Syrians, In A Triumph Of Hope, Turn The Page On The Horrors Of Assad

Syrians living in Essen, Germany, gather to celebrate following the collapse of regime control in the capital, Damascus, on Dec. 8, 2024. Hesham Elsherif/Anadolu via Getty Images

BY WENDY PEARLMAN

PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

NORTWESTERN UNIVERSITY

Millions of Syrians are feeling hope for the first time in years.

The authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad fell on Dec. 8, 2024, after a 12-day rebel offensive.

Most commentaries on this stunning reversal of a conflict seemingly frozen since 2020 emphasize shifts in geopolitics and balance of power. Some analysts trace how Assad’s main backers – Iran, Hezbollah and Russia – became too weakened or preoccupied to come to his aid as in the past. Other commentators consider how rebels prepared and professionalized, while the regime decayed, leading to the latter’s collapse.

These factors help explain the speed and timing of the collapse of one of the Middle East’s longest and most brutal dictatorships. But these factors should not overshadow the human significance of Assad’s overthrow.

Assad’s fall in its revolutionary context

During the past two weeks, Syrians have rejoiced as symbols of Assad domination came down and the revolutionary flag went up. They held their breath as rebels freed captives from the regime’s notorious prisons. They shed tears as displaced people returned and families reunited after years of separation.

And then, finally, Syrians around the world poured into the streets to celebrate the end of 54 years of tyranny.

To appreciate the magnitude of this achievement requires historical context, one that I have documented in two books based on interviews with more than 500 Syrian refugees over the past 12 years.

My first book begins with stories of the suffocating repression, surveillance and indignities that characterized everyday life in the single-party security state that Hafez al-Assad established in 1970, and his son Bashar inherited in the year 2000.

It conveys tentative optimism as uprisings spread across the Arab world in 2011, blooming into exhilaration when millions of Syrians broke the barrier of fear and risked their lives to demand political change.

Syrians described participating in protest as the first time they breathed or felt like a citizen. One man told me that it was better than his wedding day. A woman referred to it as the first time she ever heard her own voice. “And I told myself that I would never let anyone steal my voice again,” she added.

It was not only the feeling of freedom that was unprecedented but also the feelings of solidarity as strangers worked together, of pride as people cultivated the talents and capacities necessary to sustain revolution, and, most of all, of hope that Syrians could reclaim their country and determine their own fate.

“We started to get to know each other,” an activist recalled of those heady days. “People discovered that they were photographers or journalists or filmmakers. We were changing something not just in Syria but also within ourselves.”

Hope eclipsed by despair

From their start in March 2011, nonviolent demonstrations met with merciless repression. That July, oppositionists and military defectors announced the formation of a “Free Syrian Army” to defend protesters and fight the regime. As this and other armed groups pushed the regime from large swaths of territory, new forms of grassroots organization and local governance emerged, indicating what society could accomplish if permitted the chance.

Still, as years passed, hope became eclipsed by despair.

The people I met described their despair witnessing the regime escalate bombardment, starvation sieges and other war crimes to reconquer areas from opposition control. Despair when Assad killed 1,400 people in a 2013 chemical attack, violating the United States’ purported “red line” but escaping accountability. Despair as hundreds of thousands of people disappeared into regime dungeons, condemned to a fate of torture worse than death. Despair as the number killed in Syria climbed by hundreds of thousands, and in 2014 the United Nations gave up counting more. Despair as over half the population was forced to flee their homes, and the word “Syria” became stuck, in minds around the world, to the words “refugee crisis.”

And then there was the despair as an entity called the Islamic State announced itself in 2013 and trampled on Syrians’ democratic aspirations in a newly horrific way.

“We don’t know where any of this is leading,” a rebel officer told me at that time. “All we know is that we’re everyone else’s killing field.”

Searching for home

With the help of external allies and the rest of the world’s inaction, Assad clawed back about 60% of the country by 2020 and penned the opposition in an enclave in the northwest.

Syria dropped from the headlines, even as regime bombing continued to kill civilians, economic meltdown plunged 90% of the population below the poverty line and the regime rotted into a narco state sustained by drug trafficking.

A woman I met during these years of stalemate summarized things bleakly: “The most important thing at this stage is to protect the last bit of hope that people have left.”

Meanwhile, millions of Syrian refugees, the lion’s share of them in the countries neighboring Syria, suffered poverty, legal precariousness and local populations who increasingly demanded their deportation.

The stories that I recorded gradually came to center on a different theme, which I made the focus of my second book: home.

For those compelled to flee, the word “home” connoted twin challenges: First, creating new lives where they might never have imagined stepping foot; and second, mourning old homes lost, destroyed or emptied of loved ones.

Many described the agony of reconciling their attachment to Syria with the sense that they were unlikely to see it again.

“You try as hard as you can to forget the homeland, but you can’t because it’s even more painful to be without any homeland at all,” a man lamented.

Finding home in refuge, in other words, was not only a matter of integration. It also meant finding a way to move forward when the hope for freedom in Syria, it seemed, could not.

This is why it is awe-inspiring to witness hope surge again. As I messaged Syrian friends and interlocutors this week, I was struck by how their jubilation echoed with stories that I used to record about 2011, but now on an even more astonishing scale.

Again and again, people said that their emotions were “indescribable” and “beyond words.” That they were simultaneously “laughing and crying.” That they “just couldn’t believe” that it – the it that they once did not dare voice out loud – finally happened.

Since Assad’s fall, many foreign governments and analysts have voiced foreboding warnings about the future. They need not; Syrians know better than anyone that the path ahead will not be easy.

For now, however, the role of those watching from afar is not to doubt, critique or speculate, but to honor this triumph of human hope.

Syrian playwright Saadallah Wannous famously said in 1996, “We are doomed by hope, and what happens today cannot be the end of history.” Those who refused to give up over the long years of violence, oppression and disappointment were right. Syrian history is just beginning.

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Assad Leaves Behind A Fragmented Nation – Stabilizing Syria Will Be A Major Challenge For Fractured Opposition And External Backers

Bashar al-Assad (Wikipedia)

BY SEFA SECEN

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF

INTERNATIONAL AND GLOBAL STUDIES,

NAZARETH UNIVERSITY

The brutal 54-year reign of the Assad family in Syria looks to be over.

In a matter of days, opposition forces took the major city of Aleppo before advancing southward into other government-controlled areas of Hama, Homs and finally, on Dec 7, 2024, the capital, Damascus.

The offensive was all the more astonishing given that the 13-year civil war had largely been in a stalemate since a 2020 ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey.

Reports suggest President Bashar al-Assad has resigned and left the country. But what has he left behind and what happens next?

As an expert on Middle East security, I believe the opposition forces’ ability to maintain unity will be critical in the transition to a post-Assad Syria. Since the civil war started in 2011, the many opposition factions in Syria have been fractured by ideological differences and the interests of external backers – and that remains true despite their current victory.

Meanwhile, the rapid change of fortunes in Syria’s civil war poses serious questions for those countries that have backed one side or the other in the conflict. For Iran and Russia, the fall of their ally Assad will damage regional aspirations. For the backers of elements of the opposition – notably Turkey but also the U.S., both of which maintain a military presence in Syria – there will be challenges, too.

Fears of a ‘catastrophic success’

Iran, the U.S., Russia and Turkey have been crucial players throughout Syria’s civil war.

The recent opposition offensive came as Assad’s three key allies — Russia, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah — were stretched thin. Russia’s focus on Ukraine and Iran’s setbacks from Israeli strikes have limited their ability to provide Assad robust support, while Hezbollah appeared hesitant to commit additional fighters, as it had done previously.

Then, on Dec. 2, as opposition forces were on the move, Russia began withdrawing naval assets from its strategic Mediterranean base at Tartus, Syria. This erosion of external backing substantially undermined Assad’s capacity to regroup and mount an effective counteroffensive.

The U.S. will no doubt welcome this diminished Russian and Iranian influence in Syria. But concern in Washington has already been aired over a scenario of “catastrophic success” in which Assad is replaced by an Islamist group that many in the West see as terrorists.

It was members of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that spearheaded much of the opposition gains in Syria, fighting alongside the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army.

And while Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has not directly targeted the U.S. troops stationed in the northeast – which is under the control of Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces – instability and the potential for clashes between opposition factions and U.S. allies could increase the risks for the 900 Syria-based American personnel.

A fragmented landscape

The fact that different opposition groups have taken control of various once-government-held areas points to a crucial fact: Syria is de facto partitioned. The northwest is controlled by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army. The northeast is under the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, supported by the United States.

Despite a shared goal of ousting Assad and the joint offensive on Aleppo, conflicts between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the Syrian National Army are frequent. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led by Abu Mohammad al-Golani aims to assert control over opposition-held areas, including those currently managed by the Syrian National Army.

And the Syrian National Army and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham maintain complex, often conflicting relationships with the Syrian Democratic Forces, shaped by ideological, territorial and strategic differences. The Turkish-backed Syrian National Army frequently engages in direct clashes with the Syrian Defense Forces, which Turkey views as a terrorist organization and an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party it has been fighting in southern Turkey for more than four decades.

The opposition’s internal fragmentation may weaken its ability to bring stability to Syria in the long run.

Adjustment problems

Assad’s fall will have major implications for those countries that have a stake in the region.

Iran’s grand strategy of preserving the “Shia Crescent” — connecting Tehran to Beirut through Baghdad and Damascus and in the process countering Sunni Islamist factions — has failed.

For Washington, Assad’s departure doesn’t necessarily fit any hoped-for outcome.

The U.S. has prioritized balancing, containing and potentially diminishing Russian and Iranian influence in Syria. But until recently that did not mean the removal of Assad. The Biden administration had even hinted in early December that it would be prepared to lift sanctions on Syria if Assad severed ties with Iran and Hezbollah.

There was also talk of Assad’s government allying with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. But as city after city fell to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, it became increasingly unlikely that the Kurdish group would align with the weakening Assad forces – especially as Kurdish forces themselves made significant territorial gains.

Syrian Democratic Forces will need to adapt in response to the fall of Assad. This will be doubly true if, as many anticipate and President-elect Donald Trump has hinted at, the U.S. withdraws from Syria. Currently, the 900 U.S. troops are in eastern Syria, alongside a military base in Al-Tanf, located near the Iraqi and Jordanian borders.

Should American forces withdraw, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the autonomous region it administers — known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria — would need to negotiate their autonomy with both different factions of the opposition and Syrian neighbor Turkey.

A Kurdish and Islamist alliance?

The precarious role of Syrian Democratic Forces in the transition to the post-Assad era could make for a significant foreign policy headache for the U.S.

Given Turkey’s history of military incursions and campaigns against the Syrian Democratic Forces in northern cities like Afrin and Kobani, the Kurdish group may need to align with some factions of the opposition, likely Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, should the U.S. eventually withdraw.

Of late, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has largely avoided antagonizing the Syrian Democratic Forces. Indeed, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s efforts to rebrand and moderate itself are notable, especially given its origins as a Salafist group with ties to al-Qaida.

By adopting a range of policies like issuing an amnesty for Syrian army personnel, facilitating evacuation agreements and using the language of building an ethnically and religiously diverse governance structure, the Islamist group has attempted to soften its hard-line image and gain favor – or at least neutrality – from international stakeholders, like the U.S.

Yet skepticism about Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s ultimate objectives persists.

Strategic calculations for Turkey

Turkey’s position on Syria now is equally complex. Turkey is home to 3.6 million Syrian refugees — the largest refugee-hosting country globally. A prolonged economic downturn and rising anti-refugee sentiment had pressured Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to signal a willingness to engage with Assad prior to the opposition offensive.

Turkey’s hope was that normalized relations with Syria would help facilitate refugee return and address concerns about a potential Kurdish state in northeastern Syria.

But Assad dismissed such overtures, and he intensified airstrikes on Idlib – triggering new waves of displacement near the Turkish border.

Turkey’s Syria policy is also closely linked to its renewed peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. These talks reportedly include discussions about the potential release of imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party leader Abdullah Öcalan – whose influence runs deep in Kurdish-led regions in northern Syria.

The chance for a new Syria

The apparent end of the Assad family’s rule after half a century of brutal oppression signifies a pivotal moment for Syria – offering an opportunity to rebuild the nation on foundations of inclusivity, pluralism and stability.

Achieving this vision depends on the opposition factions’ ability to navigate the immense challenges of transition. This includes fostering unity among diverse groups, addressing grievances from years of conflict and establishing governance structures that reflect Syria’s ethnic, religious and political diversity. That will be no easy task.

READ ORIGINAL STORY HERE

Explosions Rock Syrian Capital As Trump Announces Strikes

Damascus skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons.

BEIRUT (AP) — Loud explosions rocked Syria's capital and filled the sky with heavy smoke early Saturday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. Syrian air defenses responded to the joint strikes by the United States, France and Britain.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising from east Damascus and the sky turned orange. A huge fire could be seen from a distance to the east. Syrian television reported that a scientific research center had been hit and that Syrian air defenses had hit 13 incoming rockets south of Damascus.

After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs. "Good souls will not be humiliated," Syria's presidency tweeted after airstrikes began.

Syrian state TV called the attacks a "blatant violation of international law and shows contempt for international legitimacy." Trump announced Friday night that the three allies had launched military strikes to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad for the alleged chemical weapons use and to prevent him from doing it again.

The U.S. president said Washington is prepared to "sustain" pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. It was not immediately clear whether Trump meant the allied military operation would extend beyond an initial nighttime round of missile strikes.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons. U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said there were no reports of U.S. losses during the initial airstrikes. "Right now this is a one-time shot," he said but did not rule out further attacks. He said the airstrikes were launched against several sites that helped provide Assad's ability to create chemical weapons.

Britain's defense ministry said that while the effectiveness of the strike is still being analyzed, "initial indications are that the precision of the Storm Shadow weapons and meticulous target planning have resulted in a successful attack."

British Prime Minister Theresa May describes the attack as neither "about intervening in a civil war" nor "about regime change" but a limited and targeted strike that "does not further escalate tensions in the region" and does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

"We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none," May said. The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Trump's second order to attack Syria; he authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.

Trump chastised Syria's two main allies, Russia and Iran, for their roles in supporting "murderous dictators," and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed a 2013 international agreement for Assad to get rid of all of his chemical weapons. He called on Moscow to change course and join the West in seeking a more responsible regime in Damascus.

The allied operation comes a year after the U.S. missile strike that Trump said was meant to deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. Since that did not work, a more intense attack would aim to degrade his ability to carry out further such attacks, and would try to do this by hitting Syrian aircraft, military depots and chemical facilities, among other things.

The one-off missile strike in April 2017 targeted the airfield from which the Syrian aircraft had launched their gas attack. But the damage was limited, and a defiant Assad returned to episodic use of chlorine and perhaps other chemicals.

Friday's strikes appear to signal Trump's willingness to draw the United States more deeply into the Syrian conflict. The participation of British and French forces enables Trump to assert a wider international commitment against the use of chemical weapons, but the multi-pronged attack carries the risk of Russian retaliation.

In his nationwide address, Trump stressed that he has no interest in a longtime fight with Syria. "America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances," he said. "As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home."

The U.S. has about 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria as advisers to a makeshift group of anti-Islamic State fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. They are in eastern Syria, far from Damascus. A U.S.-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since September 2014 as part of a largely successful effort to break the IS grip on both Syria and Iraq.

Inspectors Head To Site Of Suspected Gas Attack In Syria

A woman takes a picture of her daughter in front the 7th century Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, Thursday, April 12, 2018. The streets of Damascus were packed with people Thursday evening either going out to shop in one of the city's main markets to hanging out with families and friends at the capital's cafes, restaurants and sweets shops, people mostly appeared not concerned about a possible U.S. strike on the country going on with their lives as usual.

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (AP) — A team of inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog was on its way to Syria on Thursday to begin an investigation into a suspected chemical weapons attack near the capital that has brought the war-torn country to the brink of a wider conflict, amid Western threats of retaliation and Russian warnings of the potential for "a dangerous escalation."

The fact-finding mission from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was expected to head to Douma, where the suspected attack took place and where Russia said rebels had now capitulated to government control. The Syrian government said it would facilitate the mission's investigation, which was to begin Saturday.

Syria and its ally, Russia, deny any such attack, which activists say killed more than 43 people last weekend. Speaking at the United Nations on Thursday, Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said the top priority had to be to avert a wider war, and he didn't rule out the possibility of a U.S.-Russia conflict. Speaking to reporters after a closed emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, Nebenzia said Russia was very concerned with "the dangerous escalation" of the situation and "aggressive policies" and preparations that some governments were making — a clear reference to the Trump administration and its allies.

"We hope that there will be no point of no return — that the U.S. and their allies will refrain from military action against a sovereign state," Nebenzia said, adding that "the danger of escalation is higher than simply Syria."

The imminent arrival of the chemical weapons inspectors came as rebels in Douma surrendered their weapons and left the town for opposition-held areas in the north. Russia's military said Thursday that Douma was now under full control of the Syrian government after a Russian-mediated deal secured the evacuation of the rebels and thousands of civilians after it was recaptured by Syrian forces.

Douma and the sprawling eastern Ghouta region near the capital, Damascus, had been under rebel control since 2012 and was a thorn in the side of President Bashar Assad's government, threatening his seat of power with missiles and potential advances for years. The government's capture of Douma, the last town held by the rebels in eastern Ghouta, marked a major victory for Assad.

Residents in Damascus, who had lived on edge for years because of mortar shells lobbed from eastern Ghouta, celebrated the news. Vehicles carrying Syrian flags were seen driving from Damascus into Douma, chanting in support of the government.

"This is a victory for Syria and the allies of Syria," declared Abboud Mardini, a 38-year old merchant in Damascus. "Eastern Ghouta was the main source of ... terrorists who from there spread throughout Syria."

There was no official government announcement that Douma had been recaptured and no indication that Syrian forces had yet entered the town, where Russian military police were deployed to preserve the peace after an evacuation fraught with difficulties. A single government flag was raised, a war monitoring group said.

Hamza Bayraqdar, spokesman for Jaysh al-Islam, the main rebel group that once controlled Douma, said his fighters had all evacuated. They handed over their heavy and medium weapons, as well as maps of land mines and the tunnels they dug, according to Syrian state media.

Douma and the rest of eastern Ghouta had been a significant rebel stronghold throughout Syria's civil war and its surrender came after years of siege by Assad's troops and a months-long military offensive. It followed weeks of negotiations mediated by Russia that repeatedly were derailed. A truce collapsed last week and the Syrian government pressed ahead with its military offensive.

Then came the suspected chemical attack in Douma, followed by international condemnation and threats of military action. Amid conflicting tweets about the timing of any retaliation, President Donald Trump said Thursday that an attack on Syria could take place "very soon or not so soon at all." On Capitol Hill, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the National Security Council would be meeting later Thursday to present Trump with various options, adding that he could not talk about any military plans because an attack "is not yet in the offing."

Meanwhile, the British Cabinet on Thursday gave Prime Minister Theresa May the green light to work with the U.S. and France "to coordinate an international response," though it gave no indication of the timing or scale of any action.

President Emmanuel Macron said France had proof that the Syrian government had launched chlorine gas attacks in recent days, adding that his government would not tolerate "regimes that think everything is permitted," though he stopped short of saying whether France was planning military action.

In response to the threats, Assad said Thursday that a potential retaliation would be based on "lies" and would seek to undermine his forces' recent advances near Damascus. Western threats endanger international peace and security, Assad said, and military action would only contribute to the "further destabilization" of the region.

After the back-and-forth coming from Washington, Moscow and European Union capitals, residents in Damascus appeared to have brushed off the threat of an imminent attack. The streets of Damascus were packed Thursday with people headed to the city's main market, cafes and restaurants. At Nabil Nafiseh, one of Damascus's most famous sweets shops, men, women and children sat outdoors enjoying the evening breeze and nibbling on Arab sweets.

Some residents were defiant. Real estate agent Ahmad Abdul-Rahman said he had brought his wife and three sons from his hometown of Aleppo, where there are no significant military targets, to Damascus to be together in case of an attack.

"I came here to defy the dogs who are threatening Syria," the 43-year-old said. "We don't care about America nor America's strike and we don't care about America's allies. We were not scared in Aleppo and we are not scared in Damascus."

Rafah al-Okda, a 21-year-old nursing student at Damascus University, said she had not changed her routine following the threats. "Syria is a strong country, but our allies Russia and Iran make us stronger," she said.

Ahmad al-Issa, 46, ruled out a U.S. airstrike, saying Trump has in the past threatened to wipe North Korea off the map, then ended up calling for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. "Even if he (Trump) fires what he calls smart bombs, at us they will be stupid bombs because they will backfire on him and Syrians will be stronger," al-Issa said.

El Deeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Raf Casert in Brussels and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.

Syrian Deal To Evacuate Tens Of Thousands Underway

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

APRIL 14, 2017

Graphic locates the Syrian towns involved in a population swap; 3c x 3 inches; 146 mm x 76 mm;

BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government and rebels evacuated more than 7,000 people from four besieged towns Friday in the latest coordinated population transfer in Syria's six-year-long civil war. As diplomacy in Moscow focused on the U.S. airstrikes targeting the country, over 2,350 people were bussed out of the twin towns of Madaya and Zabadani near Damascus. Another 5,000 people were evacuated on 75 buses from northern rebel-beseiged towns of Foua and Kfraya, according to Abdul Hakim Baghdadi, a pro-government interlocutor who helped negotiate the transfer from the latter two towns.

"Honestly, when we left Madaya, I felt sadness, anger, and sorrow. But now, on the road, I don't feel anything. I feel cold as ice," said Muhammad Darwish, a resident bussed out of Madaya, besieged by pro-government forces in the mountains west of the capital.

"There was no heating, no food, nothing to sustain our lives. We left so that God willing (the siege) may ease on those who remain," said Ahmad Afandar, 19, another Madaya evacuee. His parents stayed behind.

In a video sent to the Associated Press from one of the buses departing Madaya, 19-year-old Hossam said, "We were forced to leave, we left our land, our parents, our memories, our childhood - everything."

He signed off on an optimistic note, however, saying, "I have conviction that we will be back." Critics have denounced the deal as a forced rearrangement of the country's population, with sectarian overtones. Through a deft policy of divide and conquer, President Bashar Assad has steered what started as a broad movement against his authority in 2011 into a choice between him and Sunni Islamist rule. Madaya and Zabadani are believed to now be wholly inhabited by Sunnis. The predominantly Shiite Foua and Kfraya have remained loyal to the Syrian government, while the surrounding Idlib province has come under hard-line Sunni, rebel rule.

The evacuation deal was brokered by Qatar, negotiating on behalf of the rebels, and Iran, on behalf of the government, in March. The United Nations is not supervising the evacuations. When Friday's evacuations are completed, they will be the first in number of rounds stretching over two months to evacuate some 30,000 Syrians from besieged areas. Another 3,000 people are expected to be bused out of Foua and Kfraya on Friday evening, according to Baghdadi.

Madaya and Zabadani are the latest in a constellation of towns once held by the opposition around Damascus to submit to government rule. Pro-government forces have held the two towns under twin sieges for nearly two years, leading residents to hunt rodents and boil grass to stave off hunger in the winter months. Photos of children gaunt with hunger shocked the world and gave new urgency to U.N. relief operations in Syria.

In Madaya, residents were given the option to stay and "reconcile" their status with government authorities. They will have to pledge allegiance to President Assad's government and swear off any dissent. Military defectors, draft-dodgers and reservists called up for duty will have between six months to a year to return to the armed services, or to apply for an exemption. Most of the estimated 40,000 residents will stay and accept the terms.

But at least 2,000 will not, according to Darwish, who was a medical worker in Madaya. They include former fighters, activists and medical workers who say they cannot redeploy with the military that once shelled their homes, and who are wary of the treatment they will receive at the hands of the government's notorious security services.

"It's more dangerous for a doctor than it is for a fighter to stay," Darwish, 27, told the AP when it became clear the evacuations would occur. He was forced to leave his university in the final year of his dentistry studies when he joined the popular movement to unseat President Bashar Assad six years ago.

The government has targeted medical workers with detention, torture and bombardment throughout the conflict, according to local medical workers, as well as reports from Physicians for Human Rights and Doctors Without Borders.

Similar amnesties were extended to other areas that have surrendered to the government, including Moadamiyeh, Hameh, Qudsaya and the Barada Valley around the capital, and formerly rebellious neighborhoods in Aleppo and Homs, Syria's first and third largest cities, respectively.

Zabadani, however, is to be depopulated. The arrangement has the town's last 160 hold outs — all believed to be fighters or medical workers — bussed out. In doing so, it faces a similar fate to the much larger Darayya, another Damascus suburb, which was depopulated following years of a crushing government siege and bombardment last August.

Most of eastern Aleppo was depopulated through force, as well. A U.N. inquiry said the evacuation of east Aleppo amounted to a war crime because it was coerced through the joint Russian and Syrian government campaign against the city's civilian infrastructure. More than 20,000 people were bussed out of Aleppo at the end of last year, to rebel-held provinces in the northwest.

Overall, tens of thousands of people have been uprooted to Idlib and Aleppo province, where they fear they are being gathered for a final government offensive to defeat them. Amer Burhan, 50, the director for Zabadani's field hospital, said he expects the young fighters in Zabadani to join the fronts in northern Syria to resume fighting government forces.

The fates of Fuoua and Kfraya are less clear. Baghdadi, the negotiator, says conscripts will stay and fight to defend the towns. But Yasser Abdelatif, a media official for the ultraconservative rebel group Ahrar al-Sham, said the towns will be depopulated completely.

In Moscow, the foreign ministers of Russia, Syria and Iran strongly warned the United States against launching new strikes on Syria, after it targeted an air base with a volley of missiles last week. It was in response to a chemical weapons attack on April 4 on a northern Syrian town that Washington blamed on Damascus. Almost 90 people were killed, including 27 children, according to the U.N.'s children's agency, UNICEF.

Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report.

Official: Russia Knew Syrian Chemical Attack Was Coming

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group Edlib Media Center, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows victims of a suspected chemical attack, in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, northern Idlib province, Syria. A senior U.S. official says the U.S. has concluded that Russia knew in advance of Syria’s chemical weapons attack last week. (Edlib Media Center, via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has concluded Russia knew in advance of Syria's chemical weapons attack last week, a senior U.S. official said Monday. The official said a drone operated by Russians was flying over a hospital as victims of the attack were rushing to get treatment. Hours after the drone left, a Russian-made fighter jet bombed the hospital in what American officials believe was an attempt to cover up the usage of chemical weapons.

The senior official said the U.S. has no proof of Russian involvement in the actual chemical attack in northern Syria. But the official said the presence of the surveillance drone over the hospital couldn't have been a coincidence, and that Russia must have known the chemical weapons attack was coming and that victims were seeking treatment.

The official, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly on intelligence matters and demanded anonymity, didn't give precise timing for when the drone was in the area, where more than 80 people were killed. The official also didn't provide details for the military and intelligence information that form the basis of what the Pentagon now believes.

Another U.S. official cautioned that no final American determination has been made that Russia knew ahead of time that chemical weapons would be used. That official wasn't authorized to speak about internal administration deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The allegation of Russian foreknowledge is grave, even by the standards of the currently dismal U.S.-Russian relations. Although Russia has steadfastly supported Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, and they've coordinated military attacks together, Washington has never previously accused Moscow of complicity in any attack that involved the gassing of innocent civilians, including children. The former Cold War foes even worked together in 2013 to remove and destroy more than 1,300 tons of Syrian chemical weapons and agents.

Until Monday, U.S. officials had said they weren't sure whether Russia or Syria operated the drone. The official said the U.S. is now convinced Russia controlled the drone. The official said it still isn't clear who was flying the jet that bombed the hospital, because the Syrians also fly Russian-made aircraft.

U.S. officials previously have said Russians routinely work with Syrians at the Shayrat air base where the attack is supposed to have originated. U.S. officials say the chemical weapons were stored there and that those elements add to the conclusion that Russia was complicit in the attack.

Last Thursday 59 Tomahawk missiles were fired on the government-controlled base in the United States' first direct military action against Assad's forces. The U.S. has been focusing its military action in Syria on defeating the Islamic State group.

On Monday, Col. John J. Thomas, a U.S. military spokesman, said the U.S. has taken extra defensive precautions in Syria in case of possible retaliation against American forces for the cruise missile attack.

Thomas told reporters at the Pentagon that the increased emphasis on defensive measures to protect U.S. troops on the ground in Syria led to a slight and temporary decline in offensive U.S. airstrikes against IS in Syria.

There has been no Syrian retaliation so far for the cruise missile attack, which destroyed or rendered inoperable more than 20 Syria air force planes, he said. Thomas said the U.S. intends to return to full offensive air operations against IS as soon as possible.

Trump Officials Say No New US Focus On Ousting Syria's Assad

BY JOSH LEDERMAN

ASSOCIATED PRESS, APRIL 9, 2017

Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks during an interview with Yahoo News in Damascus, Syria. Syria decried a U.S. missile strike early Friday, April 7, 2017 on a government-controlled air base where U.S. officials say the Syrian military launched a deadly chemical attack earlier this week. Syria called the operation "an aggression" that killed at least six people. (SANA via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chemical weapons attack in Syria that triggered retaliatory American airstrikes hasn't shifted U.S. priorities toward ousting Syrian President Bashar Assad, top Trump administration officials said.

After last Tuesday's chemical attack, President Donald Trump said his attitude toward Assad "has changed very much" and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson even said "steps are underway" to organize a coalition to remove him from power. But in a television interview that aired Sunday, Tillerson said the priority "really hasn't changed."

Defeating the Islamic State group remains the top focus, Tillerson said. Once that threat "has been reduced or eliminated, I think we can turn our attention directly to stabilizing the situation in Syria," he told CBS' "Face the Nation."

"We're hopeful that we can prevent a continuation of the civil war and that we can bring the parties to the table to begin the process of political discussions" between the Assad government and various rebel groups.

The hope, he said, is that "we can navigate a political outcome in which the Syrian people, in fact, will determine Bashar al-Assad's fate and his legitimacy." Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said "getting Assad out is not the only priority" and that countering Iran's influence in Syria was another. Still, Haley said the U.S. didn't see a peaceful future Syria with Assad in power.

"Regime change is something that we think is going to happen because all of the parties are going to see that Assad is not the leader that needs to be taking place for Syria," Haley told CNN's 'State of the Union."

The comments from Tillerson and Haley suggested that the airstrikes Trump ordered punishing Assad for using chemical weapons would not lead to any immediate change in U.S. strategy toward Syria. Reluctant to put significant troops on the ground in Syria, the U.S. for years has struggled to prevent Assad from strengthening his hold on power.

U.S.-backed rebels groups have long pleaded for more U.S. intervention and complained that Washington has only fought the Islamic State group. So Trump's decision to launch the strikes — which President Barack Obama declined to do after a 2013 chemical attack — has raised optimism among rebels that Trump will more directly confront Assad.

Tillerson spoke days before he will make the Trump administration's first official trip to Russia, a staunch Assad ally. Russia had its own military personnel at the Syrian military airport that the U.S. struck with cruise missiles. But Tillerson said he sees no reason for retaliation from Moscow because Russia wasn't targeted.

"We do not have any information at suggests that Russia was part of the military attack undertaken using the chemical weapons," Tillerson said. Earlier, U.S. military officials had said they were looking into whether Russia participated, possibly by using a drone to help eliminate evidence afterward.

 Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

US Strike On Syria Is Widely Praised, But Angers Russia

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

APRIL 7, 20-17

In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, the guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) launches a tomahawk land attack missile in the Mediterranean Sea, Friday, April 7, 2017. The United States blasted a Syrian air base with a barrage of cruise missiles in fiery retaliation for this week's gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Ford Williams/U.S. Navy via AP)

BEIRUT (AP) — World leaders rallied around the United States after it launched a missile strike early Friday on a Syrian air base in response to this week's chemical attack, while Russia condemned the move as "aggression" and suspended crucial coordination with Washington in Syria's congested skies.

The overnight missile attack, which marked the first time the U.S. has directly targeted Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces, was condemned by his allies in Russia and Iran but welcomed by the Syrian opposition and its supporters, who expressed hope it signaled a turning point in the devastating six-year-old civil war.

The bombing represents Trump's most dramatic military order since taking office and thrusts the U.S. administration deeper into the complex Syrian conflict. The Obama administration threatened to attack Assad's forces after previous chemical attacks, but never followed through.

About 60 U.S. Tomahawk missiles hit the Shayrat air base, a small installation with two runways, where aircraft often take off to bomb targets in northern and central Syria. The U.S. missiles hit at 3:45 a.m. (0045 GMT) Friday and targeted the base's airstrips, hangars, control tower and ammunition areas, U.S. officials said.

They were fired from two warships in the Mediterranean Sea, in retaliation for Tuesday's deadly chemical attack, which officials said used chlorine mixed with a nerve agent, possibly sarin. Assad's office called the U.S. missile strike "reckless" and "irresponsible." The Syrian military said at least seven people were killed and nine wounded. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitor said the seven included a general and three soldiers.

The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin believes the U.S. strike is an "aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law." Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "Washington's move deals a significant blow to the Russia-U.S. relations, which are already in a deplorable shape," and poses a "serious obstacle" for creating an international coalition against terrorism.

Russia said it is suspending a memorandum with Washington — signed after Russia began an air campaign in support of Assad in September 2015 — under which the two exchange information about their sorties over Syria.

The Kremlin said just 23 of 59 missiles reached the air base, destroying six Syrian jets but leaving the runway intact. A U.S. official said all but one of the 59 missiles struck their targets, hitting multiple aircraft and air shelters, and destroying the fuel area. The official, who was not authorized to discuss initial reports, spoke on condition of anonymity.

A U.S.-led coalition has been bombing Islamic State targets in Syria since 2014, while Russia's air force has been striking both extremist groups and Syrian rebels in order to aid Assad's forces. Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which support the Syrian opposition, welcomed the missile strike, with Riyadh calling it a "courageous decision" by Trump. Iran called it a "dangerous" move that would "strengthen terrorists" and exacerbate the conflict.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese group that has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to bolster Assad, said the "foolish" strike would lead to a "dangerous escalation in the region." The British government said it was informed in advance about the strike and firmly supports the American action.

Prime Minister Theresa May's office says the action was "an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack launched by the Syrian regime, and is intended to deter further attacks." France, Italy and Israel also welcomed the strikes.

The opposition Syrian Coalition said the U.S. attack puts an end to an age of "impunity" and should herald the start of a larger campaign against Damascus. Maj. Jamil al-Saleh, a U.S-backed rebel commander based in the area where the U.S. attack took place, told The Associated Press he hoped the strike would be a "turning point" in the six-year-old war, which has killed an estimated 400,000 people.

Assad had been under mounting international pressure after the chemical attack on the northern town of Khan Sheikhoun, which killed 87 people, including 31 children. Even Russia has said its support is not unconditional.

Syria denied using chemical weapons. Russia has said the toxic agents were released when a Syrian airstrike hit a rebel chemical weapons arsenal, and that blame should not be apportioned until a full investigation has been completed.

Russia's military intervention in Syria has turned the balance of power in Assad's favor, and Moscow has used its veto power at the Security Council on several occasions to prevent sanctions against Damascus.

The U.S. had initially focused on diplomatic efforts, pressing the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution to condemn Syria's suspected use of chemical weapons. But the vote was canceled because of differences among the 15 members.

The Security Council plans to meet at 11:30 a.m. (1530 GMT) for a briefing on the U.S. strike. In Geneva, the U.N. envoy for Syria told the AP his office is in "crisis" mode after the strike, and that he would soon convene an urgent meeting of a Syrian cease-fire task force chaired by the United States and Russia. Staffan de Mistura said Russia requested the meeting, which was "agreed upon" by the United States.

The envoy has been spearheading peace-making efforts for nearly three years, with little progress. Trump had said the chemical attack crossed "many, many lines," and put the blame squarely on Assad's forces. Speaking Thursday on Air Force One, Trump said the attack "shouldn't have happened, and it shouldn't be allowed to happen."

A survivor of the chemical attack said he hopes the U.S. missile attack puts an end to government airstrikes, creating a safe area for civilians. Alaa Alyousef, who lost 25 relatives in the chemical attack, said the U.S. missile strike "alleviates a small part of our suffering," but he worries it will be an "anesthetic" that merely numbs the pain while allowing the international community to save face.

Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

Amnesty: Up To 13,000 Hanged In Syria's 'Slaughterhouse'

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Lynn Maalouf, deputy director of research at Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Feb. 6, 2017. Amnesty International says Syrian authorities killed at least 13,000 people in mass hangings at a prison north of Damascus known to detainees as the “slaughterhouse.” The group released a report covering the period from the start of the 2011 uprising until 2015, during which Amnesty says groups of 20 to 50 people were hanged at Saydnaya Prison, once or twice a week, in killings authorized by senior officials, including deputies of President Bashar Assad.

BEIRUT (AP) — The prison north of Damascus was known to detainees as "the slaughterhouse" and in it, as many of 13,000 people were hanged in only four years after a series of sham trials, according to a new report issued by Amnesty International.

The report, issued on Tuesday, said that 20-50 people were hanged each week at the Saydnaya prison in what the organization called a "calculated campaign of extrajudicial execution." The report covers the period from 2011 to 2015, but Lynn Maalouf, deputy director for research at Amnesty's regional office in Beirut, said there is no reason to believe the practice has stopped since then, with thousands more probably killed.

"These executions take place after a sham trial that lasts over a minute or two minutes, but they are authorized by the highest levels of authority," including the Grand Mufti, a top religious authority in Syria, and the defense minister, she said.

The killings were authorized by senior Syrian officials, including deputies of President Bashar Assad, and carried out by military police. Amnesty has also recorded at least 35 different methods of torture in Syria since the late 1980s, practices that only increased since 2011, Maalouf said.

Other rights groups have found evidence of massive torture leading to death in Syrian detention facilities. In a report last year, Amnesty found that more than 17,000 people have died of torture and ill-treatment in custody across Syria since 2011, an average rate of more than 300 deaths a month.

Those figures are comparable to battlefield deaths in Aleppo, one of the fiercest war zones in Syria, where 21,000 were killed across the province since 2011. "The horrors depicted in this report reveal a hidden, monstrous campaign, authorized at the highest levels of the Syrian government, aimed at crushing any form of dissent within the Syrian population," Maalouf said.

Syrian government officials rarely comment on allegations of torture and mass killings. In the past, they have denied reports of massacres documented by international human rights groups, describing them as propaganda.

The chilling accounts in Tuesday's report came from interviews with 31 former detainees and over 50 other officials and experts, including former guards and judges. According to the findings, detainees were told they would be transferred to civilian detention centers but were taken instead to another building in the facility and hanged.

"They walked in the 'train,' so they had their heads down and were trying to catch the shirt of the person in front of them. The first time I saw them, I was horrified. They were being taken to the slaughterhouse," Hamid, a former detainee, told Amnesty.

Another former detainee, Omar Alshogre, told The Associated Press the guards would come to his cell, sometimes three times a week, and call out detainees by name. Alshogre said a torture session would begin before midnight in nearby chambers that he could hear.

"Then the sound would stop, and we would hear a big vehicle come and take them away," said Alshogre, who spent nine months in Saydnaya. Now 21, he lives in Sweden. Speaking in an interview from Stockholm via Skype, Alshogre described how he was forced to keep his eyes closed and his back to the guards while they abused or suffocated a cellmate.

The body often would be left behind, or there would be a pool of blood in the cell for other prisoners to clean up. "We can tell from the sound of the prisoner as he dies behind us. He dies a meter away. I don't see anything, but I see with my ears," said Alshogre, who at age 17 moved among nearly 10 detention facilities in Syria for two years before he was taken to Saydnaya.

Alshogre survived nine months in the prison, paying his way out in 2015 — a common practice. He suffered from tuberculosis and his weight fell to 35 kilograms (77 pounds). Two cousins detained with him in western Syria didn't survive, dying a year apart in a military intelligence detention facility. The younger one died in Alshogre's arms, deprived of food and so weak he was unable to walk to the bathroom on his own.

Still, Alshogre said nothing could have prepared him for Saydnaya. At one point, Alshogre was called out by his guards "for execution," he said. He was brought before a military trial and told not to raise his gaze at the judge, who asked him how many soldiers he had killed.

When he said none, the judge spared him. Death in Saydnaya was always present, "like the air," Alshogre said. Once when he was deprived of food for two days, a cellmate handed him his food ration — and died days later.

"This is someone who gave me his life," he said. Another cellmate died of diarrhea, also common in the prison. "Death is the simplest thing. It was the most hoped for because it would have spared us a lot: hunger, thirst, fear, pain, cold, thinking," he added.

"Thinking was so hard. It could also kill," said Alshogre, who keeps a photo of one of his tormentors on the wall of his home.

As Fighting Flares, Syrians Pour Into Lebanon

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2013

Syrian displaced children wait outside their tents for the arrival of French President Francois Hollande's companion Valerie Trierweiler, during her visit to one of the Syrian refugee camp, at Delhamiyeh village in the Bekaa valley, eastern Lebanon, in this Nov. 5, 2013 file photo. Thousands of refugees are fleeing border towns in central Syria where a high-stakes battle is raging, crossing valleys and ridges to reach safety in neighboring Lebanon, witnesses and the U.N. said on Sunday Nov. 17, 2013.

BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of Syrians poured into Lebanon over the past two days, taking shelter in wedding halls and makeshift shacks after fleeing heavy fighting in a rugged mountain region across the border in western Syria, U.N. and local officials said Sunday.

The clashes in Qalamoun, an area that stretches from north of the Syrian capital along the Lebanese frontier, appeared to be part of a long-anticipated government offensive aimed at cutting a key rebel supply route and cementing President Bashar Assad's hold on the strategic corridor from the capital to the coast.

Over the past month, Assad's forces have made headway against the rebels on two key fronts, capturing a string of opposition-held suburbs south of Damascus and taking two towns and a military base outside the northern city of Aleppo. A government victory in the battle for Qalamoun would deal a severe blow to the already beleaguered rebels on Damascus' doorstep.

Since the heavy fighting began Friday, some 10,000 Syrians have fled across the border to the Lebanese frontier town of Arsal, former Mayor Bassel Hojeiri said. He said the new arrivals have crammed into wedding halls and improvised shacks.

Some families left so quickly that they arrived in Lebanon "without anything except the clothes on their backs," said Dana Sleiman, who works for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She said at least 1,000 Syrian families crossed into Lebanon over the weekend, but many had not yet registered with the U.N., so more precise figures weren't available.

Sleiman said some of the new arrivals settled into tin shack slums that dot eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, and they were being offered thick plastic to reinforce their shelters against the cold. The U.N. refugee agency was also distributing blankets, mattresses, food, diapers and hygiene kits to the refugees.

The new refugees join an estimated 1.4 million Syrians — 800,000 of whom have registered — who have already found shelter in Lebanon, according to Lebanese officials. The massive influx has proven a burden for Lebanon, and has helped stoke the country's already simmering sectarian tensions.

Sleiman said most of the Syrians who crossed into Lebanon over the weekend were from the town of Qara, which is the focal point of the offensive along with the nearby towns of Rima and Nabak. The battle for Qalamoun has been expected for weeks, and both the government and the opposition have been reinforcing their positions in the region ahead of winter, when much of the area is covered with snow.

Qara holds strategic value because of its location on the main highway leading from Damascus to the central city of Homs. If government troops gain the upper hand, they will be able to cut supplies that flow from Lebanon to rebel-held areas around Damascus while also maintaining control over movement from the capital to the coast, which is a government stronghold.

On Sunday, two pro-rebel activist groups and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported two airstrikes on Qara. They said the highway was severed and regime forces had gathered on nearby hills, trying to cut supplies to rebels inside the town.

Syria's pro-government media said the battle would be decisive. "The army is shaking Qalamoun mountains and has tightened its siege around terrorists in Qara," read a front-page article in the al-Watan newspaper.
Now in its third year, Syria's conflict has killed more than 120,000 people, according to the Observatory, which closely monitors the violence in Syria through a network of activists across the country. The U.N. said in July that 100,000 Syrians have been killed, and has not updated that figure since. Millions of Syrians have been uprooted from their homes because of the fighting.

Meanwhile, a series of mortar rounds hitting the center of Damascus killed four people, the Syrian official news agency SANA said. While mortar fire into the capital is becoming a regular occurrence, residents said the shelling from nearby rebel-held areas into the center was particularly heavy this week.

The capital and much of southern Syria also experienced a power outage Sunday evening, the state news agency said. Electricity Minister Imad Khamis blamed the blackout on a rebel attack.

Associated Press Writer Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.

WORLD: Syrian diplomats around the world expelled

PARIS (AP) — Governments around the world expelled Syrian ambassadors and diplomats Tuesday, an unusual, coordinated blow to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime following a gruesome massacre that the United Nations said involved close-range shootings of scores of children and parents in their homes. The United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and the Netherlands took action Tuesday against Syrian diplomats. Britain's foreign secretary said the countries involved in Tuesday's expulsions would also push for tougher sanctions against Syria. The moves came after the killings Friday in Houla, a collection of farming villages in Syria's Homs province — one of the deadliest single events in a 15-month-old uprising against Assad that has killed thousands.


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