Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Revolution Renewed
Saturday, July 9, 2011 at 10:14 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran Protests tonight in the Midan section of the Syrian capital Damascus
2050 GMT: Human Rights Watch says defectors from Syria’s security forces have described receiving orders from their superiors to fire live rounds at protesters to disperse them.
HRW issued a statement based on interviews with eight soldiers and four members of secret security agencies. The interviewees said they had participated across the country in the crackdown, including in Daraa, Izraa, Baniyas, Homs, Jisr al-Shughour, Aleppo, and Damascus. They said they had participated in and witnessed the shooting and wounding of dozens of protesters and the arbitrary arrests and detentions of hundreds of civilians.
All the interviewees say their superiors told them that they were fighting infiltrators, "salafists" (hard-line Sunni adherents), and terrorists, but they were surprised to encounter unarmed protesters instead. They said they were ordered to fire on the civilians, including children, in a number of instances.
The defectors also reported that those who refused orders to shoot on protesters ran the risk of being shot themselves. One of them said they witnessed a military officer shoot and kill two soldiers in Daraa for rejecting orders.