BEIRUT - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Wednesday to vanquish "foreign conspirators" plotting to end his rule and a Frenchman became the first foreign journalist to be killed in 10 months of unrest that has cost thousands of lives in Syria.
"France 2 television has just learned with a great deal of sorrow the death of reporter Gilles Jacquier in Homs," France 2 said, adding it did not have details of how he had died. It said Jacquier had been invited to Syria by the government.
Syrian state television said eight other people had also been killed in the incident, which it blamed on a "terrorist group". A Belgian reporter who was there told Reuters several mortar rounds or grenades had landed in the area. "There was a lot of chaos, blood, hysteria," he said.
Syria barred most foreign media soon after anti-Assad protests began in March, but more journalists have been admitted since the Arab League sent monitors to check if the authorities were complying with an Arab plan to halt the bloodshed.
"Gilles Jacquier was just doing his journalist job by covering the violent events in Syria resulting from the regime’s unacceptable repression of the population," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.
France has led Western efforts to try to force Assad to end the crackdown and was the first Western power to advocate setting up zones to protect civilians in Syria.
Earlier, a smiling Assad, in a dark jacket and open-necked shirt, greeted thousands of rapturous supporters in a Damascus square, only a day after breaking a six-month public silence.
The crowd shouted "Shabiha forever, for your eyes, Assad", a reference to loyalist militiamen, mostly members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect, who have gained a fearsome reputation for their part in suppressing protests against the president.
Assad’s wife Asma and their two children joined him for his surprise appearance in the capital’s central Umayyad Square.
"WE WILL WIN"
"I belong to this street," said Assad, 46, adding Syria faced foreign conspirators. "We will make this phase the end for them and their plans. We are going to win without any doubt."
His remarks followed a 100-minute speech on Tuesday in which he mocked the Arab League, vowed to hit "terrorists" with an iron fist and promised reforms, but with no hint that he would relinquish the power he inherited from his father in 2000.
The Arab League, which suspended Syria in November for failing to halt its crackdown on protests, sent an observer mission in December that has not stopped the bloodletting. The League urged Syria this week to protect its observers.
The mission hit more trouble when one monitor accused Syria of war crimes, saying the mission was a "farce", a day after the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said a U.N. official had told the Security Council the killings had gathered pace since the monitors arrived.
In his speech the same day, Assad had scorned the Arab League for trying to discipline Syria, saying it had "failed for six decades to take a position in the Arab interest" and that "the Arab League without Syria suspends its own Arab identity".
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four people had been killed in Kafr Nabouda, in Hama province, where troops staging raids fought army deserters. The British-based group put Tuesday’s civilian death toll at 27, including 15 in the city of Deir al-Zor and 10 in Homs, plus four army defectors.
"SCENES OF HORROR"
The Arab League monitor, Anwar Malek, said he had resigned because the mission was powerless to prevent what he said were the "scenes of horror" he had seen in the restive city of Homs.
"The mission was a farce and the observers have been fooled," the Algerian told Al Jazeera English television. "The regime orchestrated it and fabricated most of what we saw to stop the Arab League from taking action against the regime …
"The regime isn’t committing one war crime but a series of crimes against its people," he added.
Malek’s resignation was the latest blow to a mission already criticised for inefficiency and whose members have come under attack this week from both Assad supporters and protesters.
There was no immediate comment on Malek’s remarks from the Arab League, which decided on Sunday to keep monitors in place at least until they report again on their mission on Jan. 19.
Under the Arab peace plan, Syrian authorities are supposed to stop attacking peaceful protests, withdraw troops and tanks from the streets, free detainees and open a political dialogue.
The United Nations has said more than 5,000 civilians have been killed in unrest that erupted in March, inspired by Arab revolts elsewhere, while the authorities accuse armed Islamist militants of killing 2,000 members of the security forces.
Washington’s U.N. envoy, Susan Rice, said a U.N. official told the Security Council on Tuesday that about 400 people had been killed since the Arab monitors began work on Dec. 26, which she said was a much higher daily toll than before they arrived.
"That is a clear indication that the government of Syria, rather than using the opportunity … to end the violence and fulfil all of its commitments (to the Arab League), is instead stepping up the violence," she said.
