Further Syrian deaths as regime steps up repression

Demonstrators set fire to an effigy of Syria's President Assad in Istanbul. More opposition deaths have been reported in Syria over the weekend as the regime stepped up attempts to quell the anti-regime uprising. Last week was one of the most deadly weeks since the uprising began six months ago, with the Syrian human rights organisation, Sawasiah, claiming that at least 113 civilians were killed.
Protests took place in several towns across Syria on Sunday, with Syrian forces violently dispersing demonstrations in Abu-Kamal, and in towns close to the flashpoint city of Homs.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that a woman was killed in Abu-Kamal after being hit by a stray bullet.
The Observatory also claimed that a 17-year-old boy died from wounds sustained a day earlier when security forces fired at a funeral for Ghayath Matar, a key opposition figure, who reportedly died after being tortured in prison.
Matar’s body was returned to his family on Saturday. Human Rights Watch claims that the activist’s body showed signs of torture
Matar had been instrumental in organising protests across Syria.
On the back of Matar’s death, the US has stepped up its criticism of the regime, accusing Assad of “brutal repression” and “despicable violence.”
 “The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the killing of Syrian human rights activist Ghiyath Matar while in the custody of Syrian Security Forces,” US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.
Nuland said Matar’s “courage in the face of the Assad regime’s brutal repression is well known in his home of Deraa and across Syria.”
“His brave commitment to confronting the regime’s despicable violence with peaceful protest serves as an example for the Syrian people and for all those who suffer under the yoke of oppression,” she added.
Nuland reiterated US calls for Assad to step down and put an end to the bloodshed.
“We stand with the Syrian people in their resistance to tyranny,” she said.
“We call on the Assad regime to immediately cease all violence against the Syrian people and release all political prisoners. We again call on Assad to step aside and allow the Syrian people to embark upon the democratic transformation they demand.”
On August 22nd, the UN estimated that more than 2,200 people had been killed in Syria since protests began in March, although after the violence in recent weeks, Syrian opposition figures estimate that the death toll is probably closer to 3,000.
Further Opposition Arrests:
Syrian forces also stepped up its raids on opposition figures over the weekend, with dozens seized in house-to-house raids in Deir al-Zor and Hama.
An activist told Reuters that authorities detained at least 250 people in Jeeza, 40 in Museifra, 50 in Busra al-Harir and 30 in Naimah over the weekend.
"They shoot in the air before they begin raids. They then drag young men and use electric sticks to beat them up and haul them away to detention centres," he said.
A lawyer from Deraa reported that dozens of troops had encircled the nearby village of Yadouda.
“I saw them by accident and fled. I heard that they later went into houses. They can come at any minute and raid and arrest,” the lawyer told Alarabiya.
He said detainees would be ill-treated, or worse.
“You either disappear and are never heard from again, come back red and blue with holes in your body from beatings and torture to make an example of you or simply return in a coffin.”
70,000 people are believed to have been arrested in the Syrian government’s crackdown on the opposition. According to the Observatory for Human Rights, 15,000 remain in detention.
Opposition figures reject a future that includes Assad:
The Syrian opposition has held a key meeting in Cairo.
Al Arabiya has reported that the Syrian opposition has refused any resolution to the Syrian crisis that includes President Assad.
The conference chair, Mohi Eddin al-Latheqani asserted that the Syrian people have the right to freedom and reform.
He added: “The Syrian unity is very good and the Syrian regime has failed to dismantle it.”
International Condemnation Increases:
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has condemned Syria’s bloody opposition crackdown.
The group, which met in Jeddah over the weekend, called for "an immediate end to the killing machine" in Syria and called for government reform.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain have recalled their envoys to Damascus in protest to the Assad regime’s use of force, and Qatar closed its embassy after it was attacked by Assad loyalists in July.
The Chief of the Arab League, Nabil al-Arabi, also travelled to Damascus on Saturday to present Assad with a 13-point plan to end the bloodshed, hold elections and begin reform.
Arabi said that they had reached an "agreement on steps to carry out the reforms, (and) the elements will be submitted to the council of the Arab League" in Cairo on Monday.
The Syrian-state news agency also reported that Arabi rejected “any form of foreign interference in Syrian domestic affairs," the official news agency SANA reported.
These moves by regional bodies come as the UN appears increasingly paralysed by internal disunity.
France’s foreign minister yesterday called the UN’s failure to condemn the Assad regime as a “scandal.”
"We think the regime has lost its legitimacy, that it's too late to implement a programme of reform," Juppe told reporters.
"Now we should adopt in New York the resolution condemning the violence and supporting the dialogue with the opposition," he said.
"It's a scandal not to have a clearer position of the UN on such a terrible crisis".
Russia has so far blocked attempts to pass a UN Security Council resolution condemning the violence in Syria.
Last week, the Russia President, Dmitry Medvedev, accused the Syrian opposition of containing “terrorist” elements.
However, the UN humanitarian affairs chief, Valerie Amos, says that the UN has requested for human rights monitors to be admitted to Syria, but has thus-far been denied.
Amos said that the UN was “extremely concerned” about reports of human rights violations in Syria.
“The requests have repeatedly been made for a human rights mission into Syria. It hasn’t yet happened but they have been made repeatedly,” Amos told Reuters.
A UN mission was permitted to enter Syria last month, but was only given limited access to the country.