Syria: Opposition rep says all-out civil uprising is approaching
Syrian Opposition Speaks of Civil Uprising
“Syrians are close to achieving their goal – liberty,” a member of the Syrian National Council, which represents the opposition in the Arab country, said Wednesday during a conference in London.
“President Bashar Assad’s regime is defending its last strongholds as we are nearing the point of an all-out civil uprising,” Ahmed Ramadan said.
“If Assad leaves now, he will avoid the same fate as (killed Libyan leader) Muammar Gaddafi. We know there are two European countries and another Arab country which are working to secure his safe departure from Syria,” the opposition member was quoted as saying by the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. According to Ramadan, “the revolution’s success is based on the National Council’s ability to isolate the Syrian regime, which admits that its members cannot visit countries that are not Damascus’ allies.”
During the conference Ramadan stated that countries in the Middle East have been told to prepare for the post-Assad era. “No one has spoken to us about reform or coexisting with Assad,” he added.
In related news, Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters yet again as Arab League Monitors reached to the scene, with activists reporting that 130 people have been killed since their arrival.
Syrian Unrest: Protesters Under Fire
Cairo (CNN) — Security forces fired Thursday at protesters in a Damascus suburb visited by Arab League monitors and more than 30 people died in regions targeted by the observers, opposition activists said.
The forces shot at demonstrators assembling in the Grand Mosque area of Douma as the observers arrived at the city’s municipal building, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition activist group. About 30,000 demonstrators were there, the observatory said.
The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, another opposition activist network, reported “massive crowds in front of the National Hospital in the presence of the Arab observers committee, who arrived after the fall of seven martyrs and dozens of wounded and detainees.”
An amateur video said to be from Douma showed soldiers congregating on one end of the street and protesters congregating down the road. People chanted “God is Great” and “Freedom from Bashar.”