Dubai: Anticipating military intervention against the Syrian regime for its harsh crackdown against protesters, President Bashar Al Assad, issued a decree calling up the military reserves.
The decree leaked through a news site close to the government, defined the conditions and rules for the draft, including the numbers needed and penalties against civilians who do not cooperate. People who avoid the draft face two years in prison time and a $600 (Dh2202) penalty.
"The international community is confident after the case of Libya that removing tyrants militarily is not difficult any more if the operation is supported by the country's citizens," Dr Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Human Rights Organisation, told Gulf News.
In an interview with Al Jazeera TV, former Syrian ally, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that "shadows loom over Al Assad's legitimacy."
"He who bases his power on bloodshed will end up leaving in a trail of blood," he warned. Even Russia, a historic partner of Syria which provides most of its weapons, and key regional ally Iran have urged Syria and the opposition to launch a dialogue and refrain from violence. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran was ready to host a meeting of Islamic nations to help its ally Syria solve its political crisis, in remarks posted on his website on Friday.
Boy killed as protests erupt across country
At least one person, a teenager, was killed in the northwest by army gunfire as protests erupted across the country and in Damascus after the weekly midday prayers, activists said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a 15-year-old boy was shot dead by troops manning a checkpoint in the northwestern village of Al Rama.
Homs was swept by protests, including one rally of an estimated 20,000 people demanding the regime's fall, the Observatory said.
It also reported huge protests in the eastern oil hub of Deir Al Zor and in various neighbourhoods of Damascus, including in flashpoint Barza where 150 people marched chanting slogans "for the protection of Syria."
