Foreign help

While people in Homs, Hama, Aleppo and Deraa face off against the Syrian government's tanks and troops, Syrian opposition members living abroad are working to mobilize international support for protesters' attempts to overthrow President Bashar Assad.

"We are dealing with massive human rights violations," Ferhad Ahma, a member of the Syrian National Council (SNC), said during a press conference Friday in Berlin. "We are talking about mass executions, rapes, torture and people disappearing."

Crimes against humanity

Opposition members pointed to the tanks and artillery being used by the Syrian army to destroy hospitals, homes and schools and to kill the civilians taking to the streets demanding the right to live in freedom.

Exiled SNC members also called for Assad to be forced to answer to the International Criminal Court for committing crimes against humanity.

"If you do not support us as quickly as possible, then you are also contributing to the risk that a massacre will take place in Syria," Ahma said. "It could turn into an armed conflict across the whole country, not just in a handful of places."

He added that opposition to the ruling government would continue "until the Assad regime is swept from power."

Humanitarian, not military, intervention

Hozan Ibrahim, a spokesman for the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, said the opposition was not calling for military action in the country but for humanitarian intervention to protect civilians in safe areas.

The opposition also appealed to the international community to isolate Syria with economic sanctions and to recognize the SNC, rather than Assad's government in Damascus, as the legitimate representatives of the Syrian people.

"We welcome the decision of the German government to expel four Syrian diplomats from the country," Ahma said before adding that Berlin should also send home the Syrian ambassador, cut diplomatic ties with Damascus and protect Syrian refugees in Germany.

There are currently some 32,000 Syrians living in Germany, and hundreds of them are facing deportation due to court rulings.

Adopt a revolution

Human rights groups in Germany expressed their support for the exiled Syrians. Elias Perabo created the "Adopt a revolution" project to collect donations that would ultimately support Assad's opponents. He said it takes 800 euros ($1,050) to support four underground activists with camera, laptop computers and Internet connections to spread information for a month.

"It seems to be well accepted," he said, adding that some 700 people have expressed interest in sponsoring opposition members in Syria.

Author: Bettina Marx / sms
Editor: Neil King