Over 200 Killed Since Syria Agreed to Stop Crackdown

Arab League to hold emergency meeting

Early last week the Syrian government agreed to an Arab League plan that would have them removing all troops and tanks from cities and releasing thousands of political prisoners detained for participating in pro-democracy rallies.

Today, the Arab League is calling an “emergency meeting” on Syria, as the crackdown in the nation has continued and even escalated, with over 200 slain just since the regime agreed to the Arab League’s plan.

The violence continued again today, as protesters took to the streets along with many others to celebrate the festival Eid al-Adha, and troops killed at least 16 of the celebrants. After Eid prayers many of the worshipers launched new protests against Assad.

And while the regime did show signs of “reform” yesterday in releasing over 500 of its political prisoners, it is a drop in the bucket when estimates have the post-February arrests at over 15,000, and the violence suggests the 15 day deadline the Arab League gave Assad to implement the entire plan is going to slip with very little accomplished.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.