Syrian forces head for second northern protest town

(Reuters) - Syrian troops using tanks and helicopters pushed toward a northern town Tuesday after arresting hundreds of people in villages near Jisr al-Shughour, residents said, as more refugees fled to Turkey.

More than 8,500 Syrians have sought shelter across the border to escape President Bashar al-Assad's latest military drive to crush protests demanding political change in a country ruled by the Assad dynasty for the last 41 years.

Thousands more people are living rough just inside Syria.

Dozens of refugees with mud covering their boots and clothes clambered to a Turkish village to find bread for families waiting across the border in Syria in sodden make-shift camps.

Reuters footage showed refugees on the Syrian side of the border trying to dry rain-sodden blankets, children washing in buckets of rain water, and people lying under plastic sheets.

"We are desperate here. We are under the rain, our children are sick. We have no medicine and no food," said a crying woman with a baby lying next to her.

Most of the refugees came from Jisr al-Shughour, 20 km (12 miles) from the border, where authorities say 120 security personnel were killed by gunmen 10 days ago. Some activists say deserting troops and residents clashed with security forces.

The army retook the rebellious town Sunday and appeared to be moving toward the town of Maarat al-Numaan, which straddles the main north-south highway linking Damascus with the second city of Aleppo and has also been the scene of protests.

The government says the three-month-old protests are part of a conspiracy backed by foreign powers to sow sectarian strife. Syria has banned most foreign correspondents, making it difficult to verify accounts of events.

Othman al-Bedeiwi, a pharmacy professor in Maarat al-Numaan, told Reuters by telephone that helicopters had been ferrying troops to a camp in Wadi al-Deif, several km from the town.

"We met the (provincial) governor today and he assured us that the army will go in only to arrest 360 people it has on a list," he said. "The people of Maarat, however, are skeptical."

"My name is on the list to be arrested as being a gunman. I never carried a weapon in my life."

REFUGEES

Turkey has set up four refugee camps just inside its borders and the state-run Anatolian news agency said Tuesday authorities might provide more. It said the number of refugees had reached 8,538, more than half of them children.

Anatolian also reported that Assad phoned Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to congratulate him on his election victory two days ago. It said the Turkish leader told Assad to avoid using violence against his people and to launch reforms as soon as possible.

Erdogan, who has had a close rapport with Assad, had said before being re-elected that once the election was over he would be talking to Assad in a "very different manner."

Syrian rights groups say 1,300 civilians have been killed since the start of the uprising in March. One group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says more than 300 soldiers and police have also been killed.

Assad, who inherited power when his father died in 2000, has offered some concessions aimed at appeasing protesters, lifting a 48-year state of emergency and promising a national dialogue, but many activists have dismissed those steps.

France, with British support, has led efforts for the United Nations Security Council to condemn Assad's repression of the protests but Russia and China have suggested they might use their veto power to kill the resolution.

"France wants the UN Security Council to take a stance on the intolerable situation in Syria and the lack of restraint being shown by the authorities in Damascus," Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
"We regret that a consensus has not been reached within the Council," he added, describing the death toll and reports of torture and rights violations as "catastrophic."

The West's response has also been tempered by fears of regional instability if Syria, an ally of Iran and supporter of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, is tipped into turmoil.

The United States has urged Assad to lead a transition to democracy or "step aside," but unlike France it has not yet declared that Assad has lost his legitimacy to rule.

"What happened there over the weekend and what continues to occur is absolutely revolting, and we condemn these barbaric acts in the strongest possible terms," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner, referring to events in Jisr al-Shughour.

Iran, which crushed its own anti-government protests after the contested re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, accused the United States and Israel of "provoking terrorist groups in Syria and in the region to carry out terrorist and sabotage operations."

Lebanese opposition politician Faris Saeed said Lebanon's new government, announced Monday and dominated by allies of Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah, was designed to "help the Syrian regime from Lebanon...to control the uprising in Syria."

He said Lebanon, which currently sits on the Security Council, would oppose sanctions or resolutions condemning Assad, who retains considerable influence in Lebanon despite pulling troops out six years ago under international pressure.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said the movement supports Assad and the removal of his government would only serve U.S. and Israeli interests.

(Additional reporting by Alexandra Hudson in Guvecci, Turkey and Ece Toksabay and Simon Cameron-Moore in Istanbul, Yara Bayoumy in Beirut, Nick Vinocur in Paris; Writing by Dominic Evans, editing by Tim Pearce)