EU imposes arms embargo on Syria

10/05/2011| IslamWeb

The European Union is imposing an arms embargo on Syria, in response to a bloody crackdown on protesters by Bashar al-Assad's government.

The EU has also banned 13 Syrian government officials from travelling anywhere in the 27-nation union, as well as freezing assets held by those officials and banning the shipment of "arms and equipment that could be used for internal repression", it said in a statement.

 

EU envoys recommended the actions last week, but the agreement of all member governments was required for formal approval.

 

The Syrian government is continuing its weeks-long crackdown on anti-government demonstrations, arresting opponents and deploying troops in protest hubs. Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians have been killed since the unrest began.

 

House-to-house raids

 

Meanwhile, armed forces arrested hundreds of protesters, going house to house in towns and cities across the country, human rights groups and activists said on Monday.

 

Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said security forces were carrying out house-to-house raids targeting demonstration organizers and participants.

 

He said Monday's raids were focused in the central city of Homs, the coastal city of Baniyas, some suburbs of the capital, Damascus, and villages around the southern flashpoint city of Deraa.

 

Another activist said gunfire was heard in the town of Moadamiya, just west of the capital, Damascus, as troops carried out arrests.

 

Al Jazeera is unable to independently verify reports of arrests and gunfire because of restrictions on reporting in Syria.

 

In another development on Monday, Syrian authorities stopped a UN humanitarian team from visiting Deraa where activists say hundreds have been killed.

 

"The UN humanitarian assessment mission has not been able to get into Deraa," Farhan Haq, the UN deputy spokesman, said on Monday.

 

"We are trying to clarify why it hasn't had access. We are also trying to get access to other areas of Syria," Haq added.

 

In a sign that the government shows no sign of folding, Assad, Syria's president, was quoted as saying in comments published on Monday that "the current crisis... will be overcome".

 

Assad, whose departure from office is one of the protesters' key aims, said a process of administrative, political and media reforms was continuing.

 

The report, in the private daily Al-Watan, which is close to the government, did not elaborate but said Assad made the comments while receiving a local delegation on Sunday.

 

Rights campaigners say about 250 people have been arrested in Baniyas since Saturday, including Anas al-Ayrout, a Muslim cleric considered the head of the dissent movement in the city.

 

Firas Khaddam, a nephew of former Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam, was also detained, Abdul-Rahman said. The older Khaddam, living in exile since he left Syria in 2005, had expressed support for the banned Muslim Brotherhood and called for the overthrow of the regime.

 

PHOTO CAPTION

 

In this picture taken on a guided government tour, shows Syrian army troops in southern protest hub of Daraa on May 5, 2011.

Al-Jazeera