Syria regime defiant as local pressure mounts

After five months of silence, has Saudi Arabia become one of the most notable voices to join the chorus condemning the Syrian government's assault on anti-government protesters, but Syrian President Bashar Assad's increasingly isolated regime appears completely un-swayed, even defiant.

Saudi King Abdullah on Sunday condemned the assault, saying there is "no justification for the bloodshed."

Syria's future, Abdullah said, "lies between two options: either Syria chooses willingly to resort to reason, or faces being swept into deep chaos, God forbid." The king recalled his ambassador from Damascus for immediate consultations.

Demonstrations against Assad's government began in mid-March, and protesters have defied increasingly harsh efforts to put down the movement.

Syria defies world condemnation with new raids
Syria replaces moderate defense chief amid crackdown
Syria conflict descends into "war of attrition"

At least 2,379 people have been killed, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCC), a network of activists. Of the victims, the LCC says 1,991 were civilians and 388 were security personnel.

Saudi Arabia's intervention is not without irony. King Abdullah presides over one of the most repressive states in the region. It was with the Kingdom's assistance that neighboring Bahrain ruthlessly crushed its own reform-minded uprising by wantonly shooting demonstrators.

Complete coverage: Anger in the Arab World

"The monarch had better direct his televised speech to his own people and allow the formation of parties or launch reforms," said Cham Press, a Syrian news website close to Assad's regime. "He'd better allow women to drive cars in his country and give Saudi women at least a quarter of what the Syrian women had gained."

Cham accused Abdullah of acting upon "orders from (U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Rodham) Clinton, who told the Arabs and the Arab League to attack Syria for its national stances against America and Israel."

Kuwait and Bahrain followed Saudi's lead by withdrawing their ambassadors from Damascus in protest at the regime's actions.

Turkey, once a steadfast ally to Assad, has been willing to take a harder stance. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu arrived in the Syrian capital Tuesday to deliver an ultimatum, saying it would be the "last time" he'd visit to make his nation's views clear.

"The talks will show whether the ties will be cut loose or not, or if a new [Turkish] policy is to be outlined on Syria. That's the last meeting," a Turkish Foreign Ministry official told the daily Hurriyet newspaper prior to the trip.

"Developments in the coming days will be critical, for both Syria and Turkey," Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara after returning from his one day visit.

Even before the meeting, the Syrian government warned Turkey against issuing ultimatums.

"If the Turkish Foreign Minister is to deliver a firm message to Syria, he will hear a firmer reply regarding the Turkish stance, which didn't condemn the brutal killing and crimes committed by the armed terrorist groups against the civilians, military and police" in Syria, Assad's adviser Bouthina Shaaban said, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.

"Syria has always welcomed consultation among friends, but it categorically rejects all regional or international attempts to interfere in its internal affairs," added Shaaban.

Although the United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on individuals and pressed Assad to make reforms, they have stopped short of explicitly calling for him to step down.

Western policymakers remain deeply concerned about instability in a country with a potent sectarian mix, which shares borders with both Israel and Lebanon and is allied with Iran.

There's no sign Assad will bend under the pressure of his Arab peers.

The latest wave of bloodshed started about a week ago, on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan, when tanks and snipers laid siege to Hama, a city in central Syria that had largely freed itself from government control earlier this year, according to human rights activists.

Since the start of Ramadan, more than 300 people have been killed in cities including Hama and Deir el-Zour, an oil-rich but largely impoverished region known for its well-armed clans and tribes whose ties extend across eastern Syria and into Iraq, according to Ammar Qurabi, head of the Human Rights Observatory in Syria.

Assad's government has blocked reporting on the carnage by banning foreign media entirely and restricting any domestic coverage which strays from the party line; that regime is fighting thugs and religious extremists who are acting out a foreign conspiracy on Syrian soil.

"It is very obvious that the regime has decided to go until the far end," said Qurabi, the human rights activist. "They will cling to power as far as it takes them, even if they have to kill half of the Syrian people."