Witness: 6 dead from sniper fire in Daraa as fear in Syria grows
Source: CNN
April 27, 2011 -- Updated 0849 GMT (1649 HKT)
Demonstrations in support of Syria's anti-government activists have been held around the world, including New York (pictured).
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The U.N. Security Council will be briefed Wednesday on the chaos in Syria
- The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. calls acts by the Syrian regime "abhorrent and deplorable"
- Human rights group: More than 400 have died since March 18 amid a government crackdown
- The Syrian ambassador to the U.N. rejects a call for an independent investigation
(CNN) -- Terror reigned in the Syrian city of Daraa on Wednesday as intermittent gunfire rang out overnight and snipers held their positions on rooftops, a witness there said.
He said the situation "is worsening day after day" where the country's recent anti-government protests started.
Five people were killed by sniper fire on Tuesday, including a 6-year-old girl, said the witness, who is not being identified for security reasons. But no funerals have taken place, he said, because the cemetery is occupied by security forces.
Half a world away, United Nations Security Council will be briefed Wednesday on the crisis in Syria when it meets in a private session, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.
Syria's ambassador to the United Nations rejected Tuesday a call for an independent investigation into the reported killings of hundreds of demonstrators by government forces.
"Syria has a government, has a state," Bashar Jaafari told reporters at the world body. "We can undertake any investigation by our own selves, with full transparency. We have nothing to hide. We regret what is going on, but you should also acknowledge that this unrest and riots, in some of their aspects, have hidden agendas."
Jaafari called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a reformer who has been working to effect change by issuing decrees that, among other things, lifted the decades-old emergency law and allowed peaceful demonstrations.
He said Syria's own National Investigation Commission has already undertaken an investigation into the violence against civilians and the military, and will issue its findings at a later date.
"So we are doing our homework; we don't need help from anybody," Jaafari said.
He urged the Security Council to rely on official reports, not on media reports.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice called the violence wielded by the government of Syria "abhorrent and deplorable," adding, "The outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end, and now."
The Syrian government's repeal of its emergency law and allowance for peaceful demonstrations "were clearly not serious, given the continued violent repression against protesters," she said.
The United States is pursuing "a range of possible policy options," Rice said, including the imposition of additional sanctions.
"The Syrian people's call for freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and the ability to choose their leaders freely must be heard," she said.
Rice accused al-Assad of "disingenuously blaming outsiders while, at the same time, seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria's citizens through the same brutal tactics that have been used by the Iranian regime."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday "the situation in Syria is unacceptable." He added that -- as has been the case for the Ivory Coast and Libya -- "nothing will happen without a resolution from the Security Council."
Syrian Human Rights Information Link reported Tuesday that more than 400 people have died since March 18 in incidents linked to the government crackdown on protesters seeking reform.
While the vast majority are apparently civilians, the group's list describes a few of the dead as members of the army or police.
The United Nations has said it has information that 76 people were killed on Friday alone, apparently during peaceful marches. The organization said the death toll from that day could be much higher.
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CNN cannot independently confirm death tolls and witness accounts of the bloody crackdown. The Syrian government has not granted CNN access to the country.
Human Rights Watch's U.N. director, Philippe Bolopion, called on the Security Council to "condemn abuses by the Syrian government, support an international investigation and sanction those ordering the shooting and torture of protesters."
He called Syria's campaign for a seat on the Human Rights Council "a slap in the face to the victims of the current crackdown, and an embarrassment to those who have supported its candidacy."
In state-run media, al-Assad's regime has described the protesters as "armed criminal groups" and said its soldiers and police were working to stop them.
After witnesses told CNN Monday about thousands of troops and police entering the city of Daraa and firing indiscriminately, killing people in the streets, the Syrian government insisted that the citizens of Daraa had asked for the troops to stop "terrorist" groups.
Razan Zaytouni, a human rights activist in Damascus, refuted the government's claim.
"It's just rubbish, actually. People, innocent people are killed now, including children and women. We got two names of children who were killed," Zaytouni said. "The only terrorists are those who are killing our people there now."
In the Damascus suburb of Douma, a resident who asked to be referred to as Rawwad said that, over the past several days, security personnel had been arresting people they recognized as members of the protest movement.
The Syrian protests -- part of a wave of uprisings in the Arab world -- began in Daraa last month following a crackdown by security forces on peaceful demonstrators protesting the arrests of youths who scribbled anti-government graffiti. Protesters have asked for freedom and regime reform, and public discontent with al-Assad's government has mounted.
Activists also want the easing of the ruling Baath Party's power and a law that would permit the establishment of independent political parties.
Fawaz Gerges, an analyst on the region with the London School of Economics, said Tuesday that "the regime has decided to crush the protesters, to silence the opposition."
Gerges added that Al-Assad is "using now massive force in order to break the will of the protesters. But even if he wins the first round, the situation is far from over ... The reality is President Assad will emerge as a much weakened president after his particular confrontation because he has lost much legitimacy and authority inside Syria."
Zaytouni, the human rights activist in Damascus, insisted on being identified publicly -- despite concerns for her own safety.
"The regime is playing very dirty rule about media. They made all this propaganda. They made all of these lies," she said. "We see what is going on the ground -- we who are protesting, those who are killed in the street, those who are arrested and tortured. We know the truth, and we need the whole world to know it."
CNN's Nada Husseini, Richard Roth, Anderson Cooper, Amir Ahmed, Arwa Damon, Rima Maktabi, Elise Labott, Amir Ahmed and Raja Razek contributed to this report.
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