FRI 29 - 3 - 2024
 
Date: Sep 16, 2011
Source: The Daily Star
U.S. urges nationals to leave Syria promptly

WASHINGTON/ISTANBUL: The United States urged Americans to make immediate plans to leave Syria Thursday, which has been wracked by anti-regime protests for months, as Syrian opposition activists announced the formation of a national council from Istanbul.


“The U.S. Department of State urges U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available,” the State Department said in an updated travel warning.


“Given the ongoing uncertainty and volatility of the current situation, U.S. citizens who must remain in Syria are advised to limit nonessential travel within the country,” it said. “U.S. citizens not in Syria should defer all travel to Syria at this time.”


The warning reinforced one given on Aug. 5 – making the same appeal for Americans to leave Syria immediately – and gave updated information since fresh U.S. sanctions were imposed on Syria Aug. 18.
It also said “Syrian efforts to attribute the current civil unrest to external influences have led to an increase in anti-foreigner sentiment.”


Also Thursday, a group of Syrian opposition activists announced the creation of a council designed to present a united front against President Bashar Assad’s regime, which has waged a bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters during the past six months.


The Syrian opposition consists of a variety of groups with often differing ideologies, including Islamists and secularists, and there have been many meetings of dissidents who say they represent the opposition. But activists said the new “Syrian National Council,” formed during a meeting in Turkey, is the most serious initiative aimed at bringing revolutionary forces together.


It groups some 140 opposition figures, including exiled opponents and 70 dissidents inside Syria, said Bassma Kodmani, a Paris-based academic. Kodmani added that the council “categorically opposes” any foreign intervention or military operations to bring down Assad’s regime.
“We are in agreement over the peaceful nature of the revolution,” she said.


The U.S. hailed the Syrian opposition Thursday for successfully forming the council.
“We certainly applaud the efforts” of the opposition, State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. “We look forward to the opposition strengthening as it agrees on things like the unified leadership structure, as it builds consensus and articulates a vision for the future of Syria.”


He said the U.S. administration would stay in touch with the opposition, recalling that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has already met with opposition activists in Washington.


A popular uprising began in Syria in mid-March, amid a wave of anti-government protests in the Arab world that have already toppled autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.


Assad has reacted with deadly force that the U.N. estimates has left some 2,600 people dead.
The meeting in Istanbul took place as Syrian troops carried out raids in the suburbs of the capital Damascus, the central province of Homs and the northwestern region of Idlib that borders Turkey, activists said.


The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one person was killed and five were wounded when security forces opened fire during raids in the Damascus suburb of Zabadani. The group said a paramedic who was wounded last week also died in hospital Thursday.


The new opposition council aims to “convey the Syrian people’s just problems on the international platform, to form a pluralist and democratic state,” a statement said. It also hopes to bring down the “leadership that is ruling through dictatorship, and to unite the prominent politicians under one umbrella.”


The reason it took so long to form the council is that “we wanted to make sure everyone was on board,” said Adib Shishakli, an opposition member based in Saudi Arabia. Shishakli said the council would elect a leader at a later time.


Ahmad Ramadan, another opposition member, said the council would form 10 bureaus, including a foreign relations office dedicated to “relaying the demands of the revolution, the people’s requests to the outside world.” He said it would also work to form a television station to help overthrow the regime.


Louay Safi, a U.S.-based academic, said the council is broad-based and includes Sunnis, Shiites, Alawites, Kurds and members of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is “open to everyone unless they are against democracy,” he said.
The emphasis on unity comes amid fears of civil war between Assad’s ruling minority Alawite sect and the country’s Sunni Muslim majority.


Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he dreamed that one day young Syrians will have the same opportunity as young Libyans have for democracy. He made his remarks from Tripoli during his first official visit to Libya since rebels ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
“The best I can do is dedicate my visit here in hopes that everyone in Syria also benefits,” he said.

 



 
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