Mon. 20 June. 2011
Reactions on HE President Assad’s Speech
Ø W.House calls on Syria's Assad for action on reform….……1
Ø Dissidents reject Assad 'deal' ……………………………….1
Ø Conspiracy is blooming, defiant Assad warns Syria…….….3
Ø Assad offers little hope to protesters……………………...…5
Ø Complex revolt puts Syria at crossroads…………………….7
Ø Syrian president's promises met with skepticism abroad…..11
Ø "Disappointed" EU prepares to expand Syria sanctions…...12
Ø Baath Party monopoly on way out…………………………18
Ø Syria's Assad emphasises 'national dialogue' ………..…….20
Ø Assad’s speech a disappointment for Syrian refugees in Turkey……………………………………………………...25
Ø President Assad offers concessions but fails to stop Syrian demonstrators………………..……………………………..26
Ø Embattled Syrian President Blames 'Saboteurs' for Uprisings………………………..………………………….29
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W.House calls on Syria's Assad for action on reform
Reuters,
20 June 2011,
WASHINGTON, June 20 (Reuters) - The White House on Monday urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to take "concrete action" on his promise of political reforms and called on him to halt a violent crackdown on civilians.
"I'm not saying the words are meaningless but he needs to act upon them," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters when asked about Assad's pledge of a national dialogue to address a wave of protests against his rule.
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Dissidents reject Assad 'deal'
Jason Koutsoukis
Sydney Morning Herald,
June 21, 2011
SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad was last night scheduled to address the nation in bid to hose down pro-democracy protests.
As the Obama administration weighed bringing war crimes charges against Mr Assad over the deaths of more than 1300 protesters, Syrian troops continued to sweep the northern border to block refugees from fleeing to neighbouring Turkey.
Raka al-Abdu, 23, said that his family of 14 fled the village of Bdama on Saturday but he went back on Sunday to get bread, using mountain routes only locals would know. He found the village virtually empty.
''They closed the only bakery there. We cannot get bread any more … I saw soldiers shooting the owner of the bakery. They hit him in the chest and the leg,'' he said.
Opposition activists announced the formation of a ''national council'' to ''lead the battle to oust Assad'', while news reports suggested the Syrian leader was preparing a constitutional overhaul that would end his ruling Baath Party's 50-year monopoly on power.
According to a Baath Party official quoted by the Los Angeles Times, Mr Assad's speech would signal a change to the wording of article 8 of the Syrian constitution that granted his party leadership ''of'' state and society, to leadership ''in'' state and society.
The wording change would supposedly allow the development of other political parties.
But critics and opposition supporters said the proposal fell far short of the demands of protesters and maintained their calls for Mr Assad's resignation.
Speaking to reporters stationed across the Syrian border in Turkey, where more than 10,000 refugees have fled to escape Mr Assad's troops, Syrian opposition spokesman Jamil Saib announced the creation of a national council ''in the name of Syria's free revolutionary youth in view of the crimes the regime perpetrated against the oppressed civilian population''.
Mr Saib said council members included Abdallah Trad el-Moulahim, one of the organisers of a Syrian opposition gathering in Turkey earlier this month, Syrian-based activists Haitham al-Maleh, Souhair al-Atassi and Aref Dalila, as well as Sheikh Khaled al-Khalaf.
On March 30, Mr Assad addressed Parliament and called the deadly unrest a ''conspiracy'' fomented by the country's enemies.
In a televised address on April 16, he announced the lifting of emergency laws that had been in place for nearly 50 years but immediately replaced them with new measures to suppress freedom of speech and public dissent.
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Conspiracy is blooming, defiant Assad warns Syria
Jason Koutsoukis
Sydney Morning Herald,
June 21, 2011
JERUSALEM: The Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, has addressed the nation, calling for national unity and expanding his amnesty to those opposing his rule. But he said conspiracy in the country was ''blooming'' and 64,000 people were wanted by the authorities.
Critics saw it as a further attempt to suppress pro-democracy supporters whose public calls for change have continued despite the regime's deadly efforts to crush dissent.
As the Obama administration weighed bringing war crimes charges against Mr Assad over the deaths of more than 1300 protesters, Syrian troops continued to sweep the northern border to block refugees from fleeing to neighbouring Turkey.
As opposition activists announced the formation of a ''National Council'' to ''lead the battle to oust Assad'', news reports suggested that Mr Assad was preparing a constitution overhaul that would end his ruling Baath Party's 50-year monopoly on power.
According to a Baath Party official quoted by the Los Angeles Times, Mr Assad's speech would signal a change to the wording of Article 8 of the Syrian Constitution that granted his party leadership ''of'' state and society, to leadership ''in'' state and society.
The wording change would supposedly allow the development of other political parties to run against the Baath Party in national elections.
''With this amendment, the Baath Party becomes a party operating on Syrian territory and [has] priority in the state as a result of tradition,'' said the unnamed high-ranking official.
''A law of parties will be introduced within 30 days, allowing political parties to obtain licences and giving the right to any group to establish a political party on Syrian territory and to compete with the Baath Party and the Progressive Front,'' a collection of Baath front groups.
But critics and opposition supporters immediately said the proposal would fall far short of the demands of protesters, and maintained their calls for Mr Assad's resignation.
''We announce the creation of a National Council to lead the Syrian revolution, comprising all communities and representatives of national political forces inside and outside Syria,'' said Syrian opposition spokesman Jamil Saib on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters stationed across the Syrian border in Turkey where more than 10,000 refugees have fled to escape Mr Assad's troops, Mr Saib said the council was created ''in the name of Syria's free revolutionary youth in view of the crimes the regime perpetrated against the oppressed civilian population, which was holding peaceful protests.''
Mr Saib said council members included Abdallah Trad el Moulahim, one of the organisers of a Syrian opposition gathering in Turkey this month, Syrian-based activists Haitham el-Maleh, Souhair al-Atassi and Aref Dalila, as well as Sheikh Khaled al-Khalaf and Mamoun el-Homsi. This will be the third time that Mr Assad has made a national speech since the popular uprising began on March 18 in the wake of similar protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. There are few expectations that he was prepared to offer concrete change.
On March 30 - two weeks after the start of anti-regime demonstrations in Syria - Mr Assad addressed parliament and called the deadly unrest a ''conspiracy'' that was fomented by the country's enemies.
In a televised address on April 16, Mr Assad announced the lifting of emergency laws that had been in place for nearly 50 years but immediately replaced the laws with new measures to suppress freedom of speech and public dissent.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in London, the Assad regime's attempts to put down the uprising had resulted in the deaths of at least 1310 civilians and of 341 security force members.
Residents who had crossed the border into Turkey on Sunday said Mr Assad's forces had cut off the main border village of Bdama, closing its only bakery and burning surrounding forests. Raka El-Abdu, 23, told Agence France-Presse that his 14-strong family fled Bdama on Saturday but he went back on Sunday to get bread, using mountain routes only locals would know.
The village was virtually empty. ''They closed the only bakery there. We cannot get bread … I saw soldiers shooting the owner of the bakery,'' he said.
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Assad offers little hope to protesters
Abigail Fielding-Smith in Beirut and an FT reporter in Damascus
Financial Times,
June 20 2011
Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, gave his first public address in more than two months on Monday, promising reform but offering little hope for an end to a confrontation with anti-government protesters that has seen more than 1,300 people killed.
“We have to distinguish between [those who have legitimate demands] and saboteurs. The saboteurs are a small group who try to exploit the kind majority of the Syrian people to carry out their many schemes,” Mr Assad said in a speech at Damascus University.
Mr Assad’s show of defiance triggered a promise of tougher sanctions on his regime by the European Union. “The EU is actively preparing to expand its restrictive measures . . . with a view to achieving a fundamental change of policy by the Syrian leadership without delay,” EU foreign ministers said.
Mr Assad, whose absence from the public stage has led to speculation that he had been sidelined by hardliners in the regime’s inner circle, made conciliatory gestures such as acknowledging that some protesters had legitimate demands and promising reform.
But he failed to commit to any substantive new measures and repeated the line the government has used throughout the past three months of anti-government demonstrations, arguing that conspirators, adherents to “Takfiri (fundamentalist) extremist ideology” and criminals were manipulating the situation.
“We’re just not buying it,” Victoria Nuland, US state department official, said of the allegations, and she called for “action, not words”. William Hague, Britain’s foreign secretary, said Mr Assad’s speech was “disappointing and unconvincing”. “If President Assad is to restore any credibility the Syrian people need to see concrete action, not vague promises,” he said.
The speech was greeted with derision by activists, who took to the streets in protest, and disappointment by some ordinary Syrians.
“There is nothing new. He’s losing it,” said one man in a suburb of Damascus. “He’s a good man but he’s totally out of touch with the people.”
Mr Assad’s lengthy televised address was the first time he had appeared in public since mid-April. Since then protests against corruption and the arbitrary behaviour of the security forces have spread across the country, while tanks have shelled and occupied cities.
Since a recent operation in the restive north-western province of Idlib drove more than 10,000 refugees across the Turkish border, Mr Assad has come under increasing pressure from his allies in Ankara.
Some hoped that Monday’s speech would include promises to end the violence and significant concessions on reform.
Mr Assad mentioned a national dialogue commission and committees that would look into combating corruption, a reform of the constitution, and a change in party law.
He also said he hoped a package of reforms would be ready by September, but failed to commit to any concrete steps or offer a timetable.
Moreover, he insisted that there would be “no political solution” to the problem of armed groups.
The speech offered so little that was new that some analysts questioned what its real purpose was. “I think his public appearance after weeks without showing up helps to halt the hearsay about being excluded from the political arena by his inner circle,” said one diplomat in Damascus.
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Complex revolt puts Syria at crossroads
By Roula Khalaf
Financial Times,
June 20 2011,
How much longer can the Syrian regime hang on? And how far can the protesters sustain their momentum?
From Washington to Riyadh, policymakers and analysts are wrestling with these questions and charting various scenarios for what everyone agrees is the most complex revolt in the six-month Arab spring.
A few weeks ago, many outsiders were still betting that Bashar al-Assad, inheritor of the presidency of Syria 11 years ago, would crush the uprising by force.
But a ruthless regime underpinned by a multifarious security apparatus and dominated by the minority Alawites, an offshoot of Shia Islam, has confronted a protest movement that has remarkable resilience, gradually radicalised in its demands and bolstered in recent weeks by small-scale defections among conscripts.
The evolution of each of the revolts in the Arab spring has been difficult to predict, not least because, as unrest intensifies, so do the risks of a sudden change in internal regime dynamics.
In Syria today, an increasing number of analysts see the risk of a protracted conflict with messy potential outcomes rising and with the regime’s survival chances receding by the day. “I can’t see how he [Mr Assad] can hold on,” says a senior US official. “But he has nowhere to go. He will fight to the end.”
That Mr Assad on Monday spoke once again of saboteurs and conspiracy, and of vague promises of reform, will do little to reassure either Syrians or outsiders that he has either grasped the scale of the crisis or is able to resolve it.
“I don’t see a scenario that would lead to a democratic situation except through a long way of violence,” argues Nikolaos van Dam, author of The Struggle for Power in Syria.
As the unrest in Syria becomes a test of will between the regime and a protest movement, in which human rights groups say a minority is taking up weapons to defend itself, it has turned into “an endurance game”, as one analyst puts it, in which “the question is who is going to crack first”.
True, in theory the regime could still restore the wall of fear shattered since the outbreak of demonstrations in Deraa, the southern tribal city that sparked the uprising after 15 children from two prominent families were arrested for daubing anti-regime graffiti on the walls.
Regime loyalists argue that the crackdown can shrink the protests, which have spread across rural areas and some of the main cities but are still contained in Damascus and Aleppo, the commercial capital.
“The regime thinks that it can survive for a few months like this, clean up a few areas, introduce a few reforms, and then it will all be over and, two years down the road, no one will remember it abroad,” says one political analyst in Damascus.
Even then, however, it would be a different regime, with its long-term survival doubtful as it struggles with a devastated society and a ruined economy. Moreover, for now, the repression appears to be emboldening the protesters, rather than weakening them. Indeed, as soon as elite military units move out of towns they had besieged for weeks, the people take to the streets again.