GCC states recall Syria envoys

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait recalled their envoys to Damascus and the Arab League condemned violence in Syria, leaving President Bashar Al Assad further isolated even as he defended his crackdown on "outlaws."

The surprise move by Riyadh, the Arab world's Sunni Muslim heavyweight, marks a major escalation of international pressure on Assad's regime for its brutal repression of a pro-democracy uprising that has left many hundreds dead.

"Saudi Arabia announces the recall of its ambassador for consultations," King Abdullah said in a statement that came after Syrian security forces had killed more than 50 people on Sunday.

The statement urged Damascus to "stop the killing machine and the bloodshed... before it is too late."

"The kingdom does not accept the situation in Syria, because the developments cannot be justified," Abdullah said, urging "comprehensive and quick reforms".

"The future of Syria lies between two options: either Syria chooses willingly to resort to reason, or faces being swept into deep chaos, God forbid," he said.

The Saudi king branded the crackdown on protests immoral and in breach of Islamic teaching.

"Large numbers of martyrs have fallen, their blood has been shed, and many others have been wounded... This is not in accord with religion, values and morals," he said.

He reminded the Syrian government of Saudi support "in the past" but said that the Gulf kingdom had to take an "historic" decision.

Kuwait also recalled its ambassador to Syria, Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed al-Salem al-Sabah said on Monday, adding that Gulf foreign ministers would meet soon to discuss the situation in Syria.

"Our ambassador to Syria has been summoned for consultation," Sheikh Mohammed told reporters in parliament.

Bahrain recalled its ambassador from Syria for "consultation," Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad Al-Khalifa said on Monday.

The US envoy to Damascus, Robert Ford, who returned to Syria on Thursday, said in a US television interview on Sunday that Washington will "try to ratchet up the pressure" on Assad's regime.

Ford, who infuriated the Syrian authorities with a visit to the flashpoint protest city of Hama last month, also told ABC news that the violence against protesters was "grotesque" and "abhorrent."

Activists said security forces backed by tanks killed 42 civilians in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor and at least 10 more in the central town of Hula on Sunday.

"Forty-two civilians have been killed and more than 100 wounded in Deir Ezzor by gunfire from the armed forces and security agents," Syrian League for the Defence of Human Rights head Abdel Karim Rihawi told AFP.

In Hula in Homs district, at least 10 people were killed in a military assault, Rihawi said.

"About 25 tanks and troop carriers entered Hula and carried out military operations," another activist, Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said earlier.

The Observatory also reported two civilians shot dead in Idlib in the northwest by security forces firing on mourners at a funeral.

Assad roundly defended his security forces, however.

"To deal with outlaws who cut off roads, seal towns and terrorise residents is a duty of the state which must defend security and protect the lives of civilians," state news agency SANA quoted him as saying.

SANA also quoted an official military source as dismissing claims that the army was shelling Deir Ezzor with tanks as "completely false and untrue."

The Arab League made its first official statement on the unrest, calling on Damascus to "immediately" stop the violence that has raged since mid-March.

Secretary General Nabil Al Arabi also urged an "impartial probe" into the bloodshed, warning against "chaos" and "religious strife" in Syria, it said.

US and European leaders pledged to consider new steps to punish Syria after security forces killed more than 30 people on the first Friday of Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of fasting.

Syria's government has sought to crush the democracy movement with force, leaving at least 2,059 people dead, including 391 members of the security forces, according to the Syrian Observatory.

The Assad regime has pledged reform and accused "armed terrorist gangs" of fomenting the unrest.

In Berlin, Ruprecht Polenz, chairman of Germany's parliamentary committee on foreign relations, said a boycott of Syrian oil and gas exports should be agreed by the international community as a whole if it were to work.

"We only have economic sanctions left as a means to convince Assad that he must stop the violence and resign," Polenz told public broadcaster Deutschlandradio.

Syrian president names new defence minister

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday appointed a new defence minister, state television reported, amid mounting Arab condemnation of nearly five months of deadly crackdown on dissent.

"President Assad has signed a decree naming General Daood Rajha as the head of the defence ministry," the television report said.

The 64-year-old Rajha, who was the army's chief of staff, replaces General Ali Habib who had been defence minister since 2009.

State television said Assad had decided to remove Habib and replace him with Rajha in line with decisions he took after meetings residents of protest cities to make changes in top state positions.

But the report also said that Habib "has been ill for some time and his condition has deteriorated."

In April, less than a month after the start of pro-democracy protests in Syria, Assad ordered the formation of a new government after former premier Mohammed Naji Otri resigned on March 29.

Since the protests broke out in mid-March, the president has sacked several governors, namely from flashpoint provinces such as Homs and Hama in the centre, and Deir Ezzor in the east.

Assad's latest decision comes as oil kingpin Saudi Arabia and two other members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council recalled their ambassadors from Syria for consultations and condemned the violence.

The head of Al-Azhar, the top Sunni Muslim authority, also denounced the bloodshed from Cairo and urged the Syrian authorities to put an immediate end to the "tragedy" of the bloodletting.

The Cairo-based Arab League on Sunday issued its first formal statement on Syria with Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi calling for an "impartial probe" into the bloodshed, and warning against "chaos" and "religious strife."

AFP

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