Rights group: Syrian troops ordered to open fire

Bassem Mroue, Associated Press

Beirut --

Syrian commanders told security forces they were fighting terrorists and ordered them to open fire on antigovernment demonstrations even after they found unarmed protesters instead, Human Rights Watch said Saturday in a report citing defectors from President Bashar Assad's administration.

The New York group quoted some of the defectors as saying that they feared they could have been shot themselves if they refused to obey orders. One reported seeing a military officer shoot dead two soldiers in the southern city of Daraa for that reason.

The statements were made in a report that was based on interviews with eight soldiers and four members of the security agencies who have described taking part in the shooting and wounding of dozens of protesters, as well as in the arbitrary detentions of hundreds.

Assad's government has used a mix of fierce violence and tentative promises of reform to try subdue a 16-week uprising against the authoritarian leadership. Activists say 1,600 civilians and 350 security forces have been killed in four months of violence.

Human Rights Watch said those interviewed participated in the government crackdown in Daraa, where the uprising was sparked, as well as the southern village of Izraa, the coastal town of Banias, the central city of Homs, the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour, the northern province of Aleppo and the capital of Damascus. It said the defectors were interviewed in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.

The defectors all said their superiors had told them that they were fighting infiltrators, ultraconservative Muslims known as salafists and terrorists, the group said. The defectors said they "were surprised to encounter unarmed protesters" instead, but still were ordered to fire at them in a number of instances.

"The testimony of these defectors provides further evidence that the killing of protesters was no accident but a result of a deliberate policy by senior figures in Syria to use deadly force to disperse protesters," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch's Middle East director.

"Syrian soldiers and officials should know that they too have not just a right but a duty to refuse such unlawful orders, and that those who deliberately kill or injure peaceful protesters will be subject to prosecution," Whitson said.

This article appeared on page A - 7 of the San Francisco Chronicle


(2011-7-10/sfgate)