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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syrian rebels repel attack on Rastan

2012-02-14

BEIRUT/BRUSSELS: Syrian rebels repelled a push Monday by government tanks into a key central town held by forces fighting President Bashar Assad’s regime as the country’s 11-month-old uprising looked increasingly like a nascent civil war. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attempt by regime forces to storm Rastan in the restive central province of Homs left at least three soldiers dead. Rastan has been held by the rebels since late January. The town was taken by defectors twice in the past only to be retaken by Syrian troops. It is the hometown of former Defense Minister Mustapha Tlass, who held the post for more than three decades, mostly under Assad’s father and predecessor, the late Hafez Assad. Calls to town’s residents could not get through on Monday and the telephone lines appeared to be cut, as they usually are during military operations. “Troops maneuvered by moving on the northern edge of town then other forces attacked form the south,” said Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory. He added that hundreds of army defectors are in Rastan. The Observatory also said that troops bombed the rebel-held Homs neighborhood of Baba Amr that has been under siege for more than a week. It reported clashes in the village of Busra Al-Harir in the southern province of Daraa between troops and army defectors.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria's Assad Consolidates Power

2005-06-10

DAMASCUS (AFP) - President Bashar al-Assad consolidated his power base as the ruling Baath party replaced many of its veterans at the top with figures close to Syria's leader, at the close of a four-day congress. The meeting ended amid news that the heat on Syria could be turned up over its decades-long domination of neighbouring Lebanon. The 21-member Baath national command was slimmed down to 14 ministers, with Vice Presidents Abdel Halim Khaddam and Zuheir Masharka as well as former defence minister Mustapha Tlass among the veterans making their exit. The congress pledged to press ahead with reform, adopting the principle of a "social market economy" that would transform the pervasive public sector while supporting the private sector... It also recommended a "revision of the electoral law" for holding legislative and local polls, the television said. And the party called for the formation of "higher council for information" and amendments to the law on publications that lays down prison terms for offenders. A new press law was expected to allow private media to play an essential role in the future. The congress recommended a new law that would authorize other political parties. However, parties could not assemble based on "ethnic, religious or regional" grounds, effectively ruling out the Kurdish minority and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, Syria's two main opposition groups. If the regime does not change, banned opposition National Democratic Movement spokesman Abdel Azim said, "Syria will face real danger, the kind that has happened in Iraq." During debate on Wednesday, some delegates emphasised "the need to pursue dialogue with United States and Europe on different subjects," state-run newspaper Tishrin said. According to sources close to the participants, some delegates harshly criticised Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara for his dealings with Lebanon and the United States. They accused Shara of "putting Syria in a dead end" situation by allegedly remaining convinced until the last minute that a UN resolution calling for Syria's military withdrawal from Lebanon would fail to pass. In his opening address, Assad said priority had to be given to improving the living standards of the people and to battling corruption. According to a joint UN-Syrian report, one in 10 Syrians survives on less than two dollars a day, and the state-controlled economy is plagued by a 12 percent unemployment rate.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria to Relax Emergency, Allow Parties Besides Baath

2005-06-10

Syria's ruling Baath party yesterday allowed the emergence of other political parties and the relaxation of the state of emergency. The party's 10th congress also scaled back the size of the Regional Command, electing several new faces to the top party body, including the first woman. It voted unanimously to renew President Bashar Assad's term as Baath party leader. Baath official Ahmed Haj Ali said the political committee "endorsed a relaxation and modification of the emergency law. It will be used only for extreme cases such as war." The 21-member Baath Regional Command was slimmed down to 14 ministers, with Vice Presidents Abdel Halim Khaddam and Zuheir Masharka as well as former Defense Minister Mustapha Tlass among the veterans making their exit. The congress pledged to press ahead with reform, adopting the principle of a "social market economy" that would transform the pervasive public sector while supporting the private sector, state television said. It also recommended a "revision of the electoral law" for holding legislative and local elections, the television said. And the party called for the formation of "higher council for information" and amendments to the law on publications that lays down prison terms for offenders. A new press law was expected to allow private media to play an essential role in the future. The recommendations listed by the television did not mention Article 8 of the constitution, which gives supremacy in government to the Baath party. There have been leaks from Baathists that the article would be amended or toned down.

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Syria-Lebanon

ME target of colonialist and Zionist plot: Syria

2003-11-18

Syrian Defense Minister General Mustapha Tlass warned on Monday of a “colonialist and Zionist plot” being hatched against the Middle East, the official news agency Sana said. "Yes, by Gawd! It's Deep Laid Plots™!" “There is a bid to implement a colonialist and Zionist plot with a view to securing the riches of the region and undermining its culture and heritage,” Tlass said. "Yes! They're gonna despoil us Syrians of our... ummm... what do we make, again?" He singled out a draft law passed by the US Congress on Tuesday providing for economic and diplomatic sanctions against Syria, accused by Washington of supporting terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction. The law is “a weapon in the hands of the White House hawks” which seeks to “terrorize Syria and force it ultimately to renounce its right to recuperate its land occupied” by Israel in 1967, Tlass said. The Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Act provides for a range of retaliatory options for punishing Syria, from restricting US exports and business investment to downgrading Washington’s diplomatic representation and imposing travel restrictions on Syrian diplomats in the United States. The bill also bans the export of “dual-use” technology, allows the US government to freeze Syria’s assets in the United States and restrict overflight rights for Syrian aircraft inside US airspace.

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