SYRIAN VIOLENCE SPILLS INTO TURKEY REFUGEE CAMP
ANKARA, Turkey - Violence has spilled into Turkey for the first time since the country began sheltering Syrian refugees. The BBC reports gunfire broke out near a refugee camp on Monday.The result was several people wounded inside Turkey, including a Turkish translator... which will be important because it will further aggravate tensions between Turkey and Syria."
The violence comes as a U.N. peace plan nearly collapsed — sparking fear the Syrian uprising will spread to neighboring countries. The BBC reports Turkey summoned Syria's U.N. envoy- Kofi Annan- to demand an end to the violence.
Source: BY STACEY WELSH
ANCHOR LAUREN GORES
OUTLAWS SUSPECTED KILLING HUNDREDS OF SYRIAN ARMED WITH ISRAELI WEAPONS?
CAIRO, Egypt – The Syrian and Lebanese authorities have recurrently intercepted weapon shipments, while they were being smuggled into the country amid the unrest. The last of the consignments, which had been loaded onto two cars, consisted of rocket-propelled grenades, Kalashnikov rifles, pump-action shotguns, sniper rifles, pistols, and various types of ammunition.
The Syrian envoy to the regional grouping of the Arab League (AL), Youssef Ahmad said, "They are Israeli made automatic weapons. This is proven and we'll show it on TV channels.These are the weapons used by the armed opposition to kill the sons of our nation." Syrian state television reported.- The Syrian envoy made this announcement at an emergency meeting in the 22-member-body's headquarters in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Sunday.
Ahmad complained that no Arab partner had acted to condemn neither such instances of Tel Aviv's contribution to domestic violence in Syria nor the killings of Syrian armed forces.- In addition, the envoy called on the Arab nations not to join, what he referred to as, a United States-backed plan to target Syria.
- The meeting came amid continued unrest in Syria,
which has been raging on since mid-March, leaving hundreds of casualties, including members of the security forces. - The Syrian government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists for the violence.
- Damascus says that the unrest is being orchestrated from outside the country and that the security forces have been given clear instructions not to harm civilians.
Peter Harling, a Damascus-based expert with the Brussels-headquartered International Crisis Group said, "Smuggling networks that for years have operated along Syria's borders seem to have turned to weapons trafficking in recent months." Harling added that it appeared that a market had quickly developed in a country, where weapons were not being circulated easily before.
- AL member states are, however, discussing whether to suspend Syria's membership over the deadly violence, downplaying Damascus' heightened need under the current circumstances for regional support.
UNREST IN SYRIAN CITIES CONTINUE
DAMASCUS, Syria - Syrian security forces have dispersed thousands of protesters marching towards central Damascus from the suburb of Douma, witnesses say.Haitham al-Maleh, an activist and lawyer, told Al Jazeera on Friday that protesters were close to Abasyeen Square when the intelligence services brought several buses carrying men with "pistols and sticks" who attacked protesters. He said those injured were taken away by medics. Other sources said security forces used tear gas to disperse the crowds.
Elsewhere in the capital, violence reportedly erupted when dozens of armed men in plain clothes surrounded about 250 protesters rallying in front of the Salam mosque in Barzeh district.- Thousands were also demonstrating in the southern city of Daraa. Al Jazeera's Rula Amin said security forces were not visible in the city, and that the protesters were being allowed to hold their demonstration.
- Protests were also held in Baniyas, Latakia, Baida and Homs, but no clashes were reported there.
In the coastal city of Baniyas about 1,500 people chanted "freedom" after Friday prayers, despite the deployment of the army to contain protests, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.Rallies were also reported in the city of Deir ez-Zor, on the Euphrates river, and in Qamishli in the mainly Kurdish northeast.
VISITORS GEOFLAGS SINCE AUGUST 26, 2009
