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Ultimatum expires, Arab League threatens new sanctions on Damascus
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs declares that it is still negotiating. State media highlight news of missile maneuvers. Opponents report a further 22 deaths yesterday. Today a blogger is arrested. The State Department asks Christians not to support Assad.
Beirut (AsiaNews) - The Arab League deadline for Damascus to respond to its peace plan expired yesterday, which could give way to new sanctions. It has not been highlighted by the official Syrian sources, who instead focused news on the anti-aircraft maneuvers carried out by the army, while another anti-regime group reported the killings of 22 people yesterday, and informed of the arrest today of a blogger who defends human rights.
The Arab League had put yesterday's date as the deadline for a response to its request to be allowed send observers, contained in the peace plan that Syria has formally accepted. Damascus’ response yesterday was limited to a statement by Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jihad Makdissi, according to who "we are still negotiating." The official SANA news agency has instead reported on statements by economist, Madyan al-Dabet, according to whom although the sanctions "will have consequences on the living standards of the Syrians, the country will be able to overcome them thanks to the strategic positioning and differentiation of its productive sectors" .
Instead the tightly controlled media is full of news of military maneuvers, carried out yesterday. "Syrian missile forces - reads official statement - carried out a practical project with live ammunition under war-like circumstances with the aim of testing the missile weaponry in confronting any attack”. The statement appears to be connected to Damascus fears of an "internationalization" of the crisis, with the imposition of the "no-fly zone" repeatedly requested by opposition groups.
Groups according to which violence continued yesterday, causing 22 deaths, including a man with his three sons and a university professor.
This morning they also report that Razan Ghazzawi, who since 2009, has defended human rights on her blog and provided information on violence in recent months was stopped at the border with Jordan, as she headed to Amman to take part in the Arab Syrian Centre for Media and Free Expression.
Finally, from the U.S. State Department arrives a call to Syrian Christians " not to stand on the side of the attacker”. Jeffrey Feltman, responsible for the Middle East, speaking in Amman recalled the fear of religious minorities, particularly Christians, that a fall of Assad would open the door to a fundamentalist Islam. Confirming his words, in an interview yesterday on state television, Bishop Luke al-Khouri, assistant to the Greek Orthodox Patriarch emphasized that the curent "only" peaceful coexistence among religions in Syria, is facing a conspiracy “concocted by the United States and its allies”. (PD)