LONDON — As his government's human rights record came under renewed criticism on Tuesday, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria sought to ease mounting regional tensions, expressing regret for his forces' shooting down of a Turkish warplane and saying his gunners believed the jet was Israeli.
While the circumstances of the shooting remain disputed, Mr. Assad was quoted in the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet on Tuesday as saying: "I say 100 percent, I wish we did not shoot it down." Turkey says the unarmed warplane was back in international airspace after straying into Syrian airspace when it was shot down. Syrian officials have said it was close to shore batteries that opened fire on it over Syrian waters.
Turkey and Syria were close regional allies until the beginning of the Syrian uprising against Mr. Assad in March 2011, but since then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has swung ever more firmly behind the opposition forces seeking Mr. Assad's ouster.
The Turkish authorities have also ordered antiaircraft batteries to the 550-mile border with Syria and changed their rules of engagement with Syrian forces, threatening to respond militarily to any Syrian deployments they see as threatening.
Mr. Assad said he did not want to the situation to turn into open warfare. "We will not allow it to turn into an armed conflict that would harm both countries," Mr. Assad said, denying claims that Syria had deployed forces along the Turkish border. “This would damage both Turkey and Syria.”
In the interview, Mr. Assad was quoted as complaining that Turkey had cut all military and diplomatic communications with Syria, so the incident could not be contained through diplomatic channels. He said Syrian gunners did not know the plane was Turkish until they shot it down. "The plane used the corridor used by the Israeli planes three times in the past," he said. "We learned it was Turkish after we shot it down."
Mr. Assad said he would not be forced from office by outsiders, but would leave if Syrians wanted him to go. "I would of course leave when millions in my country wish me gone,” he said. “Why would I stay where I am not wanted?”
The interview, conducted in Damascus on Sunday, was published on the same day a prominent human rights advocacy group accused the Syrian authorities of building an “archipelago” of at least 27 torture centers where abuse of the government’s opponents points to a crime against humanity.
The report from the group, Human Rights Watch, based in New York, came as the uprising in Syria continued into a 16th month with thousands of people reported killed and diplomatic efforts to end the crisis hampered by international divisions.
The 81-page report by Human Rights Watch said interviews with some 200 witnesses had identified “the locations, agencies responsible, torture methods used, and, in many cases, the commanders in the charge of” detention centers said to have been used to torture citizens.
“The systematic patterns of ill-treatment and torture that Human Rights Watch documented clearly point to a state policy of torture and ill-treatment and therefore constitute a crime against humanity,” the report said. There was no immediate response to it from the Syrian government, which routinely refers to its foes as “armed terrorists.”
Mr. Assad has also said that his country is at war.
While there have been many previous allegations of torture and human rights abuses in Syria, the report seemed to offer a more detailed picture of the nature of the so-called “archipelago” of centers in places from Aleppo in the north to Dara’a in the south.
It also identified four principal security agencies, including military intelligence, as carrying out “the worst torture.” The other agencies were the Political Security directorate, the General Intelligence Directorate and the Air Force Intelligence Directorate.
Ole Solvang, an emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement: “The intelligence agencies are running an archipelago of torture centers scattered across the country.”
The report said torture was inflicted by officers using a broad range of methods “including prolonged beatings, often with objects such as batons and cables, holding the detainees in painful stress positions for prolonged periods of time, the use of electricity, burning with acid, sexual assault and humiliation, the pulling of fingernails and mock executions.”
Most of the victims were young men between 18 and 35, but, Human Rights Watch said, its investigators also interviewed children, women and old people who said they had been abused.
The report quoted a 31-year-old man who said he was detained in the northern Idlib area in June and forced to remove his clothes.
‘‘Then they started squeezing my fingers with pliers. They put staples in my fingers, chest and ears. I was only allowed to take them out if I spoke. The staples in the ears were the most painful. They used two wires hooked up to a car battery to give me electric shocks. They used electric stun guns on my genitals twice. I thought I would never see my family again. They tortured me like this three times over three days,’’ the man was quoted as saying.
While the rights body said those accused of carrying out the torture and their commanders who failed to prevent it “bear individual criminal responsibility under international law,” the International Criminal Court does not have jurisdiction since Syria has not ratified the Rome statute establishing the court.
“The court will only have jurisdiction if the United Nations Security Council adopts a resolution referring the situation in Syria to the court,” the report added, saying Russia, Syria’s main international backer, “should not be holding its protective hand over the people who are responsible for this.”
Alan Cowell reported from London, and Sebnem Arsu from Istanbul.
While the circumstances of the shooting remain disputed, Mr. Assad was quoted in the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet on Tuesday as saying: "I say 100 percent, I wish we did not shoot it down." Turkey says the unarmed warplane was back in international airspace after straying into Syrian airspace when it was shot down. Syrian officials have said it was close to shore batteries that opened fire on it over Syrian waters.
Turkey and Syria were close regional allies until the beginning of the Syrian uprising against Mr. Assad in March 2011, but since then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has swung ever more firmly behind the opposition forces seeking Mr. Assad's ouster.
The Turkish authorities have also ordered antiaircraft batteries to the 550-mile border with Syria and changed their rules of engagement with Syrian forces, threatening to respond militarily to any Syrian deployments they see as threatening.
Mr. Assad said he did not want to the situation to turn into open warfare. "We will not allow it to turn into an armed conflict that would harm both countries," Mr. Assad said, denying claims that Syria had deployed forces along the Turkish border. “This would damage both Turkey and Syria.”
In the interview, Mr. Assad was quoted as complaining that Turkey had cut all military and diplomatic communications with Syria, so the incident could not be contained through diplomatic channels. He said Syrian gunners did not know the plane was Turkish until they shot it down. "The plane used the corridor used by the Israeli planes three times in the past," he said. "We learned it was Turkish after we shot it down."
Mr. Assad said he would not be forced from office by outsiders, but would leave if Syrians wanted him to go. "I would of course leave when millions in my country wish me gone,” he said. “Why would I stay where I am not wanted?”
The interview, conducted in Damascus on Sunday, was published on the same day a prominent human rights advocacy group accused the Syrian authorities of building an “archipelago” of at least 27 torture centers where abuse of the government’s opponents points to a crime against humanity.
The report from the group, Human Rights Watch, based in New York, came as the uprising in Syria continued into a 16th month with thousands of people reported killed and diplomatic efforts to end the crisis hampered by international divisions.
The 81-page report by Human Rights Watch said interviews with some 200 witnesses had identified “the locations, agencies responsible, torture methods used, and, in many cases, the commanders in the charge of” detention centers said to have been used to torture citizens.
“The systematic patterns of ill-treatment and torture that Human Rights Watch documented clearly point to a state policy of torture and ill-treatment and therefore constitute a crime against humanity,” the report said. There was no immediate response to it from the Syrian government, which routinely refers to its foes as “armed terrorists.”
Mr. Assad has also said that his country is at war.
While there have been many previous allegations of torture and human rights abuses in Syria, the report seemed to offer a more detailed picture of the nature of the so-called “archipelago” of centers in places from Aleppo in the north to Dara’a in the south.
It also identified four principal security agencies, including military intelligence, as carrying out “the worst torture.” The other agencies were the Political Security directorate, the General Intelligence Directorate and the Air Force Intelligence Directorate.
Ole Solvang, an emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement: “The intelligence agencies are running an archipelago of torture centers scattered across the country.”
The report said torture was inflicted by officers using a broad range of methods “including prolonged beatings, often with objects such as batons and cables, holding the detainees in painful stress positions for prolonged periods of time, the use of electricity, burning with acid, sexual assault and humiliation, the pulling of fingernails and mock executions.”
Most of the victims were young men between 18 and 35, but, Human Rights Watch said, its investigators also interviewed children, women and old people who said they had been abused.
The report quoted a 31-year-old man who said he was detained in the northern Idlib area in June and forced to remove his clothes.
‘‘Then they started squeezing my fingers with pliers. They put staples in my fingers, chest and ears. I was only allowed to take them out if I spoke. The staples in the ears were the most painful. They used two wires hooked up to a car battery to give me electric shocks. They used electric stun guns on my genitals twice. I thought I would never see my family again. They tortured me like this three times over three days,’’ the man was quoted as saying.
While the rights body said those accused of carrying out the torture and their commanders who failed to prevent it “bear individual criminal responsibility under international law,” the International Criminal Court does not have jurisdiction since Syria has not ratified the Rome statute establishing the court.
“The court will only have jurisdiction if the United Nations Security Council adopts a resolution referring the situation in Syria to the court,” the report added, saying Russia, Syria’s main international backer, “should not be holding its protective hand over the people who are responsible for this.”
Alan Cowell reported from London, and Sebnem Arsu from Istanbul.