France says Syrian regime is committing massacres

 French President Nicolas Sarkozy accused Syrian leader Bashar Assad of "barbarous repression" today and demanded that he step down, saying the regime is massacring its own people.

Sarkozy said Syrians should be allowed to determine their own future. 

"The massacres being committed by the Syrian regime rightly arouse disgust and revolt in the Arab world, in France, in Europe and everywhere in the world," Sarkozy said during a New Year's address at a Navy air base in Lanveoc-Poulmic, France.

"The Syrian president must leave power," he told members of the French military.

The UN's last estimate, announced several weeks ago, estimated that more than 5,000 people have been killed in the government's military crackdown on the revolt that erupted in mid-March, inspired by uprisings across the Arab world. But since that report, activists say hundreds more have been killed.

The violence has drawn broad international condemnation and sanctions, but Assad remains defiant. The Arab League sent in about 100 observers a week ago to verify Syria's compliance with the organisation's plan that requires the regime to remove security forces and heavy weapons from city streets, start talks with opposition leaders and free political prisoners. Syria agreed to the plan, intended to halt the crackdown completely, on 19 December.

The Local Coordination Committees, an umbrella group of activists, put the death toll at more than 390 people since 21 December.

The Arab League's chief acknowledged yesterday that killings have continued even with the monitors working on the ground.

The League called an emergency meeting on Saturday to discuss whether to withdraw the monitors because security forces are still killing people, an Arab official said. The meeting will be in Cairo, where the Arab League is based.

Syrian opposition groups have been deeply critical of the Arab League mission, saying it is simply giving Assad cover for his crackdown. The LCC says the observer mission is witnessing mainly regime-staged events, and they move about the country only with the full knowledge of the government.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the regime must not be allowed to interfere with the observers on the ground.

"The conditions in which this observer mission is taking place need to be clarified," he told French television I-Tele. "Does it really have completely free access to information? We await the report that it will submit in the coming days to see more clearly."

Activists reported more bloodshed today. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces shot dead three people in the restive city of Homs. The LCC had a higher toll, saying security forces killed four people in Homs, one in the Damascus suburb of Kfar Batna and one in the central province of Hama.

Also today, an explosion struck a gas pipeline in central Syria in an attack the government blamed on terrorists, the state-run news agency said. There were no casualties. The blast happened near the town Rastan in the restive Homs province, SANA reported. The pipeline feeds two power stations.

There have been several pipeline attacks since the Syrian uprising began in mid-March, but it is not clear who is behind them at a time when violence across the country spirals out of control, unearthing long-standing grievances and resentments.

The government blames saboteurs and terrorists for the blasts.

But the opposition accuses the regime of playing on fears of religious extremism and terrorism to rally support behind Assad, who has portrayed himself as the only force that can stabilise the country.

AP