Dubai: The Syrian unrest has taken a dangerous sectarian dimension with the recovery of three corpses in the central Syrian city of Homs where 30 people were killed in 24 hours while EU foreign ministers told President Bashar Al Assad to reform or step down.
Rami Abdul Rahman, director of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the violence began Saturday after the bodies of three Alawite government supporters were dumped in Homs.
The next day, six bodies from various sects were found dumped in the city, apparently in revenge attacks, a resident was quoted as saying.
Pro-government thugs called shabiha, the local term for paramilitary personnel, then went on the rampage, the resident said, opening fire in predominantly Sunni neighbourhoods in Homs. Up to 40 shops were vandalised or burned, he said.
In Brussels, foreign ministers adopted a declaration warning that as long as the crackdown on protests continues, "the EU will pursue and carry forward its current policy, including through sanctions targeted against those responsible for or associated with the violent repression."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the situation "is deteriorating."
"It is really up to the Syrian people but I believe he should reform or step aside," he said.
Qatar, meanwhile, pulled out its ambassador from Syria and closed its embassy after attacks on the compound by militiamen loyal to Al Assad, diplomats in the Syrian capital said.
The embassy in the Abu Rummaneh neighbourhood of Damascus closed last week when it was attacked twice, they said.
