Activists called a general strike on Sunday to step up the pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime as fears grew of an “invasion” of the besieged protest hub of Homs. In a civil disobedience campaign, anti-regime protesters were organising sit-ins, the closure of shops and universities, and the strike.
The Local Coordination Committees, which organises protests on the ground in Syria, has predicted the campaign would snowball, and said the strike was “the first step in an overall civil disobedience” campaign to overthrow the regime. But the opposition Syrian National Council and activists have warned of a looming bloody final assault on the city of Homs in central Syria.
Witnesses in Homs, besieged by government troops, have reported a buildup of troops and pro-regime “shabiha” militiamen in armoured vehicles who have set up more than 60 checkpoints, the SNC said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights warned of “inhabitants’ fears of a large invasion of the city,” in a statement.
“The arrival of hundreds of armoured vehicles to the city of Homs during the last two weeks estimated, according to witnesses,” to number more than 200, the Britain-based rights watchdog said in the English-language statement.
“The spread of security leaks that the regime decided to extinguish the revolution in Homs within 72 hours by giving the security forces and Shabiha (militia) unlimited powers to not be merciful towards the unarmed civilians.”
The United States, France and Britain have all warned Damascus against any bloody assault on Homs and said the regime would be held responsible for any heavy loss of life. UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay is to brief the UN Security Council on Syria and the wider Middle East at a meeting on Monday. Syria, which blames the violence on armed “terrorist” gangs, wants the bloc to lift sanctions in return for allowing in observers.
A League official said Arab foreign ministers will hold an emergency session on Syria by the end of the week in Cairo, following a smaller meeting of a ministerial task force. Defectors fight loyalist forces in southern Syria:
Hundreds of army defectors in southern Syria fought loyalist forces backed by tanks on Sunday in one of the biggest armed confrontations in a nine-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, residents and activists said. Troops, mainly from the 12th Armoured Brigade, based in Isra, 40-km from the border with Jordan, stormed the nearby town of Busra al-Harir.
