JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): And to Syria, where there was word of a possible agreement to end months of political upheaval and deadly violence.
Eight months into Syria's version of the Arab spring, and there's no end to the bloodshed. At least 20 more people were reported killed overnight in Homs, after protesters took to the streets again. In all, at least 3,000 civilians have been killed by security forces, according to U.N. estimates.
But, today, a possible accord was announced. Members of the Arab League meeting at the group's Cairo headquarters reported a deal with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.
HAMAD BIN JASSIM, foreign minister of Qatar (through translator): Our brothers in Syria accepted the Arab League proposal. We are happy to reach this agreement and we will be happier that it will be enforced immediately. But when I say immediately, I don't mean that as an order, but I say immediately out of concern from our brotherhood and our brothers in Syria.
JEFFREY BROWN: Tanks and troops would be taken off the streets, the crackdowns would end, a dialogue with protesters would begin, and journalists and rights groups would be allowed to monitor the situation inside Syria.
But all this drew a cautious reception in Washington. White House officials called again for Assad to step down. And a State Department spokeswoman questioned the Syrian leader's real intentions.
VICTORIA NULAND, State Department spokeswoman: Syria's made a lot of promises to the international community in the past. There is concern that, even as say they're prepared for peace, they're still exacting violence and brutality on their own people.
JEFFREY BROWN: In Cairo, protesters outside the Arab League offices denounced Assad and renewed calls for more vigorous international involvement.
MAN (through translator): We are demanding a no-fly zone and the suspension of Syrian membership in the Arab League.
JEFFREY BROWN: In fact, some Syrians both inside and outside the country are now calling for NATO-led action, modeled on the bombing campaign in Libya that helped topple Moammar Gadhafi.
But in Tripoli on Monday, NATO's secretary-general categorically rejected another alliance action.
ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN, NATO secretary-general: I can completely rule that out. Having said that, I strongly condemn the crackdowns on the civilian population in Syria.
JEFFREY BROWN: For now then, the focus is on the Arab League proposal. It mandates that Assad conform within two weeks. But it doesn't mention any consequences if he fails to do so.
PBS Newshour 11/2/2011
Excerpts from Part-2
JEFFREY BROWN: Murhaf Jouejati, start with the approach from the Arab League today. Is this a potentially important development?
MURHAF JOUEJATI, National Defense University: It sounds very nice, but it's not going to happen.
The Assad regime has made many promises to many interlocutors before, including the U.N. secretary-general, including the prime minister of Turkey, including the king of Jordan, and these promises have never materialized into anything. So, I believe this is simply a measure to buy time on behalf of the Assad regime.
----
JEFFREY BROWN: Well, Andrew Tabler, what is the calculation by the Arab League? What are -- who's behind this and what are they thinking? What are they thinking they can get from Assad?
ANDREW TABLER, Washington Institute for Near East Policy: Well, the Arab League is trying to put Assad into dilemmas, in which his choices in response to this initiative are going to define which way he wants to lead his way out of this crisis.
And until now, Assad has just tried to shoot his way out of the crisis. Now this seems to be throwing a life preserver to Assad, but at the same time it puts him into these key decisions in which his choices -- is he going to pull back the security forces from the streets? Is he going to stop the militias? Is he going to let people out of jail? Is he going to allow journalists into the country? Is he going to allow the protesters to freely assemble?
We seriously doubt this, and I don't see how he possibly could do these things and still hold on to power.
Note the last comment above. The ONLY interest Assad has IS holding on to his power, he cares for nothing else, especially the Syrian people.
UPDATE
"Syria Unleashes Assault to Take an Unbowed City" by ANTHONY SHADID, 11/7/2011
Excerpt
The Syrian government has launched a bloody assault to retake Homs, the country’s third-largest city, facing armed defectors who have prevented the government’s forces from seizing it as they did other restive locales this summer, in what may stand as one of the most violent episodes in an eight-month uprising.
The specter of civil war has long hung over Homs, the most tenacious and determined of cities opposed to President Bashar al-Assad’s rule, where the city’s Sunni Muslim majority has closed ranks behind the revolt. This month, parts of the city have become an urban battlefield, with activists saying government forces have killed 111 people in just five days, opposition groups warning of dire shortages forced by the siege and residents complaining of lawlessness by marauding soldiers and paramilitary fighters.
The strife comes as mediation by the Arab League has apparently collapsed in one of the latest efforts to end what is among the most ferocious crackdowns on the revolts sweeping the Arab world this year. The government has increasingly demonstrated it will continue to try to stanch dissent by force, ignoring the relatively muted protests of the international community.
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