Dubai: Bahrain's King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa has said the kingdom has evidence that Syria was training young Bahrainis to overthrow the ruling family even as fresh violence claimed 24 more lives in Syria yesterday. The UN put the death toll in the nine-month-old protests at 5,000.
"We have evidence that a number of Bahrainis who oppose our government are being trained in Syria," King Hamad told The Daily Telegraph on Monday. "I have seen the files and we have notified the Syrian authorities, but they deny any involvement."
Arab foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting in Cairo on Saturday to respond to Syria's proposal to admit observers in exchange for an end to regional sanctions, the Arab League said.
These developments came as security forces yesterday shot dead 17 people in the northern province of Idlib, which borders Turkey, and rebels killed seven policemen in an ambush, activists said.
UN human right chief Navi Pillay said the death toll in the Syrian crackdown was 1,000 more than an earlier estimate. It includes civilians, army defectors and those executed for refusing to shoot civilians, but not soldiers or security personnel killed by opposition forces, she said.
Also yesterday, Iran passed a bill for a free trade agreement with Syria in a show of support for Bashar Al Assad.
