission justice.

“There is oppression. There is strong oppression and there is suffering, a lot of suffering, more than you imagine,” he said, describing one part of the central city of Homs he had visited.

“This is a very big problem and it is related firstly to the general will of the Syrian authorities to cooperate with the delegation in a genuine manner and without maneuvering,” he said.

“Secondly, it is related to the expertise of the delegation… It needs experts in the fields of monitoring, of diplomacy, of international law.”

While an Arab League meeting on Syria said on Sunday it remained committed to the mission, the observer said that individual monitors were thinking of quitting, either fearing for their lives or frustrated at failing to make a difference.

Malek said Syrian authorities had not withdrawn their tanks from the streets, but had simply hidden them.

“The snipers are everywhere shooting at civilians. People are being kidnapped. Prisoners are being tortured and no one has been released,” the Algerian former observer said on Al Jazeera. “Those who are supposedly freed and shown on TV are actually people who had been randomly grabbed off the streets.”

Earlier, a posting by Malek on Facebook was taken down, but his words were quoted on the page of Adib Shishakly, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council.

“Bloodshed in Syria hasn’t stopped,” Malek reportedly said. “Every day, we see bodies in conditions that are unimaginable. Violence is increasing and we are unable to do anything for the victims of snipers, bombardments and assassinations.

“Kidnapping continues, and torture has exceeded all boundaries. Syria is headed towards destruction and civil war.”

He said the monitors were “ruled by restrictions imposed by their governments,” but did not go into details.

“I am now clearing my conscience to the heroic people of Syria… The truth is gone and the right path is gone. And the sun of the Arabs has set in the alleyways of sad Syria.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the League monitoring mission in Syria could not continue indefinitely.

Adnan Khodeir, head of the League’s monitoring operations room, said the observers could resume work on Thursday after not going out for two days following the Latakia attack. “All the monitors are well, and there are no problems,” he said.

PROMISES NOT MET

Under the Arab peace plan, Syrian authorities were supposed to stop attacking peaceful protests, withdraw troops and tanks from the streets, free detainees and open a political dialogue.

The unnamed monitor said those promises had not been met, with the Syrian military still present in cities, even in residential areas, while it was difficult to verify, for instance, if political prisoners had genuinely been released.

“There are lots of detainees who are not detained officially. Are they with air force security? Are they with military security? Are they with political security?” he said.

Malek accused Syria of war crimes and torturing prisoners. The Arab League, which suspended Syria in November for failing to halt the crackdown, disputed Malek’s account, saying illness had stopped him carrying out his work.

The unnamed monitor said Malek may have had contacts with Syrian opposition members, but they had visited Homs together.

Monitors had been allowed to visit any area they chose, but Syrian authorities had refused to accompany them in particularly tense neighborhoods, forcing them to make a decision to either stay away or take the risk of going in alone, the monitor said.

He arrived in Syria on December 27 and has visited Homs, Damascus and Deraa. The Bab Amr area of Homs was in a particularly dire way, he said.

Syria has barred most independent media, making it difficult to verify conflicting accounts of events on the ground.

The country says it is facing a wave of terrorism by Islamists and conspirators who are armed and manipulated from abroad and have killed 2,000 members of the security forces.

But the monitor said he had seen no evidence of this.

“We did not feel afraid or threatened while talking to them. In all the areas we went to, we did not meet any gunmen, unless they had hidden their guns,” he said. “What we found were citizens in their homes who spoke of their suffering.”

(Additional reporting by Ayman Samir in Cairo and Alistair Lyon and Dominic Evans in Beirut. Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Richard Meares and Giles Elgood)

A suicide bomber killed 26 people and wounded 63 in Damascus Friday, Syria’s interior minister said, vowing an “iron fist” response to the carnage in the heart of the Syrian capital after similar attacks two weeks ago.

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Syria and Damascus

“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous•Strongs 4654: mappalah, map-paw-law´; or mappelah, map-pay-law´; from 5307; something fallen, i.e. a ruin:—ruin( ous). heap.”
—Isaiah 17:1

The blast came two days before an Arab League committee was due to discuss an initial report of Arab observers who are checking Syria’s compliance with an Arab plan to halt President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on nearly 10 months of unrest.

The meeting may decide whether to continue the mission or to refer Syria to the United Nations Security Council, perhaps paving the way for some form of international action, a scenario that many Arab countries are keen to avoid.

Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said he was sending a message with Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal asking the Syrian government to work to halt the violence.

Interior Minister Ibrahim al-Shaar, quoted by state television, said 26 people had been killed in the blast in the Maidan district of Damascus, including 15 who could not be identified because their bodies had been shredded in the blast.

“We will strike back with an iron fist at anyone tempted to tamper with the security of the country or its citizens,” he said. He said that about 63 people had been wounded.

Some in the opposition said the government itself had staged the attack to try to show that it is fighting blind violence rather than a pro-democracy movement.

State television showed body parts, bloodstains and broken glass from the explosion. Several riot police shields could be seen in a wrecked bus that was among several damaged vehicles.

On December 23 at least 44 people were killed by what Syrian authorities said were two suicide bombings that targeted security buildings in the Syrian capital one day before the head of the Arab League observer mission arrived there.

Footage of Friday’s blast on Syria’s semi-official Addounia TV showed yellow tape stretched around the wrecked bus and cars with smashed windows in a street. People collected body parts on blue plastic sheets amid pools of blood and scattered shoes.

Arab monitors in white baseball caps and orange vests inspected the area, taking notes and filming. The local police station was visible, apparently untouched by the explosion.

The TV showed crowds of angry locals gathered at the scene, chanting “God, Syria and Bashar only” and “God protect the army” and “With blood and soul we sacrifice for you Bashar.”

A woman named Umm Mohammed said those behind the blast were attacking the security forces who protect Syrians. “They (protesters) say they want freedom, this here is freedom, not those children of saboteurs, God curse them,” she said.

The monitors confirmed they had visited the scene. “We are only here to observe and document,” one of them told Reuters by telephone.

Syria bars most independent journalists from the country, making first-hand reporting impossible.

However, a BBC Arabic service reporter was able to accompany three Arab monitors on a five-hour visit to the town of Irbine, on the outskirts of Damascus, the BBC reported.

It was the first time foreign media were known to have been able to cover the activities of the monitors directly, although media access was a condition stipulated by the Arab League.

The BBC said it had been able to film, unhindered by the security forces, an anti-Assad protest in Irbine.

Protesters and residents told the observers, all Algerian diplomats, of harsh treatment at the hands of the security forces. The observers then witnessed a demonstration in which the crowd demanded Assad’s execution, the BBC said.

The League’s special committee on Syria is due to meet in Cairo Sunday to debate the initial findings of the observer mission, which has been criticized by Syrian activists who question its ability to assess violence on the ground.

Elaraby said after meeting Meshaal in Cairo that he had given the leader of the militant Palestinian Islamist group a message for the Syrian authorities “that it is necessary to work with integrity, transparency and credibility to halt the violence that is happening in Syria.”

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed in the popular uprising against Assad. The government says “terrorists” have killed 2,000 members of the security forces during the revolt.

FATE OF ARAB MISSION

The monitors began work on the streets on December 26 to try to verify whether the government was keeping its promise to pull troops and tanks out of cities and free thousands of detainees.

The Free Syrian Army (FSA), an armed opposition force composed mainly of army deserters, condemned the Maidan attack and blamed the Syrian authorities. “This is planned and systematic state terrorism by the security forces of President Bashar al-Assad,” FSA spokesman Major Maher al-Naimi said.

An opposition activist, who asked not to be named, said Islamist militants might have been behind the blast. “I think there are hundreds of these extremists willing to fight the regime and blow themselves up in the name of jihad,” he added.

One Damascus resident, who gave her name only as Dima, said the city had been tense even before the blast. “Some friends who work in the security forces were warning my family since yesterday to stay at home,” she said. “The streets were empty.”

The violence in Syria has raged unabated since the Arab monitors arrived, with scores of people reported killed.

Security forces killed four protesters in Hama Friday when they shot at people shouting anti-Assad slogans after weekly prayers, activists said.

Pro-Assad forces also wounded at least three protesters when they fired at a crowd at a Damascus mosque in a district where a security headquarters is located, a witness said.

The witness said pro-Assad militiamen and secret police agents fired water cannon and then assault rifles after the protesters in the Kfar Souseh district refused to disperse.

“I saw three people on the ground and I do not know if they are dead or alive,” said the witness, who lives nearby.

Arab government sources said Thursday the League monitors would pursue their mission in Syria, despite criticism from Qatar’s prime minister that they had made “mistakes.”

Syrian activists say the Arab monitors have had inadequate access to trouble spots, a charge denied by Damascus.

A Hama unit of the Free Syrian Army complained that it had tried without success to meet the monitors.

“We want to prove to the world that the Assad regime is lying when it says there are armed gangs here,” said an FSA officer in a video posted online.

“There are no armed gangs, but soldiers who have defected after we saw that the army and security forces were killing civilians and shelling people’s homes with heavy artillery.”

(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Louise Ireland)

‘Assad is cut off,’ foreign affairs minister says in announcing new sanctions

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Perplexity

“…upon the earth distress•Strongs 4928: sunoche, soon-okh-ay´; from 4912; restraint, i.e. (figuratively) anxiety: — anguish, distress. of nations, with perplexity•Strongs 640: aporia, ap-or-ee´-a; from the same as 639; a (state of) quandary:—perplexity.
•Strongs 639: aporeo, ap-or-eh´-o; from a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4198; to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally):— (stand in) doubt, be perplexed….”
—Luke 21:25

Syria and Damascus

“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous•Strongs 4654: mappalah, map-paw-law´; or mappelah, map-pay-law´; from 5307; something fallen, i.e. a ruin:—ruin( ous). heap.”
—Isaiah 17:1

OTTAWA — The federal government has ordered Canadian banks to freeze any assets they hold for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime even as it anticipates the tyrant’s downfall.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced the requirement, dismissing Syrian government claims that al-Qaeda was responsible for two suicide attacks in the country. “Canada will continue to put the squeeze on the Assad regime,” he said. “We will not sit idly by, not while Assad and his thugs continue to violate the rights of the Syrian people.”

However, Baird could not say how much money and property Canadian banks were holding for the 33 senior Syrian government and military officials and 10 primarily state-run companies affected by the asset freeze. “The financial institutions will be required immediately to review their accounts to find out how much is available and the RCMP will work with that. Until those reviews have taken place, we can’t say to what extent their assets are here.”

In addition to the asset freeze, Baird said Canada will prohibit all imports from Syria, with the exception of food. Nor will Canadian companies be allowed to make any new investments in the country or export equipment, including software for the monitoring of telephone and Internet communications.

“Assad is cut off. His disgusting brand of violence must stop and come to an end, he must go,” the minister said, reiterating the government’s call for all Canadians still in Syria to leave by any means necessary. “The Syrian people have endured a violent repression of their calls for basic freedoms and the rights that are essential to human dignity.”

This new round of sanctions is the fourth imposed by the federal government since May in response to the Assad regime’s crackdown on opponents.

Baird’s rhetoric appeared to please members of the Syrian National Council (SNC) opposition movement who were in Ottawa Friday to meet with the minister and Foreign Affairs officials. The organization, which claims to represent all the main factions opposed to Assad, wants Canada to take the lead in encouraging other western governments to recognize the SNC as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

Ahmad Ramadan, a member of the SNC executive committee, described the meeting with Baird and his bureaucrats as “very successful, very constructive.”

In a later interview he noted that the fact Baird was willing to meeting formally with the SNC is a de facto recognition of the organization’s legitimacy. But Ramadan also said the purpose of the meeting was not only to gain recognition for the SNC, but also to discuss what role Canada might play in aiding the transition to a post-Assad Syria, particularly in regard to ensuring stability in the country.

SNC delegates asked Baird to withdraw Canada’s diplomatic mission from Damascus as a way to further delegitimize the Assad regime and, according to Ramadan, were told “it would happen soon.”

The SNC wants the international community to establish safe havens within Syria where protesters and those opposed to the Assad regime can be safe. “We asked the Canadian government to help convince some countries, some governments in the UN Security Council to bring forward a resolution that will help in the protection of civilians in Syria,” said SNC representative Obaida Nahhas.

Baird shied away, however, from questions about possible Canadian and international military involvement in Syria.

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have died since mass protests against Assad erupted in March. The violence continued on Friday with reports of two suicide bomb attacks on security service bases in the Damascus, which killed 44 people and injured 166 others. They were the first suicide bombings in the country since the uprising began, and the first against the powerful security services in the heart of the capital.

Syrian authorities blamed al-Qaida for the attacks, which came a day after the arrival of an advance team making preparations for Arab League observers to oversee a plan to end the violence.

The Syrian government claims that more than 2,000 security force personnel have been killed in attacks by armed rebels since March, but the regime’s behaviour has received considerable condemnation from both Arab and Western countries. So far, though, the UN Security Council has failed to agree on any formal resolution on Syria.

Russia and China have already vetoed one resolution proposed by European countries condemning the Assad regime. They accused the West of engaging in regime change in Syria. For their part, the European countries say a proposed Russian resolution on Syria is not tough enough.

Baird, meanwhile, questioned the credibility of claims that al-Qaeda was behind Friday’s bombings, citing previous Assad denials that any violence was taking place within the country. “If it wasn’t so serious it would almost be comical,” he said.

The minister predicted that Assad’s regime would fall sooner or later. “Assad will fall, the government will fall, it’s only a matter of time.”

Baird voiced support for the SNC, saying it had made progress in establishing its credibility as a possible partner as Canada and its allies push for Assad and his government to step aside. However, he stopped short of fully endorsing it.

Nonetheless, Ramadan said the minister had reassured them such recognition was on the horizon, but that their lack of a presence on the ground in Syria was a key stumbling block. “We have been told that it is coming,” he said. “Mr. Baird told me they will be working on this.”

Ramadan also dismissed the Syrian government’s claims that al-Qaida was responsible for the twin suicide bombings. “The regime itself is responsible for these explosions in order to divert the world’s attention from the violations of human rights that the regime itself is committing against the civilian population,” he said.

The SNC representatives met later at Carleton University with members of the Syrian Canadian Council to brief them on what has been taking place in the country and to outline the SNC efforts to establish itself as legitimate political alternative to the Assad regime. About 25 people attended the meeting.

The SNC representatives acknowledged that nine months ago, few could have imagined Assad’s regime would be on the brink of collapse. Now, though, as Ramadan put it, “Assad has lost all legitimacy, domestically and internationally. He is going to fall.”

Asked whether a post-Assad Syrian government would end hostilities with Israel and sign a peace accord with the Jewish state, Ramadan equivocated. “The new Syria will be a true factor for stability in the region, particularly with its neighbours.

“The new Syria will demand the return of the territories under Israel occupation,” he added in reference to the Golan Heights.

With files from Postmedia News, Agence France-Presse, Reuters and The Daily Telegraph

Hezbollah leader, who has been in hiding since 2006, greets crowds in Beirut; shows support for Syria’s Assad.

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Syria and Damascus

“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous•Strongs 4654: mappalah, map-paw-law´; or mappelah, map-pay-law´; from 5307; something fallen, i.e. a ruin:—ruin( ous). heap.”
—Isaiah 17:1

Lebanon

“Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.”
—Zechariah 11:1

Moving Towards Ezekiel 38-39

“Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:”
—Ezekiel 38:5

Editors note about Persia and Hezblooah•FYI: Many Bible teachers believe Persia is the area of present day Iran.
It certainly appears that, Hezblooah, is a surrogate army for Iran and is supplied through Syria.

BEIRUT – Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whose backers Syria and Iran are at the center of heightened regional tension, made a rare public appearance on Tuesday marking the Shi’ite Muslim festival of Ashura and said his group was building up its arsenal.

Surrounded by armed bodyguards, Nasrallah walked through a crowd of Shi’ites in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Hezbollah’s stronghold. He greeted tens of thousands of supporters from the podium before disappearing for a few minutes to give his speech via a giant screen.

Nasrallah’s comments came as Syria launched a Scud B missile on Sunday, a show of strength by the embattled Assad regime.

Nasrallah, who has been in hiding for fear of assassination since 2006, struck a defiant note in his speech, giving no sign that his allies’ troubles were affecting Hezbollah, which has an armed wing and a political movement.

“Every day we are growing in number, our training is getting better, we are becoming more confident and our weapons are increasing,” he said. “If anyone is betting that our weapons are rusting, we (say) no, we replace our rusting weapons.”

Nasrallah told the crowd his public appearance was a message to those “who believe they can threaten us.”

He reiterated his support for his Syrian ally, President Bashar Assad, and described his government as a “resistance regime”. The eight-month-old revolt against Assad’s rule has resulted in some 3,500 deaths, according to UN estimates.

The border area, inactive for more than two years, was jolted last Tuesday when a rocket was fired from south Lebanon, damaging two buildings in northern Israel and drawing return fire, but there was no claim of responsibility

Hezbollah believes the West is working to reshape the Middle East by replacing Assad with a ruler friendly to Israel and hostile to itself.

Shortly before Nasrallah’s speech tens of thousands of men, women and children marched in the streets of Beirut’s southern suburbs carrying Hezbollah’s yellow and black flag and banners bearing religious slogans.

Beating their chests in a sign of grief at the killing of the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, at the battle of Karbala in 680 AD, their chants ranged from “O Hussein” to “We will never be humiliated” and “Death to America, death to Israel.”

The mourning festival of Ashura commemorates the death of Hussein and most of his family, leading to the division of Islam into Sunni and Shi’ite sects, a split that continues to plague the Islamic world.

MOSCOW — Russia has delivered anti-ship cruise missiles to Syria, the Interfax news agency cited an unnamed military source as saying on Thursday, days after a United Nations commission of inquiry called for an arms embargo on Damascus.

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Moving Towards Ezekiel 38-39

“Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:”
—Ezekiel 38:2-5

Editors note about the words and Gog•FYI: Many Bible teachers believe that Gog is the leader of the Russia alliance in the latter days., Magog•FYI: Many Bible teachers believe that Magog, the descendant of Japheth, is identified as the Russian coalition in the latter days. and Persia•FYI: Persia in concert with Adolf Hitler, changed its name to Iran (Aryan Land) in May of 1935.

Syria and Damascus

“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous•Strongs 4654: mappalah, map-paw-law´; or mappelah, map-pay-law´; from 5307; something fallen, i.e. a ruin:—ruin( ous). heap.”
—Isaiah 17:1

Economic and diplomatic pressure has isolated Syrian President Bashar al-Assad following a nine-month government crackdown against protesters in unrest the United Nations says has killed more than 4,000 people.
Moscow has spoken out against further sanctions imposed by Western and Arab League states, and it has defended its right to sell Syria weapons — tens of millions of dollars worth last year.
“The contract was completely fulfilled, almost ahead of time,” Interfax cited the source as saying of the deal, estimated at $300 million. The source did not say when the deliveries had taken place.
Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said in February that Moscow was pressing ahead with the deal despite Israeli concerns, indicating the missiles might have been delivered earlier this year.
“This weapon allows coverage of the entire coastline of Syria from possible attack from the sea,” Interfax quoted the source as saying.
Russia teamed up with China in October to veto a Western-backed U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Assad’s government. Russia said the resolution could have opened the door to Western military intervention like in Libya, where it says NATO overstepped its Security Council mandate.

A United Nations commission of inquiry said on Monday that in cracking down on protesters, Syrian military and security forces had committed crimes against humanity including murder, torture and rape, and called for an arms embargo on Syria.
Earlier this week, Russian newspaper Izvestia reported that Russia planned to send its aircraft carrier and other ships to Syria.
Besides accounting for 7 percent of Russia’s total of $10 billion in arms deliveries abroad in 2010, according to Moscow defence think-tank CAST, Syria also hosts a Russian naval maintenance facility.
Russia traditionally used what influence it still has in the Middle East as a lever in diplomatic maneuvering with Europe and in particular the United States.
Israel has voiced concerns over the contract for sale of the rockets, capable of hitting ships 300 km (190 miles) off Syria’s coast. Hezbollah used a surface-to-air missile in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War to hit the INS Hanit warship, killing four sailors.

Ankara will freeze all financial dealings, block delivery of weapons; UAE announces suspension of flights to Syria.

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Syria and Damascus

“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous•Strongs 4654: mappalah, map-paw-law´; or mappelah, map-pay-law´; from 5307; something fallen, i.e. a ruin:—ruin( ous). heap.”
—Isaiah 17:1

Turkey will suspend all financial dealings with Syria and freeze Syrian government assets as part of sanctions against President Bashar Assad’s government, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Wednesday.

Davutoglu also told a news conference that Turkey, once a close friend of Damascus, would block the delivery of all weapons and military equipment to Damascus as part of measures aimed at persuading Assad to end a violent crackdown against pro-democracy protesters.

Turkey’s move follows Arab League sanctions imposed on Syria Sunday. Davutoglu also said a cooperation agreement with Syria was being suspended until there was a new government in place.

“Until a legitimate government which is at peace with its people is in charge in Syria, the mechanism of the High Level of Strategic Cooperation has been suspended,” Davutoglu said, adding that Assad’s government had come “to the end of the road.”

The United Arab Emirates also announced that its airlines will suspend flights to Syria next week under sanctions imposed by the Arab League, the government of Dubai’s press office said on its Twitter feed Wednesday.

It gave no further details. The country’s main airlines are Emirates and Etihad Airways.

Ankara on Tuesday also raised the option of military intervention. Highlighting divisions among foreign powers on how to deal with the bloodshed in Syria, Davutoglu said Turkey was ready for “any scenario.”

Davutoglu suggested military force remained an option, albeit apparently a remote one, if Assad did not heed calls to halt the violence.

“If the oppression continues, Turkey is ready for any scenario. We hope that a military intervention will never be necessary. The Syrian regime has to find a way of making peace with its own people,” he told Kanal 24 TV.

Davutoglu also raised the possibility of a buffer zone if the violence provoked a flood of refugees, an idea used by Ankara inside northern Iraq during the first Gulf War in 1991.