Commander
of the Syria Free Army, Riad Al Asaad, declared that the regime of
Syrian President Bashar Assad would be forced out of power by militarily means,
Al Jazeera reported Friday.
Asaad - who heads the militia of some 15,000 supposed army defectors - called on Arab League
observers to leave the country in light of the "failure of their
mission," after Arab government sources said Thursday the monitors would
remain in Syria to ensure Damascus's compliance with the body's peace
plan.
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Meanwhile, Syrian
opposition groups said that at least 31 people were shot dead by Syrian
government forces in cities and towns across the country Thursday, Al
Jazeera reported.
13 of the deaths occurred in the
northeastern city of Deir ez-Zor. A Syrian confederation of opposition
groups said an additional six died in Homs, including one woman, six in Deraa, four in the Damascus area, including one soldier, and one in Idlib and
coastal Latakia.
Gunshots were heard as activists took to the streets in Damascus to "greet Arab [League] observers," Al Jazeera reported.
Three
people were gunned down in that protest in the nation's
capital, and an unidentified number were injured, according to the
report.
Earlier this month, 44 people were killed in the
bloodiest single attack to hit Damascus, just as Arab monitors arrived
in the country.
Assad blamed the bombing
on terrorists linked to al-Qaida plotting his overthrow. Some opposition
groups said the Syrian government staged the bombing itself to undermine
opposition efforts as the conflict between pro-government and anti-government elements
approaches the year mark.
Foreign journalists are generally
barred from entry to Syria, so the information in this report cannot be
independently verified by The Jerusalem Post.
Arab government sources said Thursday that observers will remain in
Syria to monitor the government’s compliance with an Arab League peace
plan despite criticism from Qatar’s prime minister they had made
“mistakes.”
Damascus, keen to show it is respecting a peace accord, said it had
released a further 552 people detained during the revolt against
Assad “whose hands were not stained with blood.”
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