Freezes and travel bans on 13 Syrians

A picture released by the Syrian Arab news Agency (SANA) on May 8, shows the funeral procession of a Syrian policeman. Syria's government said the threat from a seven-week uprising against President Bashar al-Asad was receding as security forces tightened control yesterday over protest centres across the country. "I hope we are witnessing the end of the story," presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban told a New York Times correspondent allowed into the country for a few hours while most foreign journalists have been banned. "I think now we've passed the most dangerous moment." Assad, who has maintained Syria's authoritarian Baath Party rule since inheriting power from his father in 2000, held out the prospect of political reform when unrest first erupted in March but turned to the military two weeks ago to crush dissent.
A Damascus resident reported hearing heavy gunfire in the capital's southwestern suburb of Mouadhamiya, which has seen protests against Assad's autocratic rule.
"I tried to get in through Mouadhamiya's main entrance but there were scores of soldiers with rifles turning cars back," the witness said.
According to unconfirmed reports by activists in the last two days tanks had entered the large suburb. They said Internet and telephone lines have been cut, a common tactic used by security forces before storming demonstration hotspots.
Syrian rights groups say at least 630 civilians have been killed in the unrest nationwide and thousands arrested, prompting Western condemnation and sanctions.
The European Union implemented an arms embargo against Syria yesterday in response to the repression and put asset freezes and travel bans on 13 Syrians, including a brother and a wealthy and influential cousin of Assad, but not the president himself.

Sources said Germany and Spain opposed adding the president to the list, over-riding strong backing from France and Britain.
The United States also slapped further sanctions on Syria last month on top of measures imposed in 2004 over its support for militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah and accusations it helped militants in the insurgency in neighboring Iraq. "This is a weapon used against us many times," Shaaban said. "Once security is back, everything can be arranged. We're not going to live in this crisis forever.
Officials have blamed most of the violence on "armed terrorist groups", backed by Islamist groups and foreign agitators, and say around 100 soldiers and police have also been killed in the unrest.
Shaaban said armed militants had manipulated "the legitimate demands of the people", calling them "a combination of fundamentalists, extremists, smugglers, people who are ex-convicts and are being used to make trouble".

Tanks moved into the central city of Homs on Sunday and the army has also deployed in the southern city of Deraa where protests broke out on March 18, and the coastal city of Banias.
Troops were also outside the city of Hama, where Bashar's father crushed an armed Islamist uprising in 1982.
A resident said hundreds of demonstrators gathered before being dispersed by security forces and then assembling again.
 In a boost for authorities, state news agency SANA said the government-appointed mufti, or Muslim preacher, in Deraa had withdrawn his resignation.
Rezq Abdulrahman Abazeid said he had resigned last month after threats that he and his family would be killed if he did not join the protesters. SANA also said more than 1,000 people had handed themselves in under an amnesty declared by the Interior Ministry, which runs until May 15.
Several activists and opposition figures arrested as part of the crackdown-including Hassan Abdel Azim, 81, and Hazem al-Nahar-were released on Monday night, according to Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria.
Shaaban said she had been asked to open talks with some activists and had met veteran opposition figures, promising them a freer press, political parties and an election law, the New York Times said.
Activist Louay Hussein who attended the meeting with Shaaban said Fayez Sarah, Kamal Sheikho and George Sabra have been also released.
We said that the authorities should allow peaceful protesting and allow sit-ins so that the protesters can agree on political programs and choose their representatives who will negotiate with the authorities," Hussein said.
Adding to international criticism, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who had close ties to Assad and sent envoys to Syria after the protests broke out to discuss possible reforms, disputed the official Syria account of the violence.
It's never right for a government to fire bullets on its people, because it's not an armed group you're firing at... it's just people in this case," state-run Anatolian news agency quoted him as telling Channel 7 on Monday night.
Erdogan said more than 1,000 civilians had died and he did not want to see a repeat of the 1982 Hama violence or the 1988 gassing of Iraqi Kurds in Halabja, when 5,000 people died.
From kUWAIT TIMES .