Despite fresh political maneuvering on both sides of the Syrian
crisis, relentless killing raged on Monday as a peaceful resolution
appeared to be a mere fantasy.
At least 21 people were
slaughtered across the country on Monday morning, opposition activists
said. Intense shelling rained on Deir Ezzor province, where eight
corpses were found after regime forces raided the city at dawn, the
opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.
Across the country,
powerful explosions and heavy gunfire tormented the southwestern city of
Douma as forces conducted a raid-and-arrest spree, the LCC said.
"Civilians are being used as human shields to complete the raid campaign" in Douma, the opposition network said.
Over the weekend, the
opposition Syrian National Council elected minority Kurdish activist
Abdul Basit Sieda to unite dissidents aimed at ousting Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad.
Sieda, a native of
Hasaka, Syria, but now living in Sweden, called on officials in Syria,
Russia, and China "to think carefully about the situation now because
the whole stability of the region -- if not the whole stability of the
world -- is at stake here. We would like to call upon them to support
the Syrian people."
Russia and China have
blocked U.N. Security Council resolutions that many other nations said
could have pushed al-Assad to stop the killing. The two countries, which
have major trade ties with Syria, said they want more balanced
resolutions that call for a cessation of violence on all sides.
Sieda also called on Iran
"to admit the situation on the ground and respect the will of Syrians"
and to prepare "for new relations with the Syrian people based on the
full interest of the Syrian and Iranian people."
A recent draft U.N.
report accused Iran of exporting arms to Syria in violation of a ban on
weapons sales, a Western diplomat told CNN last month. Some analysts say
Iran has continued to arm Syria in its brutal crackdown on the
opposition.
Sieda vowed his country will be "a free democratic state."
Dozens of countries have
recognized the SNC as a legitimate representative of the Syrian
opposition, though many members of the group's leadership are
expatriates.
When asked how he
planned to bridge a gap between the Syrian opposition in exile and the
opposition inside the country, Sieda said, "We are in direct
communication and contact with revolutionary forces inside. We are
always communicating with them. ... The relationship between us and the
forces inside has never been stronger."
But al-Assad has said he will not deal with opposition members influenced from the outside.
While Sieda railed
against the violence committed by al-Assad's forces, the regime itself
announced a new stage in its argument that "armed terrorist groups" are
actually responsible for the violence in the country.
A "documentary" shown on
Syrian state-run TV revealed "that terrorists of various nationalities
from the terrorist organization Jabhet al-Nasra, which is affiliated
with al Qaeda, planned and carried out" bombings in Damascus on March 8.
The cars used in the attack were driven by a Jordanian terrorist and a
Syrian Palestinian, "and were trailed by an Iraqi," state-run news
agency SANA reported.
Jabhet al-Nasra is also known as the al Nusra Front.
SANA also said 22 "army, law enforcement and civilian martyrs" were buried Sunday.
The LCC, meanwhile, said 53 people were killed Sunday, including 26 in Homs.
Among the dead Sunday
was citizen journalist Khaled Bakr, founder of the Baba Amr media
center, the LCC said. Baba Amr, a besieged neighborhood of Homs, came
under weeks of incessant shelling by the Syrian regime earlier this
year, opposition activists have said.
At a mosque in Maarat
al-Numan, part of Idlib province, El Mundo correspondent Javier Espinosa
said he saw six bodies destroyed beyond recognition. "They were in
pieces," he told CNN.
Residents said people
were leaving a mosque when a rocket hit in the middle of the street,
hitting no one. As residents gathered after to assess the impact, a
second rocket hit.
The rocket had Russian markings on the shell, Espinosa said.
Russia is viewed as a
key ally of Syria. While Western countries have criticized Russia for
its arms trade with Syria, Russia has insisted it is not propping up
al-Assad's regime.
Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov said Saturday there was no alternative to U.N.-Arab
League special envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan, despite mounting evidence
that it's being violated daily.
"The situation looks
more and more grim," Lavrov said. "For the first time since the
beginning of this crisis, we see the question of foreign intervention.
And our position remains unchanged. We will never agree to sanction the
use of force in the U.N. Security Council."
The United Nations has
said at least 9,000 people have died since the Syrian crisis erupted in
March 2011. Opposition groups, however, say the toll is much higher,
with estimates ranging from at least 12,000 to more than 14,000.
CNN cannot independently
confirm reports of casualties or violence in Syria, as the government
has restricted access by international journalists.
