Damascus vows reforms, activists report 7 new deaths

Syrian forces cross into Lebanon, shoot man dead; US, British and French diplomats call on Damascus to end executions, detentions of activists.

By REUTERS
Syrian protests screenshot 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Syrian protests screenshot 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
GENEVA - Syria, pledging to pursue democratic reforms, accused foreign powers on Friday of arming demonstrators and the media of waging a propaganda war against Syria's President Bashar Assad's government.
Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told the UN Human Rights Council that more than 1,100 security personnel had been killed in the unrest. He was speaking a day after the United Nations said the overall death toll since March exceeded 2,900.
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Syrian authorities have cracked down hard on pro-democracy protests demanding an end to 41 years of Assad family rule that were inspired by popular uprisings that have toppled Arab leaders in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya this year.
Syrian forces killed at least seven people when they opened fire to disperse protests against Assad after Friday prayers in Damascus and Homs, activists said.
Rami Abdel-Rahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said three people were killed in the Damascus suburb of Douma and four in Bab Sbaa, a district in the central city of Homs where Syrian troops fought army deserters and gunmen last week.
Syrian forces crossed into Lebanon and shot dead a Syrian man in the eastern Bekaa Valley, security sources said on Friday.
They said the shooting occurred on Thursday as the Syrian soldiers were pursuing Ali al-Khatib near the village of Arslan, where Syrian forces made a similar incursion two days earlier.
British, French and US envoys took the floor at the Geneva forum to call on Syria to halt executions, arbitrary detentions, torture and enforced disappearances of civilians.
Mekdad said: "The government of Syria is going to continue its work to reinforce human rights so that we can establish a democratic society in line with the rule of law in line with what people deserve and aspire to."
But he added: "We are facing hegemony by the West and the United States and its protege Israel in our region...Syria today is the target of terrorist threats.
"Security forces have become martyrs. Over 1,100 have been killed by the terrorists who are supplied with arms by some of our neighboring countries," he said.
There had been no shelling of civilians and tanks were only used to protect security forces from violence, Mekdad said.
The 47-member Human Rights Council body was holding a three-hour debate on Syria's record, part of its regular examination of all UN member states.
Mekdad said Syria welcomed an impartial review of its record, but added: "Western countries do not care about human rights, they only care to secure shipments of oil and minerals that they are going to pillage."
Betty King, US ambassador to the UN in Geneva, said: "The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the Syrian government's gross violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of its people and its continued violent and deadly repression of peaceful protests."
King said a government that "chooses to rule through terror and intimidation cannot be considered legitimate and must step aside immediately".
This brought a protest from Cuba's delegation which said that such calls had no place in the UN rights body and it was up to the sovereign Syrian people to decide on their leader.
Iran and Russia joined Cuba in praising reforms announced by Assad, including the lifting of an emergency law and holding of local elections due in December.
"We are opposed to naming and shaming," China's envoy said. The UN Security Council failed to condemn Syria on Tuesday after Russia and China vetoed a European-drafted resolution.
The rights forum last month launched an international commission of inquiry into alleged crimes against humanity, including mass killings, which a preliminary U.N. investigation said were being perpetrated by Syrian security forces.
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Click for full Jpost coverage of turmoil in the Middle East