Gunmen kill Kurdish opposition figure; death toll rises during anti-Assad protests

Gunmen shot dead prominent Syrian Kurdish opposition figure Mishaal al-Tammo on Friday in his home in the east of the country, activists said, as more deaths were reported in anti-regime rallies across Syria.

Rami Abdel-Rahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said four gunmen entered the house in Qamishli, shooting Tammo dead and wounding his brother, Reuters reported.

It was not clear who was behind the attack. Tammo, a vocal critic of President Bashar al-Assad, had also angered powerful Kurdish parties because of his criticism of Kurdish rivals.

The gunmen who killed Tammo, 53, also wounded his son Marcel and another fellow activist in the Kurdish Future Party, the Observatory said, according to AFP.

Thousands of Kurds took to the streets in Qamishli after Tammo’s death was made known, and gathered outside the hospital where his body was taken.

The official SANA news agency reported “the assassination” of the Kurdish activist, but gave a different account of his death. It said he was killed “by gunmen in a black car who fired at his car.”

Death toll on the rise

As many as 21 Syrians were killed on Friday as thousands of people rallied against the regime of President Assad and in support of a newly formed opposition front, activists said, as Syria said that a national probe was under way into killings, but denied allegations that loyalist forces had shot soldiers refusing to fire on protesters.

The number of civilians killed on Friday rose, some of them in the central city of Homs and the remainder in the outskirts of Damascus, Syrian activists said.

Fridays are the lightning rod for anti-regime protests, but this week’s also saw shows of support for the opposition Syrian National Council, formed in Istanbul last week.

Demonstrators in the restive Damascus district of Barzeh carried slogans affirming their “complete support” for the SNC, YouTube videos showed.

“The people want the fall of the president," chanted demonstrators in the town of Qusayr in Homs province.

Rallies nationwide

Similar rallies took place in the Damascus neighborhood of Qabun, which was rocked by shootings the previous week, said the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), an activist opposition network.

Protesters in Idlib province, where security forces massed in numbers, and in the northern city of Amuda chanted pro- SNC slogans.

In the Homs neighborhood of Qurabeyd, demonstrators raised their shoes -- a sign of disrespect in the Arab world -- alongside photographs of Assad with his face crossed out, a video on YouTube showed.

Another YouTube video showed scenes of panic in the besieged mosque of Merje in Homs, with intense gunfire crackling in the background.

Security forces and paramilitary forces locally known as the "shabiha" also surrounded mosques in the suburbs of Damascus and in the Mediterranean cities of Banias and Latakia, activists said.

Syria, meanwhile, said on Friday that a national investigation was under way into killings, including those of 1,100 security forces, but denied allegations that loyalist forces had shot soldiers refusing to fire on protesters.

Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said that only when Syria’s own investigation was completed could it consider letting in an international commission of inquiry, set up by the U.N. Human Rights Council.

More than 2,900 have been killed in Syria since unrest began in March, the United Nations said on Thursday.

“I would like to assure the international community that those who committed violations of human rights will be held to account,” Mekdad told reporters in Geneva, according to Reuters.

“If our internal process is finished, we shall definitely study the possibility of receiving the human rights commission (of inquiry),” he said, declining to set a date.

Mekdad led a senior Syrian delegation to the 47-member body that examined its record in a three-hour debate on Friday as part of its regular review of all U.N. member states.

Security personnel killed

In a speech pledging democratic reforms, he also accused foreign powers of arming demonstrators and the media of waging a propaganda war against President Assad’s government.

More than 1,100 security personnel have been killed in the unrest, up from the government’s previous toll of 700, he said.

“I hope you will give us time, reform cannot be done when the Syrian people are being killed by extremist terrorist groups every day,” he told the talks.

A U.N. spokesman said on Friday that the names of some security forces were on a U.N. list of 2,900 documented deaths.

An initial U.N. team of investigators, in a report in August, said that there may be grounds for prosecuting Syrian officials for crimes against humanity. It cited allegations that loyalist forces killed soldiers refusing to fire on protesters.

“It is a big lie, these allegations,” Mekdad told reporters.

After six months of peaceful protests, some army deserters and dissidents have taken up arms, prompting military operations against them, especially in areas bordering Turkey and Jordan.

There had been no shelling of civilians and tanks were only used to protect security forces from violence, Mekdad said.

Voicing outrage

Syrian activists who attended the debate voiced outrage.

“Unfortunately the same propaganda as on Syrian TV has been repeated here. They say they have nothing to hide, then why not allow any fact-finding mission or commission of inquiry into the country?,” Radwan Ziadeh, director of the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies, told reporters.

“They know exactly that if they allow the commission in, it will have to meet with victims and families, and request to go to prisons to see the high number of people there,” he added.

More than 30,000 have been arrested during the unrest, many detained in schools and soccer fields, according to Ziadeh.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which began its first prison visits ever in Syria on Sept. 4, has visited only Adra Central Prison in Damascus so far, a spokeswoman said.

During the U.N. debate, British, French and U.S. envoys called on Syria to halt executions, arbitrary detentions, torture and enforced disappearances of civilians.

A final report on Syria's record is to be adopted by the Human Rights Council next week.

Russia, China, Venezuela and Zimbabwe provided strong backing for Syria on Friday, saying it must be protected against foreign interference, The Associated Press reported.

“Unfortunately, the opposition is not showing an interest in peaceful dialogue and is using arms against the government,” Russian Ambassador Valery Loshchinin said.

“We are opposed to any politicization of human rights issues,” said China’s Ambassador He Yafei. “All parties in Syria must exercise maximum restraint.”