This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/world/middleeast/syria.html
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Besieged Syrian Leader Makes Rare Public Appearance | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| BEIRUT, Lebanon — President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, apparently seeking to counter the impression of a leader in hiding after consecutive days of suspected insurgent bombings in his power base, Damascus, made a rare public appearance on Wednesday, visiting workers at an electric station. | BEIRUT, Lebanon — President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, apparently seeking to counter the impression of a leader in hiding after consecutive days of suspected insurgent bombings in his power base, Damascus, made a rare public appearance on Wednesday, visiting workers at an electric station. |
| Syrian state television and the official SANA news agency said that Mr. Assad mingled with workers at the Umayyad Electrical Station and congratulated them on the occasion of International Labor Day. Photographs showed Mr. Assad dressed in a dark suit as workers showed him the station. | |
| “They want us to be afraid,” Mr. Assad said in one television clip. “Well, we won’t be afraid.” As he spoke, loyalists in the background chanted, “May God protect you.” | “They want us to be afraid,” Mr. Assad said in one television clip. “Well, we won’t be afraid.” As he spoke, loyalists in the background chanted, “May God protect you.” |
| Mr. Assad, whose government is fighting an increasingly violent insurgency that grew out of his repression of peaceful political protests more than two years ago, is not often seen outside his heavily guarded presidential palace these days. His appearance followed an assassination attempt in the form of a car bombing on Monday aimed at his prime minister and a bombing on Tuesday that killed at least 13 people outside a former Interior Ministry building. The attacks were carried out in the heart of Damascus, the capital, which has remained basically under the control of Mr. Assad’s loyalist forces. | |
| His visit to the power station coincided with a new set of explosions in central Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group based in Britain but with a reporting network in Syria, said that rockets hit the neighborhood of Bab Mesalla, an area of shops and a transportation hub, and that a bomb detonated near the police headquarters on nearby Khalid bin Walid Street, a site of previous bomb attacks. SANA later confirmed the attacks, saying at least two people were killed and 28 were wounded. It attributed the attacks to terrorists, the Assad government’s blanket description for armed opponents. | |
| The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, the main anti-Assad political organization, said in a statement on Wednesday that it condemned such indiscriminate attacks and that the “the bombing of civilian areas is unacceptable, regardless of the circumstances.” But the organization also implied that Mr. Assad’s government had ordered the attacks to smear its enemies, asserting that “such bombings have become a trademark of the regime.” | The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, the main anti-Assad political organization, said in a statement on Wednesday that it condemned such indiscriminate attacks and that the “the bombing of civilian areas is unacceptable, regardless of the circumstances.” But the organization also implied that Mr. Assad’s government had ordered the attacks to smear its enemies, asserting that “such bombings have become a trademark of the regime.” |
| The insurgency has left more than 70,000 people dead, according to the United Nations, and has raised the prospect of an American military intervention because of evidence that Mr. Assad has used some of his military’s stockpile of chemical munitions in the conflict, which President Obama has called a “red line.” While Mr. Obama has said that the evidence is incomplete and more verifiable facts are required, he is considering providing lethal military aid to the insurgency, administration officials in Washington said Tuesday. | |
| Britain, France and Israel have accused the Syrian authorities of using chemical munitions in the civil war, and a forensics panel authorized by the United Nations has been waiting to enter Syria to conduct tests. The Syrian government has accused insurgents of deploying chemical weapons outside Aleppo on March 19, but it has blocked the United Nations panel because of a dispute about the scope of its inquiry. | |
| On Wednesday, officials in Turkey said they were testing blood samples taken from Syrians who had been transported over the border in recent days suffering breathing difficulties, to determine if chemical weapons had been used on them. Reuters quoted the mayor of Reyhanli, a Turkish town where the Syrians were hospitalized, next to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, as saying, “There is a possibility that the weapons were used and we have to act with caution in case.” There was no further word on the condition of the hospitalized Syrians, who were all from northern Syria, Reuters said. | On Wednesday, officials in Turkey said they were testing blood samples taken from Syrians who had been transported over the border in recent days suffering breathing difficulties, to determine if chemical weapons had been used on them. Reuters quoted the mayor of Reyhanli, a Turkish town where the Syrians were hospitalized, next to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, as saying, “There is a possibility that the weapons were used and we have to act with caution in case.” There was no further word on the condition of the hospitalized Syrians, who were all from northern Syria, Reuters said. |
| Mr. Assad has faced increasing isolation as the conflict has worsened. Even Russia, his most important foreign backer, has reduced contacts with the country. On Tuesday, the Russian aviation authorities ordered all Russian commercial aircraft to avoid Syrian airspace after an episode on Monday in which a Russian passenger plane was forced to detour to avoid combat activity, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported. | Mr. Assad has faced increasing isolation as the conflict has worsened. Even Russia, his most important foreign backer, has reduced contacts with the country. On Tuesday, the Russian aviation authorities ordered all Russian commercial aircraft to avoid Syrian airspace after an episode on Monday in which a Russian passenger plane was forced to detour to avoid combat activity, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported. |
| The crew of the aircraft, a NordWind Airlines Airbus A320 en route from Sharm el Sheik, Egypt, to the central Russian city of Kazan, said it was forced to climb for safety reasons, RIA Novosti reported. It was unclear whether the aircraft had been targeted by any combatants. | |
Hwaida Saad reported from Beirut, and Rick Gladstone from New York. Hania Mourtada contributed reporting from Beirut. | Hwaida Saad reported from Beirut, and Rick Gladstone from New York. Hania Mourtada contributed reporting from Beirut. |