Assad's Evil Tactics: Unleash Tanks & Cannons on His People

Updated 7:15 p.m. edt

The death toll in the southern Syrian city of Daraa rose to at least 25 today with many others still missing as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered heavy armor to open fire on his own people, AFP reported.

Assad also launched assaults on the Damascus suburbs of Douma and Al-Maadamiyeh.

Some Western leaders are urging the Arab League to deal directly with Syrian generals, the way the U.S. did in Egypt, to urge them to not open fire on civilians, a source revealed. Using a carrot and a stick approach, Assad and his generals could ultimately be charged with crimes against humanity, said the knowledgeable source, who spoke on the condition that his name not be published.

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad unleashed tanks, heavy artillery and automatic weapons fire on his own citizens today, killing at least 18 people and wounding countless others in the city of Daraa, where Syria's pro-democracy movement first erupted more than a month ago.

"Army units are pounding Daraa at this moment. There seems to be no end to the sounds of heavy machine gun fire and occasional mortars," Daraa resident Abu Salem told Reuters hours after the tanks rolled at dawn.

The United States condemned the attacks and threatened to up the economic sanctions imposed on Syria.

“The brutal violence used by the government of Syria against its people is completely deplorable and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms. The United States is pursuing a range of possible policy options, including targeted sanctions, to respond to the crackdown and make clear that this behavior is unacceptable," said White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor. "The Syrian people’s call for freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and the ability to freely choose their leaders must be heard.”

Human rights groups put the total death toll nationwide as a result of the protests at 350 people so far.

Egyptian Military Remains Loyal to the Revolution

Egyptian activists are very optimistic today that the house arrest of Hosni Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal is a sign that the military government has not abandoned the will of the people who have peacefully moved Egypt towards democratic reform.

"Good Bright Morning," Tweeted Egyptian Medhat Etman. "Hope it's not a day dream Mubarak's family interrogated... Now look to Egypts future. Stop talking and start working.”

It looked grim for the Egyptian pro-democracy movement at the end of last week, when hundreds of soldiers stormed demonstrators gathered in historic Tahrir Square to call for the prosecution of the deposed Mubarak on corruption charges.

Frustrated that Mubarak and his family were living comfortably in Sharm-el-Sheikh, protesters in Tahrir also demanded the resignation of military leader, Field Marshal Mohamad Hussein Tantawi.

"Tantawi is Mubarak and Mubarak is Tantawi," the protesters chanted.

Tantawi apparently heard them, but not before at least open protester was killed by the security forces at Tahrir over the weekend, while dozens of others were beaten with batons.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces let the protesters know Mubarak's arrest was in response to their demands, especially amid rumors that he had fled the country.

"Out of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces belief in the importance of maintaining communication with the Egyptian people and the youth of the revolution, we stress news of the departure of former president Mohamed Hosni Mubarak to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia is not true, as he is under house arrest along with his family," the military leaders said in a statement.

Syrian Protesters Massacred; Egyptian Demonstrators Beaten

It was not a good day for freedom-seeking Arabs.

Conditions continue to deteriorate in Syria for pro-democracy demonstrators who faced a government bent on using deadly force today to silence the opposition. Relations between Egyptian protesters and the military leadership also turned violent today.

In the southern Syrian city of Daraa, where protesters first took to the streets threee weeks ago, security forces shot and killed at least 22 people and wounded hundreds more. Four others were killed in the western city of Hims, The Los Angeles Times reported.

"More than 10 people have been martyred so far. The security forces attacked Al-Omari mosque and Sheikh Abdul Aziz Abbasid mosque in that station area," an eyewitness told Australian radio. "They first dispersed the demonstrators using an internationally prohibited gas. It was not tear gas. They used an internationally prohibited gas in these attacks. The security forces fired live ammunition at the people to disperse them."

The U.S. condemned the violence in Syria and called on the government of Bashar al-Assad to end the crackdown. Pro-democracy protesters hnave not been appeased by Assad's token reforms.

In Egypt, dozens of demonstrators were beaten with batons in Tahrir Square when security forces moved in on the largest protest since Hosni Mubarak was toppled.

The Egyptian people have become frustrated with the heavy-handedness of the formerly sympathetic military government, The New York Times reports. Many Engyptians also want Mubarak to be charged with crimes against his people.

"This means that the army is getting into a direct confrontation with the people, over Mubarak of all people. This could break the country,” Tweeted activist Mahmoud Salem, who is better known by his Twitter handle, @Sandmonkey.

U.S. on Gadhafi Son's Speech: Uh, What?

Updated at 2:45 p.m. Monday

Senior Libyan civilian and military officials have resigned or defected and the country's largest tribe has aligned itself with anti-Gadhafi protesters today as the predominantly secular Arab nation fractures amid demonstrations that have spread to Tripoli.

Two Libyan fighter jets and two helicopters reportedly landed on Malta. The pilots sought political asylum rather than unleashing their weapons on protesters or military and security forces no longer loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.

"Details are still emerging, but there are reports of Libyan pilots who reportedly refused orders to target civilians being given permission to land on Malta after requesting asylum," the Stratfor global intelligence service reported.

Libya's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Omar Al Dabashi, told the BBC, AlJazeera English and other media outlets that Gadhafi was engaged in genocide of his own people.

"It is a real genocide whether it is in the eastern cities of Libya or whether what is going now in Tripoli," the senior Libyan diplomat told the BBC World. "The information that we are receiving from the people in Tripoli is the regime is killing whoever goes out to the streets."

The unrest in petroleum-rich Libya sent the price of oil upward on the global markets as Gadhafi clung to his 40 years of reign.

"At the moment, no single piece of information out of Libya is verifiable or particularly reliable. But taken as a whole, a mounting tide of news indicates a rapidly deteriorating security situation and that divisions within the regime are beginning to manifest themselves, with military force being directed against military force," the latest Stratfor report concluded.

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The White House and State Department are trying today to decipher the rambling remarks of Saif Al-Islam Gadhafi, the son of Moammar Gadhafi, who warned that "blood will flow" and chaos will rip apart Libya if the demonstrations continue.

There was a scant mention of reforms and local rule that were disbursed among Qadhafi's dark headline-winning warning last night that the protests will end in an armed civil war.

"Libya is at a crossroads. If we do not agree today on reforms, we will not be mourning 84 people, but thousands of deaths, and rivers of blood will run through Libya," Saif Gadhafi said, leaving many experts vexed by the intent of those remarks.

The U.S. is analyzing Saif Gadhafi's convoluted speech and has asked the Libyan government for a clarification of what he was trying to convey in his remarks, according to an administration official. "We are considering all appropriate actions," the official said.

But there is not much more pressure the West can put on Gadhafi to order his army and security forces to show restraint against demonstrators, as the Obama administration did somewhat successfully last week to end the strong-arm government tactics used against protesters in Bahrain.

Essentially handcuffed, President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and allies in Europe, the Middle East and Asia can only wait and see where events on the ground lead.

There are more credible reports today that protests have spread to Tripoli, Libya's capital and largest city. The protesters also claim to control Benghazi, the second-largest city in Libya. Moammar Gadhafi, meanwhile, has remained out of site for days.

Obama was given a full briefing last night by his national security adviser Tom Donilon after Gadhafi's son addressed his nation. The President will be updated as needed, the White House official said.

U.S. Antes Up $150M for Egypt Democracy, Economy

We are expecting to hear more details about the $150 million in new U.S. aid for Egypt announced Thursday by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The money is expected to be used for Egypt's political transition and battered economy.

Clinton is Under Secretary of State William Burns and Senior White House Economic Advisor David Lipton to Egypt next week to “consult with Egyptian counterparts about how we can most effectively deploy our assistance," she said.

The cost of building democratic institutions, like political parties, will be hefty.

"The message is, give Egyptians the ability to eat bread while they focus on the democratic future," Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told David Ignatius of The Washington Post.

Gheit, who is old school when it comes to handouts from the U.S., believes Washington should either write off Egypt's $350 million annual debt or provide $1 billion in emergency economic aid.

A Stunned Obama Reacts to Mubarak's Statement

President Obama does not even have to mention Hosni Mubarak by name (nor does he) to make his point that the Egyptian leader is clueless to the will of his people and should have just said 'thank you and good-bye' tonight. Instead Mubarak remains president of a divided Egypt.

Obama's statement:

"The Egyptian people have been told that there was a transition of authority, but it is not yet clear that this transition is immediate, meaningful or sufficient. Too many Egyptians remain unconvinced that the government is serious about a genuine transition to democracy, and it is the responsibility of the government to speak clearly to the Egyptian people and the world. The Egyptian government must put forward a credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy, and they have not yet seized that opportunity.  

"As we have said from the beginning of this unrest, the future of Egypt will be determined by the Egyptian people. But the United States has also been clear that we stand for a set of core principles. We believe that the universal rights of the Egyptian people must be respected, and their aspirations must be met. We believe that this transition must immediately demonstrate irreversible political change, and a negotiated path to democracy. To that end, we believe that the emergency law should be lifted. We believe that meaningful negotiations with the broad opposition and Egyptian civil society should address the key questions confronting Egypt’s future: protecting the fundamental rights of all citizens; revising the Constitution and other laws to demonstrate irreversible change; and jointly developing a clear roadmap to elections that are free and fair.

"We therefore urge the Egyptian government to move swiftly to explain the changes that have been made, and to spell out in clear and unambiguous language the step by step process that will lead to democracy and the representative government that the Egyptian people seek.  Going forward, it will be essential that the universal rights of the Egyptian people be respected. There must be restraint by all parties. Violence must be forsaken. It is imperative that the government not respond to the aspirations of their people with repression or brutality. The voices of the Egyptian people must be heard.

"The Egyptian people have made it clear that there is no going back to the way things were: Egypt has changed, and its future is in the hands of the people. Those who have exercised their right to peaceful assembly represent the greatness of the Egyptian people, and are broadly representative of Egyptian society. We have seen young and old, rich and poor, Muslim and Christian join together, and earn the respect of the world through their non-violent calls for change. In that effort, young people have been at the forefront, and a new generation has emerged. They have made it clear that Egypt must reflect their hopes, fulfill their highest aspirations, and tap their boundless potential. In these difficult times, I know that the Egyptian people will persevere, and they must know that they will continue to have a friend in the United States of America."

Obama is one angry U.S. leader.

Protest leader Wael Ghonim: Internet Revolutionary

Here is a primer on the heroic peaceful Egyptian protester who set up a Facebook page that rocked Egypt, the Middle East and changed American foreign policy faster than even the dark forces of Al Qaeda had sought out to do with treachery. 

Google executive and Egyptian pro-democracy activist Wael Ghonim, the emerging leader of the revolution, speaks out about how the action began and where it goes from here in this candid exclusive English language interview with CNN: Click here!

More on Ghonim from:

the BBC

NPR

The New Yorker

The Atlantic

The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal (again)

The New York Times
The New York Times (again)

Updated with new links (Midnight East Coast time):

The New York Times (again)

White House: More Irons in Fire Than Times reports

The White House is not outright knocking down a report by The New York Times that says the U.S. is negotiating a deal "for President Hosni Mubarak to resign immediately, turning over power to a transitional government headed by Vice President Omar Suleiman," but the administration is making it clear that the story is a bit incomplete.

An administration official tells The File, "It's simply wrong to report that there's a single U.S. plan that's being negotiated with the Egyptians."

It is a sensitive time, with many people speculating that Mubarak is about to send in his storm troopers to clear Liberation Square of the peaceful protesters who have staked out that area to demand that the Egyptian despot resign immediately. Working journalists and celebrity broadcasters like Brian Williams are hiding out tonight for fear of being the targets of the angry mob.

The U.S., meanwhile, has discussed several options to move Egypt towards democratic reforms, but it remains in the hands of the Egyptian people to decide their own fate.

"The President has said that now is the time to begin a peaceful, orderly and meaningful transition, with credible, inclusive negotiations. We have discussed with the Egyptians a variety of different ways to move that process forward, but all of those decisions must be made by the Egyptian people," said National Security Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor.