Syrian army defectors clashed with state forces yesterday in a drive to topple President Bashar al- Assad as activists staged a strike against the regime.
Fighting claimed 55 people on Friday and Saturday, the weekend in the Middle East, according to Agence France-Presse. Another 26 people were killed yesterday, Al Jazeera said.
At least three military vehicles were set ablaze during fighting between the army and defectors in the province of Daraa as rebel forces grow bolder, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. At the same time, a strike and international sanctions are tightening the economic pressure on Assad’s regime.
“The strike aims to send a message to the Arab countries and the international community that the Syrian regime has lost its legitimacy,” said Samir Nashar, a member of the Syrian National Council told Al Jazeera in an interview. “I call upon the merchants and the businessmen of Damascus and Aleppo to join the revolution.”
The protests of Assad’s government followed successful efforts to topple regimes in Egypt and Tunisia. Longtime Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi was killed by revolutionary forces in that country and Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to resign last month in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
‘Shedding Their Blood’
Heavy clashes between the army and defectors in the southern province of Daraa were reported by the Observatory. Thirteen soldiers died in fighting, according to SANA, a state- run news agency, as the violence threatened to devolve into civil war. More troops have defected in recent days and the clashes occurred as they sought to protect civilians from attacks, Al Jazeera reported.
The Syrian National Council, an umbrella group uniting several opposition groups, said the United Nations is unable to prevent the regime from “killing its innocent citizens and shedding their blood in front of the whole world,” and called on other countries to intervene in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
More than 5,000 people have been killed opposing the government and the number of detainees has reached more than 15,000, the statement said. The UN has said 4,000 people have been killed in the violence.
The Arab League foreign ministers will discuss Syria in a Dec. 17 meeting at its Cairo headquarters, Egypt’s state-run Middle East News Agency reported yesterday, citing an unidentified diplomat.
Amidst the violence, the government is today holding elections for local administration representatives, who sit in municipal councils in cities and villages across the country.
‘Terrified the Regime’
Foreign direct investment in Arab states has fallen as much as 24 percent this year as political unrest swept the region, according to the group that insures such funding against non- commercial risks.
Foreign financing will shrink to between $50 billion and $55 billion in 2011 from $66.2 billion the previous year, the Arab Investment & Export Credit Guarantee Corp., known as Dhaman, said in an e-mailed response to questions.
“The general strike took place in several Syrian cities and has terrified the regime as the Hama governor threatened to seal off the stores in the city and forces threatened to set these stores on fire,” Ali Hassan, spokesman for the Syrian Revolution Council, an opposition group, told Al Arabiya in an interview.
Suncor Energy
Suncor Energy Inc. (SU) plans to withdraw workers from Syria and cancel supply contracts following sanctions imposed on the country by the European Union.
Natural-gas operations with General Petroleum Corp. in Syria were suspended, Calgary-based Suncor said yesterday in statement. The company said it plans to withdraw expatriate employees and retain Syrian workers. Targets for total production this year and next haven’t been adjusted, Suncor said.
Earlier this year, Suncor wrote down C$514 million ($502 million) for business in Libya following political turmoil in the North African nation. The company is preparing to resume operations there, Chief Executive Officer Rick George said last month.
The company supplies about 10 percent of Syria’s gas consumption.
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