Syria: Complex Situation in Homs

Damascus, Oct 31. -Syria buried 15 people, including soldiers, police and civilians that were targets of attacks by terrorist groups in Hama, Deir Ezzor, Idleb, Dara, the Damascus countryside and in Homs province, where the situation is particularly complex.

The press highlighted this weekend that the victims, who received a solemn burial in their hometowns, were injured during the last few days and died in the military hospitals of Tishreen, Homs and Deir Ezzor in Damascus, where they were given medical assistance. In an interview with the British newspaper The Independent, which Cham Press news agency has reprinted here, Boutahina Shaaban, political and presidential press consultant, admitted that the Syrian Army is being attacked in many places, and the security situation in the central province of Homs is very complicated.

The violence generated by armed terrorist groups is the most dangerous thing happening at the moment, she said.

The Syrians want to live in peace, progress in reforms and pluralism. This violence is not the way to democracy, she emphasized.

Obviously, she said, there are sectors eager to trigger a conflict, and not for democratic reforms. They receive money to kill protesters and security forces, said Shaaban, who is also an internationally recognized writer. She gave the example of her own experience, because she is from Homs, and she did not visit her mother's grave -she said- to pay tribute on the anniversary of her death, because she is afraid of being killed at that location. We are all suffering, she told the London newspaper.

On the other hand, Syrian television reported that three terrorists arrested by security forces confessed they attacked police posts in the province of Deir Ezzor and performed other acts of sabotage and vandalism.

In particular, Mohammad al-Mahmoud Bakr, a crane operator, testified that he blocked roads and hid weapons in his house. I was paid six to eight dollars for participating in protests, and about 20 for each gun I hid in my basement, he admitted.

Khaled Hammoud al-Said, another of those accused of terrorism, described how he attacked his neighborhood police station together with another 50 armed men from his locality.

The Syrian government blames these violent incidents on incitements from abroad, from power centers interested in destabilizing the country and exacerbating extremism, while channeling large sums of money to finance violence.

Many weapons have been introduced, officials say, from Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq. Vandals arrested have confessed the ways they have infiltrated the Syrian territory, and that individuals of extremist ideology of al-Qaeda are involved in the violent outrages.

At the same time, the parliamentarian Mohammad Kheir Diab al-Mashi denied groundless information spread by those he called biased channels that he was shot dead in Homs.

Speaking on television, Al-Mashi said he is fine, in good health and will participate today in the special session of the People's Assembly (Parliament) on Economic Dialogue. (Prensa Latina)