Five dead in Syrian clashes; Britain summons Damascus envoy

Troops clashed with armed dissidents and killed five people during a raid in northwest Syria, activists said on Thursday, as Britain’s Foreign Office summoned the Syrian ambassador to London over the alleged intimidation of exiled activists.

“The Syrian army backed by tanks and armored troop carriers launched an assault this morning on the town of Banash, and clashes took place with armed men who were apparently dissidents,” the rights group said.

Five civilians were killed in Banash during the military operations, the Observatory said, adding that the army also launched an attack on Taum village, to the east.

“Several houses were partly destroyed and people were wounded... while the noise of heavy machineguns and explosions could be heard in several parts of the town and ambulances seen racing through the streets,” it said.

The Local Coordination Committees, which act as umbrella groups for protesters seeking to bring down President Bashar al-Assad, said soldiers and security forces also carried out a raid on Homs in central Syria.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague, meanwhile, said on Thursday that Syrian ambassador Sami Khiyami has been summoned by the British government amid unrest in the Arab nation. It is the third time this year Khiyami has been summoned and the second time in connection with claims of harassment.

“The Syrian ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Office this morning and told that any harassment or intimidation of Syrians in our country is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Hague told parliament.

Hague said the warning came a day after junior foreign office minister Alastair Burt had met members of the Syrian National Council in Paris, while Hague himself met Syrian activists in London at the end of September.

The Foreign Office first summoned Khiyami in May to protest against the crackdown against protesters by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

In June he was summoned again about media reports that a diplomat at the embassy had been intimidating Syrians in Britain, and that members of their families in Syria had been threatened.

Meanwhile in Syria on Thursday, heavy gunfire could be heard as security forces set up checkpoints and made more than 50 arrests during raids in Qusayr, near the city of Homs, the Observatory said.

Clashes also erupted in the flashpoint southern province of Daraa, where armed men − also apparent defectors − killed one officer and eight soldiers, the Observatory said.

It said 25 civilians were arrested, including 12 members of the same family.

On Wednesday, thousands of Syrians who back the president rallied in the centre of Damascus to show support for the regime which has faced seven months of anti-Assad protests.

In apparent response to the loyalist rally, anti-regime protests erupted in Idlib in the northwest, in the port of Latakia, Homs, Deir Ezzor in the east, Daraa in the south and near Damascus, the Observatory said.

On Wednesday, a court in the capital freed on bail prominent dissident Walid al-Bunni, who was arrested in August, his lawyer Michel Shammas said.

“The Damascus court of appeals on Wednesday freed opposition figure Walid al-Bunni in exchange for a bail of 1,150 Syrian pounds ($23). He will be tried later for inciting (anti-regime) demonstrations and sectarianism,” he said.

Bunni was detained on August 6 along with his two sons, who were released shortly afterwards.

In 2000, Bunni was a prime mover of the short-lived “Damascus Spring” amid hopes for reform that followed Assad’s rise to the presidency after the death of his father, Hafez.

Reforms were promised but never came, and according to the United Nations the regime’s crackdown on protests that began in mid-March has resulted in the deaths of more than 2,900 people.

Syrian authorities blame gangs of armed terrorists for the bloodshed.