Syria violence: 'At least 2,000 killed', says US (Clinton)

[Turborama]

Source: BBC

August 05 2011 Last updated at 06:00 GMT

The Syrian government is responsible for more than 2,000 deaths in its crackdown against protests, says US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

She spoke as an army assault against protest hub Hama was reported to have killed dozens of people in recent days.

Residents of the city say snipers and tanks are firing on civilians and food and medicine are running low.

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President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, long an ally of Syria, said Mr Assad would "face a sad fate" unless he urgently carried out reforms and reconciled with the opposition.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14413680

[Turborama]

1. US secretary of state condemns Syria as she tells press conference Washington is extending sanctions

Reuters
guardian.co.uk, Friday 5 August 2011 12.09 BST

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said the Syrian government has killed more than 2,000 people in its attempts to crush the protests against it and has lost all legitimacy.

She told a press conference that the US was extending sanctions, including against a prominent businessman and MP it said had close ties to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad and his brother, and believed that and moves such as a statement from the UN security council on Wednesday condemning the regime could turn the screw.

"We are working around the clock to try to gather up as much international support for strong actions against the Syrian regime as possible. I come from the school that actions speak louder than words," she told reporters on Thursday.

Clinton said it was time for the international community to match its rhetorical outrage "with actions that will send a very clear message to the Assad regime, the insiders there, that there's a price to pay for this kind of abuse and attacks on their own people".

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/05/syrian-government-killed-protests-clinton

[David__77]

2. Goodbye Medvedev, hello Putin!

I think that Putin will exert a more positive influence in the international arena than Medvedev has. I hope. Medvedev is completely inconsistent.

I do wonder how Clinton comes up with this 2,000 figure. And I wonder if she is including the soldiers and police who have been shot, stoned, and lynched by so-called "protesters."

[UndertheOcean]

3. n/t

[David__77]

4. Potty mouth...

One could say that, historically, the US State Department has created quite a bit of excrement.

[Turborama]

5. "No state is allowed to use its military force against an unarmed civilian population, regardless...

As the death toll mounted, with US secretary of state Hillary Clinton accusing the government of killing 2,000 people since March, international outrage has grown. Clinton said on Thursday it was time to "send a very clear message to the Assad regime, the insiders there, that there's a price to pay for this kind of abuse and attacks on their own people".

A group of UN human rights experts again called for an immediate end to the government's use of violence against protesters. "The indiscriminate use of heavy artillery against demonstrators cannot be justified," said Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. "No state is allowed to use its military force against an unarmed civilian population, regardless of the situation on the ground. The killings that result are clearly arbitrary executions and punishable under international law."

Even Russia has sought to distance itself from the regime. The Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, said on Thursday he had warned Assad that he will face a "sad fate" if he fails to introduce reforms and open a dialogue with the opposition.

"This is very significant," said Jouejati. "The Assad regime is even losing its international friends. "Russia was the beacon of support for Syria in the UN security council, not willing to condemn for a long time, but even (they) are coming around."

From this Guardian article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/05/syria-hama-massacre-outrage

Fortunately, supporters of the brutally violent methods Assad is using to retain control over the Syrian people are dwindling to an even tinier minority.