Anti-regime protesters in Syria yesterday planned the start of a “week of breaking the siege” a day after troops killed six civilians in the southern flashpoint city of Daraa.
The Syrian Revolution 2011, a driving force behind the protests, vowed in a Facebook statement that “we will only kneel before God” and gave a schedule of protests in solidarity with Daraa and the Damascus suburb of Douma, both besieged since Monday last week.
Troops in tanks backed by other armored vehicles cruised Daraa streets yesterday, shooting to keep residents indoors and arresting men aged 15 and over, an activist from the town said by telephone.
“Since early morning, the army and security forces have been combing neighborhoods one by one and making sweeping arrests. Hundreds have been arrested since Friday,” Abdullah Abizad said.
Thousands of troops stormed into Daraa six days ago and imposed a draconian siege on the town, the epicenter of seven weeks of protests against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, 138 more members of Assad’s ruling Baath party resigned in protest at the deadly crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, according to collective resignation lists received on Saturday by reporters in Nicosia.
Activists said countrywide protests from yesterday would begin a “week of breaking the siege” — a reference to Daraa and Douma — with demonstrations planned for Daraa yesterday and around Damascus today.
Rallies are planned for tomorrow in the northern towns of Banias and Jableh, Wednesday in Homs, Talbisseh and in Tall Kalakh on the border with Lebanon, and nationwide night vigils on Thursday.
Water and power have been cut in Daraa as the situation worsened after 3,000 to 5,000 troops supported by tanks stormed the town nearly a week ago.
Abizad said living conditions were worsening.
“The humanitarian situation is very dire. There is no water, no food, no electricity. There are six bodies on the streets since Friday and we cannot get to them because of the snipers. There are also wounded we cannot reach,” Abizad said. “The snipers shoot at everything that moved. We had a dog in our neighborhood, a white dog, and they even shot him.”
On Saturday, six more civilians were killed when the army pounded Daraa, while snipers on rooftops fired at anyone venturing out, activists said. The military said one soldier was killed and seven others wounded in Daraa on Saturday.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
RSS