@A_Syrian_SoulA Syrian Soul
Syria's embattled government is struggling to deflect Arab and western pressure to send in observers to monitor violence as at least 18 more deaths were reported during large-scale anti-regime protests.
Officials in Damascus indicated on Friday that an Arab mission could go ahead if amendments were made "to protect Syrian sovereignty", but these reportedly included excluding human rights experts and thus looked likely to be unacceptable.
The Arab League, whose foreign ministers are due to meet in Kuwait on Saturday, has suspended Syria's membership and threatened to impose economic sanctions at once unless it halts "bloody repression" and allows observers in. Nabil al-Arabi, the league secretary-general, said only that he was studying Syria's position.
Western governments and Turkey also maintained concerted pressure on Presidet Bashar al-Assad; the Foreign Office has announced the appointment of a senior official – former ambassador to Lebanon Frances Guy – to intensify contacts with Syrian opposition groups.
William Hague, the foreign secretary, is expected to meet opposition leaders in London next week – though officials said there were no plans to grant them recognition akin to that afforded to anti-Gaddafi Libyan rebels in Benghazi earlier this year. Downing Street will be involved as well.
The UK government is also discussing other measures to signal to Damascus that it cannot be diplomatic business as usual when foreign embassies are attacked, as they have been in recent days.
France's foreign minster, Alain Juppé, said after talks in Turkey that the UN security council must act. The council has so far failed even to condemn Syria, largely because of Russian and Chinese opposition to any outside intervention in what is increasingly being characterised as a civil war after months of largely peaceful mass protests give way to armed action.
"We call on the Syrian opposition to avoid recourse to an armed insurrection," Juppé told a news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, in Ankara. Davutoglu also called for pressure to stop what he called the "massacre".
Susan Rice, US ambassador to the UN, tweeted: "The Arab League is clear: sanctions are coming unless Syria relents."
US, EU and Arab diplomats met in Paris to look at other ways to squeeze Syria, but officials said it was premature to discuss buffer zones or safe areas for rebels and refugees on the Syrian sides of the borders with neighbouring Turkey and Jordan. Talk of the creation of a no-fly-zone has fuelled nervousness about a repeat of the Libyan scenario and Nato intervention.
The UN says at least 3,500 people have been killed in the eight-month uprising. Syria's government says more than 1,100 security force personnel have died, blaming "armed terrorist gangs" it claims are supported by outside forces.
Speaking from Damascus, a senior Syrian diplomat told the Guardian the government was prepared to accept an Arab League mission in principle but had expressed a need to "close loopholes" to protect its "sovereignty". Syria had been unable to express its view because foreign minister Walid al-Mouallem was now excluded from league decision-making.
Western governments, however, remain profoundly sceptical about Syrian intentions and suggest that Damascus is trying to get its message across in the media, play for time, and manage rather than resolve the escalating crisis.
While diplomatic manoeuvring continued, reports described heavy gunfire in the Douma area of Damascus, demonstrations in Deraa, Latakia and Aleppo and power and communications blackouts near Idlib. Human rights and activist groups reported 18 dead in the Damascus area, as well as in Homs, Hama and elsewhere.
Syria's official news agency, Sana, reported that two security personnel had been killed in an explosion in Hama and that 10 "wanted terrorists" had been captured in Maarat al-Numan.
The slogan for this week's now routine Friday demonstrations demanded the expulsion of Syrian ambassadors from foreign capitals – part of a strategy to undermine the legitimacy of the regime.
A Lebanese website quoted Syrian activists as saying the authorities had arrested the director of the Sana office in Deir al-Zor after he resigned in protest at official handling of the unrest.
Analysts agree that Assad's position has become more precarious after the Arab League suspension and King Abdullah of Jordan's call for him to step down – the first such demand by a fellow Arab leader.
Official Syrian media highlighted Friday's large pro-regime rally in central Damascus, where crowds chanted slogans against foreign interference, against the Arab League and in support of Assad.
In Russia the prime minister, Vladimir Putin, called for restraint after criticising the Arab League for suspending Syria.
Arab and western governments are sponsoring a joint resolution, condemning human rights abuses by Syria, to be submitted to the UN general assembly and backing the league's approach.
