Syrian tanks pound city as Arab states withdraw envoys (Reuters)

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pressed on with a tank onslaught against a city Monday, but was plunged deeper into international isolation by Arab neighbors who denounced his violent crackdown and recalled their envoys from Damascus.

Assad's five-month campaign against street protests has emerged as one of the bloodiest episodes of the wave of democratic revolutions sweeping the Arab world this year. Killings have worsened sharply in the past week after Assad ordered tank assaults on two cities.

Other Arab leaders had been cautious about criticizing one of their peers, but Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah broke the silence with a rare intervention overnight, demanding an end to the bloodshed and recalling the Saudi ambassador from Damascus.

Hours later Kuwait and Bahrain recalled their envoys too.

Syrian tanks and troops poured into the eastern Sunni city of Deir al-Zor in the latest stage of a campaign to crush centers of protest against 41 years of Assad family rule.

"Armored vehicles are shelling the al-Hawiqa district heavily with their guns. Private hospitals are closed and people are afraid to send the wounded to state facilities because they are infested with secret police," Mohammad, a Deir al-Zor resident who did not want to give his full name.

He said at least 65 people had been killed since tanks and Armored vehicles barreled into the provincial capital, 400 km (250 miles) northeast of Damascus, Sunday, crumpling makeshift barricades and opening fire.

Later Monday Assad fired defense minister Ali Habib and replaced him with chief of staff General Daoud Rajha. The state news agency said Habib was ill. Habib had been added to an EU sanctions list last week for his role in crushing protests.

Syria's military is effectively under the command of Assad's brother Maher. Many officers are from the Assad family's minority Alawite sect.

The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said among those killed were a mother and her two children, an elderly woman and a young girl. Syria has expelled most independent media since the uprising began, making it hard to confirm accounts.

FEW FRIENDS LEFT

The sudden withdrawal of ambassadors of Gulf Arab states leaves Assad with few diplomatic friends. Western states have imposed sanctions on top Syrian officials and countries with close ties to Damascus such as Russia and Turkey have warned Assad he is running out of time.

Nevertheless, countries have not proposed military action like that ranged against Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Assad's forces shot dead at least three mourners Monday when they opened fire at a funeral for a pro-democracy protester in the southern border city of Deraa, cradle of the five month uprising, witnesses and activists said.

Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory said one of the dead was Maen Yousef Awadat, a leading political campaigner, who had recently been released from prison.

The funeral was for a youth arrested earlier this week when he took part street protests after nightly Ramadan prayers. His body was handed to relatives earlier Monday with signs of torture, according to relatives contacted in Deraa.

The Saudi criticism was the sharpest the oil giant has directed against any fellow Arab state since uprisings began to sweep the region, toppling autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt, kindling civil war in Libya and rattling elites.

"What is happening in Syria is not acceptable for Saudi Arabia," the Saudi king said in a written statement read out on Al Arabiya satellite television. "Syria should think wisely before it's too late and issue and enact reforms that are not merely promises but actual reforms."

"Either it chooses wisdom on its own or it will be pulled down into the depths of turmoil and loss."

SHELLING AND GUNFIRE

The assault on Deir al-Zor, in an oil-producing province bordering Iraq, took place a week after tanks stormed the city of Hama, where residents say scores have been killed.

The official SANA news agency said Monday the military was winding down in Hama. Residents said there were still tanks in parts of the city and security forces were making arrests. The Observatory said 1,500 people had been arrested in Hama's Jarajima neighborhood and troops killed three civilians.

Like most of Syria, Hama and Deir al-Zor are mainly-Sunni cities, and the crackdowns there resonate with Sunnis, who form the majority in the region and rule most Arab countries.

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

The Arab League called for an end to the bloodshed. France and Germany repeated calls for Assad to scrap the military campaign which rights groups say has killed at least 1,600 civilians.

Saudi Arabia's decision to join countries putting pressure on Assad was unlikely to deter the 45-year old president, who calls the clampdown a national duty, regional experts said.

Relations between Sunni Saudi Arabia and a Syrian ruling elite from Assad's minority Alawite sect have been tense since the assassination in 2005 of Rafik al-Hariri, a Western-backed Lebanese Sunni statesman who also had Saudi nationality.

In Cairo, the head of the most influential school of Sunni Islam, al-Azhar, described the violence as a human tragedy that had to stop. "Blood only fuels the fires of revolutions," said Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb.

Hama is known throughout the region as the site of a crackdown by Assad's father nearly 30 years ago against Sunni Islamists in which many thousands died.

AUTHORITIES DENY CITY ATTACKED

Syrian authorities denied that any Deir al-Zor assault had taken place. The official state news agency said "not a single tank has entered Deir al-Zor" and reports of tanks in the city were "the work of provocateur satellite channels."

Syrian authorities say they have faced attacks since the protests erupted in March, blaming armed saboteurs for civilian deaths and accusing them of killing 500 security personnel.

State television broadcast footage Sunday of mutilated bodies floating in the Orontes river in Hama, saying 17 police had been ambushed and killed in the central Syrian city.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who cultivated close ties with Assad but has sharply criticised the crackdown, said Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu would visit Syria Tuesday.

"Our message will be decisively delivered," he said, drawing a rebuke from an Assad adviser, who described the Turkish statement as unbalanced.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to Davutoglu Sunday, the State Department said, asking him to "reinforce" Washington's position that Syria must immediately return its military to barracks and release prisoners.

(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Brian Love in Paris, Brian Rohan in Berlin, Asma al-Sharif in Jeddah, Mahmoud Harby in Kuwait and Ayman Samir in Cairo; Editing by Dominic Evans and Peter Graff)

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New airstrikes pound Libya's capital

Smoke billows behind the trees following an air raid on Tajura, about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) east of Tripoli on Tuesday.At least five large explosions echo across TripoliA former military base used as a tribal compound was hit, a government official said

(CNN) -- Another night of NATO airstrikes on the Libyan capital began late Thursday, with a tribal site near central Tripoli the target of the latest attacks, a Libyan official said.

Five explosions, most large enough to shake buildings some distance away, struck Tripoli shortly before 11:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. ET). The Libyan official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the target was the tribal compound at Bab Al-Azizya, about 2 kilometers (1.3 miles) from the center of Tripoli.

CNN could not independently confirm the report.

The site is a former military base now used to welcome tribal visitors to Tripoli, offering them guest houses during their stay, the official said. It has been used as a center for people volunteering to support Libyan authorities since the revolt against longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi erupted in February.

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NATO began bombing Libya on March 31, under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians during the fighting between government forces and rebels who have seized most of eastern Libya.

NATO member Spain said Thursday that Libya had sent a message to Madrid and other European capitals, listing "a series of proposals that could lead to a cease-fire," but the allies have so far rebuffed earlier Libyan proposals for an end to the fighting.

From CNN's Raja Razek

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Libya: NATO aircraft pound Tripoli

NEW: Explosions heard near Gadhafi compoundA compound for pro-Gadhafi volunteers is targetedIt is one of the heaviest NATO attacks on Tripoli so farArrest warrants are issued for Gadhafi

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Six thunderous explosions rocked the center of Tripoli late Tuesday. A hotel for international journalists located within 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's compound shook during the attacks.

The attacks capped a day in which 19 people died and 150 were wounded after NATO aircraft launched a barrage of strikes on the Libyan capital in what a government official called the heaviest onslaught since the aerial strikes began.

At least 18 rockets struck Tripoli while a U.S envoy in the eastern rebel-held city of Benghazi was courting members of the transitional government.

Reporters felt and heard the most recent explosions from the hotel where they are staying. Outbursts of gunfire, as well as ambulance sirens, could be heard in the streets.

Jeffery Feltman, the U.S assistant secretary of state for near Eastern affairs, told reporters in Benghazi that he had invited the National Transitional Council to open a representative office in Washington -- and that the council has accepted.

Feltman added that he had come to reiterate a message from President Barack Obama that "Gadhafi has lost legitimacy to rule. He cannot regain control of Libya. And he must step down immediately."

After the airstrikes Tuesday morning, smoke was seen rising from the area near Gadhafi's Bab-al-Azizia compound.

Moussa Ibrahim, a Libyan government spokesman, said the attack targeted a guard compound for pro-Gadhafi military volunteers that had been emptied in anticipation of the attack. He called the attack an escalation by NATO.

A NATO statement said the attack had targeted a "regime vehicle storage facility" adjacent to the Bab-al-Azizia compound. The facility resupplies government forces that have been attacking Libyan civilians, according to the NATO statement.

Gadhafi's forces "still represent a threat to civilians and we will continue to strike targets that carry out this violence," said Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard of Canada, who commands the Libya operation.

Journalists later visited a hospital where they said they saw the bodies of three men, at least two covered in dust, and a number of wounded people.

Arrest warrants have been issued by the International Criminal Court for Gadhafi and two relatives, linking them to "widespread and systematic" attacks on civilians as they struggle to retain power in Libya.

The court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has said that the court in The Hague will investigate allegations of institutionalized rape in the war-torn country.

A Libyan government official told CNN that Gadhafi's government welcomes the court's investigation but said that prosecutors "have not been to Libya to do an investigation."

CNN's Nima Elbagir, Amir Ahmed, Nic Robertson and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.

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Pro-Gadhafi forces pound cities after NATO attack

Libyan rebels on patrol near the airport at al-Ghiran close to the key port city of Misrata on April 30, 2011.A U.S. official blames an "organized mob" for attacks on embassiesNATO has "no evidence" to confirm Gadhafi relatives died, one official saysWitnesses report heavy fire from pro-Gadhafi forces in Misrata and BenghaziOne man thinks it is "revenge" for a strike that reportedly killed one of Gadhafi's sons

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Government forces pounded rebel-held cities and crowds ransacked empty embassies in Tripoli on Sunday after Libyan authorities reported a NATO airstrike killed one of longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi's sons and three of his grandchildren.

The U.S. Embassy was attacked by what one U.S. official called an "organized mob," along with the British, French, Italian and Qatari embassies, British and Italian officials told CNN. Meanwhile, pro-Gadhafi forces stepped up their shelling of rebel positions in Benghazi and Misrata after Libya's government reported the deaths.

"It's going to be like revenge," one eyewitness in the embattled coastal city of Misrata said.

The eyewitness reported significant damage and some casualties in Misrata, the country's third-largest city. The city remains in rebel hands, with no forces aligned with Gadhafi remaining in the city itself, he said.

Another witness, who agreed to be identified only as Mohammed, said "very heavy shelling" targeted the coastal city's port.

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"I have been here during all days of the conflict," he told CNN. "Last night was the worst."

And a third man, who wanted to be identified only as Abdsalam, said the port was heavily bombarded. Electricity is out in nearly the entire city, and food and fresh water are running scarce, he said.

"They are using every every possible type of weapon," he said.

The Libyan government said Sunday that Gadhafi's son, Saif al-Arab Gadhafi, and three grandchildren died in the strike that destroyed the son's home in Tripoli. The Libyan government identified the children as Saif al-Arab's sons Gartaj Hannibal Muammar al-Gadhafi, age 3, and 2-year-old Saif Mohammad al-Gadhafi, as well as Mastoura Hamid Abuzitaia, the daughter of the leader's daughter Aysha.

The Libyan leader and his wife were in the house when it was targeted, but they are in good health, government spokesman Musa Ibrahim told journalists.

The building was in a residential area of Tripoli that houses several embassies. Ibrahim called the bombing a "war crime." The strike destroyed the two-bedroom, single-story house, leaving a massive crater where it used to be.

CNN could not independently confirm the reports, and NATO said in a statement Sunday that the alliance was "aware of unconfirmed media reports that some of Gadhafi's family members may have been killed."

"We regret all loss of life, especially the innocent civilians being harmed as a result of this ongoing conflict," said Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, commander of NATO's military operations. However, Bouchard said, all targets "are military in nature and have been clearly linked to the Gadhafi regime's systemic attacks on the Libyan population ... We do not target individuals."

But U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a leading supporter of the Libya campaign, called the elder Gadhafi a "murderer" and "a legitimate military target."

"He's not the legitimate leader of Libya, and the way to get this to end is to go after the people around him and his support system," Graham told "Fox News Sunday." The South Carolina Republican is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

In Benghazi, a hub for rebel forces and their transitional government, the news triggered celebratory gunfire even as a rebel spokesman dismissed the reported death as "a desperate attempt to get sympathy."

"In all honesty, we never heard of Saif al-Arab until the start of the uprising," said Hafiz Ghoga, deputy chairman of the Transitional National Council in Benghazi, on Sunday.

"We don't believe this is true ... This regime constantly lies and keeps lying," he added.

Opposition members, citing witness reports, also warned that pro-Gadhafi troops in the town of Zintan, 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Misrata, and other nearby areas have been equipped with gas masks. The opposition figures say that suggests the government forces are preparing to use chemical weapons against rebel forces -- but the accounts lacked detail, and CNN could not independently confirm the reports.

Ibrahim dismissed the allegations as "all lies."

"Every time they come with a lie, they jump out to the next lie," he said. "The media cannot report from one side of reports. It is the same lie when they said we are using cluster bombs."

Human Rights Watch reported in mid-April that pro-Gadhafi troops were firing cluster munitions into Misrata and displayed a portion of a Spanish-made mortar shell that releases 21 smaller bombs across a wide area. The Libyan government denies the allegation.

Fighting also intensified Sunday near the rebel-held Djerba border crossing into Tunisia, witnesses and Tunisia's state news agency reported. The TAP news agency said the flow of refugees out of Libya had slowed, possibly as a result.

NATO began bombarding Libya on March 19, after the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution authorizing any means necessary to protect civilians demanding the end of Gadhafi's nearly 42-year rule. The alliance said it targeted a "command-and-control building" in Tripoli on Saturday, as well as hitting seven ammunition depots around the capital.

According to a NATO military official, the airstrike that Libya says killed Gadhafi's son involved four precision-targeted bombs, one of which failed to detonate. The official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the alliance was certain the target was a command-and-control facility and said the building hit, although above ground, had reinforced portions.

The official said NATO had "no evidence" that Gadhafi's relatives had been killed.

A photograph of the site showed the unexploded bomb, a 2,000-pound weapon designed to penetrate reinforced concrete, but NATO would not confirm what other types of ordnance may have been dropped. Nor would it disclose which nation's aircraft carried out the strike, or what type of aircraft were used.

Libyan officials attacked the U.S. Embassy compound in Tripoli Sunday, as well as the British, French and Italian missions, according to a senior U.S. official in Washington. All four NATO nations are taking part in the airstrikes.

Italian officials told CNN that the embassy of Qatar, a Gulf Arab state that supports the campaign and is supplying arms to the rebels, was also targeted.

The U.S. official said Turkey, the protecting power for U.S. interests in Libya, is trying to keep an eye on the American compound -- but "there isn't much they can do when you have an organized mob, as this appeared to be."

In London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague expelled Libya's ambassador to the United Kingdom after the attacks. Hague said the Tripoli government is breaching its international obligation to protect diplomatic missions by allowing the vandalism.

"The attacks against diplomatic missions will not weaken our resolve to protect the civilian population in Libya," Hague said.

Ibrahim told CNN the attacks happened because "the people were upset" and that Libyan security forces stopped the attacks and prevented the embassies from being destroyed.

"There are embassies that have not been touched," he said.

In addition, eight U.N. international staffers are leaving Libya, the world body announced Sunday. Spokeswoman Eri Kaneko said the United Nations would not identify the staffers or their agencies for safety reasons.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen, Richard Roth, Barbara Starr, Elise Labott, Richard Allen Greene and Holly Yan contributed to this report.

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