US "support" for Arab uprisings ?

“splitting from Washington over American support for Arab uprisings”.  Excuse me?  Washington supported Arab uprisings?  When and where? Did the US support the uprising in Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Oman, Saudi Arabia, or Bahrain?  Or even in Yemen where the US is working hard with Saudi Arabia to salvage the Salih’s regime?  Or even in Egypt and Tunisia where the US did not break with both regime until the tyrant

3 Arab Countries Recall Ambassadors to Syria

By NADA BAKRI

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait recalled their ambassadors from Damascus on Monday, joining a chorus of global criticism of Syria, as Syrian forces pressed ahead with PresidentBashar al-Assad’s brutal crackdown on the most restive areas.

Sana, via Reuters

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, right, Lt. Gen. Ali Habib, center, and Gen. Dawoud Rajha, the new defense minister.

The Saudi monarch, King Abdullah, called on Mr. Assad to stop the “killing machine and end the bloodshed,” a remarkably sharp rebuke from one of the region’s most repressive countries, underscoring frustration with the rising death toll and the isolation of Mr. Assad’s government.

The diplomatic moves came as Mr. Assad replaced his defense minister with the army’s chief of staff, the Syrian state-run news agency said. The departure of Lt. Gen. Ali Habib, a longtime figure in the leadership who had served as defense minister since June 2009, marked one of the highest-level shakeups since the revolt began in March.

The news agency said he was in poor health and his condition had “deteriorated recently.” His replacement was Gen. Dawoud Rajha. Mr. Assad’s brother, Maher, and brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, are thought to exercise power every bit as decisive as the defense minister’s.

Most Arab leaders have tried to tighten their grip on power after revolutions swept through Tunisia and Egypt. Saudi Arabia in particular has tried to protect the general status quo, splitting from Washington over American support for Arab uprisings, shielding other monarchies, and dispatching its armed forces to help crush an uprising this spring in Bahrain — which itself relentlessly cracked down on its opposition.

But in a region where leaders have long proved reluctant to criticize on another, the Saudi statement suggests that the kingdom sees more potential turmoil if Mr. Assad stays than if he goes.

Saudi-Syrian relations have long ebbed and flowed, particularly over competing policies in Syria’s neighbor Lebanon, but ties had warmed somewhat before the Syrian uprising began.

Addressing “sister Syria,” King Abdullah on Monday condemned the loss of lives and said that hope for the region would not come from “the blood of innocent people.”

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stands before its historic responsibility toward her brothers, demanding the stoppage of the killing machine and bloodshed, and the use of reason before it is too late,” the king said in a statement read on Saudi state television.

Similar but less strongly worded statements have been made since Saturday by the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council, which comprises Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Bahrain and Kuwait withdrew their ambassadors after Saudi Arabia did so. Italy and Qatar called back their ambassadors earlier this summer.

“The velocity of the snowball is picking up heavily,” said Hussein Shobokshi, a columnist and writer in the Saudi-owned newspaper, Asharq al-Awsat. He described Syria’s isolation as so deep that “the regime can’t market its case anymore.”

Regarding the ouster of General Habib as defense minister, an American official said that while there have been low-level defections inside the Syrian military, there is no evidence that the shift came because he was moving against the Assad government. Instead, the official said it was most likely a result of President Assad’s anger about the military’s performance since the domestic crackdown began.

“There are indications that Assad isn’t happy with the military’s inability to control the internal security situation,” said the official, speaking on ground rules of anonymity about American intelligence assessments.

The Syrian government is known in the region for hunkering down in times of crisis and trying to rehabilitate itself after tension passes. Though the United States and European countries, along with Syria’s Arab neighbors, have stopped short of demanding that Mr. Assad step down, he has never experienced the current level of isolation.

Turkey, once an emerging ally, has grown increasingly critical, and is sending its foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, to Damascus on Tuesday to deliver what is expected to be a tough message. Even Russia, a close ally, has had harsh words, joining with other United Nations members to rebuke Syria.

Asads could not rule any longer?

“I think the Turks are giving up on the regime,” said a Damascus-based analyst who asked for anonymity to speak freely. “I think everybody is. Even for the Russians, it’s hard to find arguments to defend the regime.”

The growing pressure on Mr. Assad runs the risk of feeding sectarian tensions, given that his leadership draws disproportionately from the Alawite religious minority. That Syria’s support has come most vocally from Iran, a longtime Shiite ally, and Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim movement in Lebanon, has not gone unnoticed among Syria’s Sunni majority.

On Monday, Al Azhar in Egypt, the state-run seat of Sunni Muslim scholarship, declared that it was time to “clearly announce matters have gone beyond their limit.” Long cowed by authoritarian rulers in Egypt but now seeking a stronger voice, Al Azhar complained that Syrians were being repressed with “live ammunition, iron and fire.”

“This is a human tragedy that cannot be accepted,” the head of the institution, Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb, said in a statement carried by the Egyptian news agency.

An unyielding Mr. Assad has ignored the mounting condemnations, and on Monday, the military and security forces undertook fresh attacks on two besieged cities, Hama in central Syria, and Deir al-Zour, in the northeast, along the border with Iraq.

The Local Coordination Committees, a Syrian opposition umbrella group that helps organize and document protests, said troops renewed shelling at dawn on Monday.

“The regime does not get embarrassed anymore,” an activist who identified himself only as Maamoun said from Deir al-Zour, where a renewed assault began Sunday. “They are shooting at us to kill us, not to scare us off.”

A resident reached by phone in Hama said that water and electricity were restored there after a week of being cut off but that shelling resumed on Monday morning, and that it was continuous for five hours. Until the crackdown a week ago, the city had seen some of the largest protests since the uprising began.

“It is still miserable here,” said the resident, who identified himself as Fadi. “They are raiding houses and burning them, and looting and destroying shops.”

The crackdown seems to signal the government’s determination to deploy an iron fist in repressing a protest movement that has proven remarkably resilient. Arrests were also reported in several locales Monday, and solidarity protests with Deir al-Zour were organized in Dara’a, where the uprising began, and Lattakia, on the Mediterranean coast.

Syria has insisted it is facing an armed rebellion by Islamists backed from abroad. The state-run news agency said troops had begun leaving Hama on Monday “after completing their mission of protecting civilians and tracking down the armed terrorist groups, which had begun wreaking havoc in Hama.”