Syria’s Assad 'finished,' Tunisian leader says

April 25, 2012

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Beirut, April 25: Bashar Assad’s international allies must realize the Syrian president is “finished” and persuade him to step down to avoid further bloodshed, Tunisian President Moncef Al-Marzouki said in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday.


“The Russians and Chinese, and the Iranians must understand that this man is finished and they cannot defend him. They must persuade him to leave power and hand over to his deputy,” Marzouki told the regional Arab newspaper Al-Hayat.


Assad “will go one way or another ... dead or alive,” he added.


Addressing the Syrian leader directly, he said: “It’s better for you and your family to leave alive, because if you decide to leave dead, that means that you have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of innocents. Enough blood has been shed.”


Tunisia, whose peaceful revolution a year ago sparked the Arab Spring uprisings that saw off autocratic leaders in Egypt, Libya and Yemen, offered to give Assad political asylum in February to stem the violence in Syria, where the United Nations says government forces have killed 9,000 people.

Syrian authorities say they are fighting foreign-backed Islamist militants, who they blame for killing more than 2,500 soldiers and police.


UN observers are launching a monitoring mission in Syria to oversee an April 12 cease-fire agreement brokered by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.


Fewer than a dozen from a planned mission of 300 observers have arrived so far, and the violence has continued. Activists said 30 people were killed across Syria on Monday.


Marzouki said the mission had little chance of ending the killings. “I do not expect it to succeed, because the number of observers is very small. Three hundred people cannot do anything,” he said. “In Kosovo there were thousands of observers.”

3 intelligence agents killed

Meanwhile, activists said three Syrian intelligence officers were killed in Damascus on Tuesday, the latest attack on regime targets as the country’s 13-month conflict grows increasingly militarized.


The attack took place as a UN team observing Syria’s violence-ridden truce was visiting another area near the capital, the restive suburb of Douma. Activists and amateur videos reported that the area was being shelled.


The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the three officers were killed early Tuesday in the Barzeh neighborhood but gave no further information. The Syrian government did not comment.


Rebels seeking to topple Assad have ramped up attacks on military targets and security officers, some of whom have been killed in their cars on the way to work.


The UN says more than 9,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in March 2011 with mostly peaceful protests calling for political reforms. The government brutally cracked down, deploying troops, snipers and pro-government thugs to quash dissent, while many in the opposition have armed themselves for protection.


The international community remains divided on how to stop the conflict, with the US and many Western nations calling for Assad to leave power while Russia and China have stood by Damascus.


All, however, have endorsed a six-point plan by envoy Kofi Annan that calls for a cease-fire to allow for talks between all sides on a political solution to the conflict.


Despite broad backing, the plan has been deeply troubled since the cease-fire was to go into effect on April 12. The Syrian government has not withdrawn its troops from populated areas or allowed media access and its troops have shelled opposition areas. Armed rebels, too, have continued to attack military convoys and checkpoints.


The regime cites such attacks in arguing that the uprising is the work of armed terrorists acting out a foreign conspiracy to weaken the country.


An 11-person monitoring team is currently in Syria to observe the cease-fire and prepare for a total team of 300 monitors to arrive later. But some areas that have welcomed the team with anti-government demonstrations have faced apparent retribution from the regime.


On Monday, more than 30 people were killed in the central city of Hama, just one day after the monitoring team visited the city.


One amateur video posted online showed blood in the streets. Another showed 15 bodies laid out in rows and wrapped in white cloth. The Observatory said 55 people were killed across Syria on Monday.


Syria’s state news agency said UN observers were visiting the restive suburb of Douma Tuesday, their second visit in two days.


A Douma activist, Mohammed Saeed, said via Skype that he had heard the observers arrived but had no information on their visit.


“The news here is very bad,” he said. “There are tanks and shelling and gunfire and the army has prevented fire engines from entering the city,” he said.


Amateur videos posted online showed an explosion in the area and smoke rising into the sky.

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News Network
April 15,2020

Dubai, Apr 15: Saudi Arabia reported 493 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 5869, the Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday.

According to the ministry of health, the number of recoveries today are 42 cases, making total of recoveries in the kingdom 931. And 71 critical cases in intensive care.

The ministry also confirmed 6 deaths bringing the total number of deaths in the kingdom to 79.

Saudi Arabia imposed a 24-hour curfew and lockdown on the cities of Riyadh, Tabuk, Dammam, Dhahran and Hofuf and throughout the governorates of Jeddah, Taif, Qatif and Khobar. This week the curfew was extended until further notice.

Overall, Saudi Arabia has reported one of the lowest rates of infection in the region, with around 5,000 cases in a population of over 30 million. Mecca was one of the first Saudi cities to be placed under a full-day curfew, and authorities took unprecedented precautions, suspending religious tourism in February and closing mosques across the country in March.

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Agencies
April 27,2020

Riyad, Apr 27: The Saudi-led Arab Coalition supporting Yemen’s UN-recognized government on Monday urged all parties to end any escalation of hostilities and return to the status that existed before the Southern Transitional Council (STC) declared self-rule.

In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the coalition emphasized “the need to cancel any step that violates the Riyadh agreement and work to accelerate its implementation.” 

On Sunday, the United Arab Emirates-backed STC scrapped a peace deal with the internationally recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

Accusing the government of corruption and mismanagement, the separatists said they would “self-govern” the key southern port city of Aden and other southern provinces.

Yemen’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Hadhrami described the move as a “resumption of its (STC’s) armed insurgency and rejection and complete withdrawal from the Riyadh agreement.” 

Authorities in Yemen’s southern provinces of Hadramawt, Abyan, Shabwa, Al-Mahra and the remote island of Socotra also rejected the separatist group’s claim to self-rule.

The government said local and security authorities in the five provinces dismissed the move as a “clear and definite coup.” 

Some of the provinces issued their own statements condemning it.

The coalition appealed to all parties to “give priority to the interests of the Yemeni people over any other interests”. 

It also urged the parties involved not to lose their focus on working to achieve the goal of restoring the state, ending the Houthi “coup” and “countering terrorist organizations”.

“The Coalition has and will continue to undertake practical and systematic steps to implement the Riyadh Agreement between the parties to unite Yemeni ranks, restore state institutions and combat the scourge of terrorism,” the statement said. “The responsibility rests with the signatories to the Agreement to undertake national steps toward implementing its provisions, which were signed and agreed upon with a time matrix for implementation.”

The STC has been part of the coalition-backed forces fighting the Iran-backed Houthi militia, which seized control of the Yemeni capital Sanaa and other provinces in 2014.

The Houthi “coup” has led to the formation of the Saudi-led coalition, which had since driven away the Houthis from the south and other provinces. President Hadi’s government has made Aden as its temporary seat.

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News Network
January 7,2020

Tehran, Jan 7: Iranian state television says 35 people have been killed and 50 others injured in a stampede that erupted at a funeral procession for a general slain in a US airstrike.

The TV says the stampede erupted in Kerman, the hometown of Gen. Qassem Soleimani where the procession was underway on Tuesday.

A procession in Tehran on Monday drew over 1 million people in the Iranian capital, crowding both main thoroughfares and side streets in Tehran.

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