Iran sends 'trainers' to crush Syrian protesters

The anti-government protesters   Iran is sending 'trainers and advisers' to Syria to help crush anti-government demonstrations threatening to topple Iran's most important ally in the region, The Washington Post reported late Friday. The influx of Iranian manpower was adding to a steady stream of aid from Tehran, the newspaper said, citing unnamed US officials. That aid includes not only weapons and riot gear but also sophisticated surveillance equipment that is helping Syrian authorities track down opponents through their Face
book and Twitter accounts, the sources said.
Iranian-assisted computer surveillance is believed to have led to the arrests of hundreds of Syrians seized from their homes in recent weeks, the paper said. According to one diplomat and US officials, the Iranian military trainers are being brought to Damascus to instruct Syrians in techniques Iran used against the nation's "Green Movement"' in 2009, the Post reported. Officers from Iran's notorious Quds Force have played a key role in Syria's crackdown since at least mid-April, it said. US sanctions imposed against the Quds Force in April had been intended as a warning to Iran to halt the practice, said the Post.
At least eight people were reported killed by security forces Friday as pro-democracy protesters took to the streets in cities and towns across the country after Muslim Friday prayers in defiance of a government crackdown. The death toll by early evening was far lower than last Friday when at least 44 people were killed by security forces during similar protests. Since the revolt in Syria erupted in mid-March, Friday protests have become a weekly ritual and are widely seen as a barometer of whether activists are able to maintain momentum despite the repression.
Meanwhile, Syrian security forces shot dead 12 demonstrators on Friday during protests against Baath Party rule that erupted in 91 locations across Syria, the Syrian National Organization for Human Rights said. "The authorities are still pursuing the calculated course of using excessive violence and live ammunition to confront mass demonstrations," the organization said in a statement yesterday. Scores of people of all walks of life were also arrested including a doctor, musician, and an amateur boxer, it said.
It said the killings occurred in rural districts around Damascus, in southern Syria, the northwestern province of Idlib, the coast and the central city of Homs. Activists on Friday had put the death toll at eight.
State television said nine people, including police and civilians, were killed by armed groups on Friday. The official state news agency SANA also said yesterday that customs officials seized 36 rifles in a truck coming from Turkey. Authorities blame armed groups, Islamists and foreign agents for the violence and say at least 120 soldiers and police have been killed since the protests erupted in March. Rights groups estimate at least 1,000 civilians have been killed by security forces, the army and gunmen loyal to President Bashar Al-Asad over 10 weeks.  
They said 10,000 people have been arrested, with beatings and torture a common tactic.
Leaders of the G8 powers meeting in France on Friday condemned the violence and called on Damascus to respond to the Syrian people's "legitimate demands for freedom." Washington and the European Union have already imposed sanctions against Assad and other Syrian officials. But Russia and China have been more reticent in denouncing Assad. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the bodies of seven protesters killed on April 29 near the southern city of Deraa were handed to their families yesterday, including two which it said showed marks of torture.
We have the testimony of hundreds who were tortured, including scores of videos," Observatory Director Rami Abdel Rahman said by telephone from Britain. Witness reports of the violence, and official accounts, are hard to verify independently because Assad's government barred most international media from the country not long after the start of the unrest, which was sparked by democratic revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. The biggest demonstrations typically occur on Fridays after Muslim prayers and they have also generally been the deadliest.
But the bloodshed this week appeared to be on a lesser scale than witnessed recently.- Agencies