BEIRUT/ UNITED NATIONS: The Syrian opposition called on the nation’s army Thursday to join the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime, saying regime elements are targeting protesters and troops.
The opposition said on Facebook that protests planned for Friday will honor the “Guardians of the Nation,” a reference to the army.

The letter posted on the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page read that people took to the streets to demand freedom in Syria but “were assassinated by the same hands that assassinated our honorable soldiers.”
“The revolution of freedom and dignity will continue, peacefully, until victory,” it said adding that the only “armed gangs” in the country are security forces loyal to the regime and pro-government thugs known as Shabiha.
Meanwhile, the head of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria Ammar Qurabi said in a statement Thursday that Syrian and international human rights organizations have documented more than 1,100 killings and about 4,000 injuries “causing permanent disabilities to young men, women and children.”

Also Thursday, the independent daily Al-Watan reported that Assad’s British-born wife, Asma, met with victims’ families a day earlier, contrary to persistent rumors that she fled to Britain with the couple’s children.
Amnesty International said Thursday that video footage shows Syrian security forces are shooting to kill in a bid to snuff out a pro-reform opposition movement,
“Amnesty International has obtained video footage that points to a ‘shoot to kill’ policy being used by the Syrian security forces to quell reform protests,” said the London-based human rights watchdog.

It said the footage was shot in late March and April in and around Daraa. It showed protesters shot and beaten by security forces, a mass funeral in the town of Izraa, near Daraa, and soldiers conducting a night raid on Daraa’s Omari mosque, Amnesty said.
These video clips “highlight the wanton cruelty of the regime’s security apparatus” and show “the tactics used by the authorities in the ongoing crackdown against protests,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.

European nations Thursday pressed a campaign to get the U.N. Security Council to warn the Syrian government that its deadly crackdown could be crimes against humanity.
A draft resolution distributed to the 15 council members condemns violence used by Assad’s regime and calls for the lifting of a weeks-long siege against Daraa.

While no official talks have yet been held on the resolution, and no vote, if any, is expected before next week, informal negotiations are being held.
“Any country siding in the council with Syria’s rulers, as hundreds of peaceful demonstrators are being killed, and thousands arrested or tortured, would owe an explanation to the Syrian people,” said Philippe Boloppion, U.N. director for Human Rights Watch.

A coalition of more than 220 rights groups from the Arab world has also demanded that the council take action.
Europe’s draft resolution said that “the widespread and systematic attacks currently taking place in Syria by the authorities against its people may amount to crimes against humanity.”
It does not threaten sanctions, but does call for an end to arms deliveries to Syria.
The Arab rights groups from 18 countries said in a letter to the Security Council that its silence “sends the wrong message and fails to deter further violence and human rights abuses by the Syrian authorities.”