BEIRUT: Local figures have increased condemnations against the Syrian government over the last few days, stepping up pressure on Lebanon’s neighbor five months into a popular uprising which has led to brutal recriminations from President Bashar Assad’s security forces.

Future bloc MP Mohammad Kabbara Tuesday called on Arab leaders to hasten an end to the violent crackdown, which has seen over 1,700 civilians killed and thousands more detained.

At a news conference entitled, “A cry of pain,” Kabbara urged Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to up pressure on Assad’s government.

“I call on the Saudi king and the Turkish prime minister, and the international community, to take serious, immediate and effective action to end the massacres committed by the Damascus butcher against the people during Ramadan, which he wants to turn into the month of revenge.”

“The Syrian people are being butchered and Assad’s government in Lebanon is protecting the murderer in the Security Council,” Kabbara added.

Lebanon, which currently holds a rotating seat on the U.N. Security Council, dissociated itself Aug. 4 from a statement condemning the violence in Syria. The stance was adopted by all other 14 members of the Council.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, of the March 14 coalition, has slammed the violence in Syria, and called on Prime Minister Najib Mikati to stand with the pro-democracy protesters.

Lebanese media watchdog SKEyes Tuesday released a statement condemning the assassinations and arbitrary arrests of Syrian journalists, intellectuals and human rights activists.

Speaking of the second week of August alone, the group highlighted the arrests of journalist Sami al-Halabi and poet Fouad Kahal, of the chairman of the Syrian Association of Human Rights, Abdel Karim al-Rihawi in Damascus , the arrest of activist Ahmad al-Kerdi in Hama, and of the head of administrative board of the Arab Association for Human Rights in Syria, Roshdi Rashid, in Homs. The statement also slammed the Aug. 9 assassination of activist Maen al-Awdat.

Syrian forces withdrew from Lebanon in April 2005, after almost 30 years in the country. The withdrawal of troops was the main demand of the Cedar Revolution, prompted by the assassination in March of that year of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a critic of the Syrian presence in Lebanon.

Demonstrations both in support of the Syrian uprising and of the state systems have been held in Lebanon since the uprising began, the latest, held Monday evening, saw supporters of the Syrian uprising march from the museum to the Grand Serail.

Seven people were killed, and over 20 wounded, in armed clashes in Tripoli in June after gunmen from the predominantly Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen clashed with supporters of the Syrian anti-regime protests, demonstrating in the mainly Sunni neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh.

More recently, supporters of the popular uprising were attacked by members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party as they held a demonstration outside the Syrian Embassy in Hamra Aug. 2. Five were taken to hospital with broken bones.

There are mounting fears that the situation in Syria will further destabilize Lebanon. Last month, U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Michael Williams, said, “What comes after [in Syria] worries Lebanon.”

Prof. Fadia Kiwan, head of the political science at St. Joseph University in Beirut, told The Daily Star Tuesday that the depth of feeling in Lebanon over the fate of the Syrian government is justified.

“This is a very dangerous time for Lebanon, what happens in Syria will have consequences on dynamics here,” she said.

Kiwan said that the collapse of the Syrian regime might lead to civil war in Syria, which might drag to Lebanon.

“We can’t really do anything, but people are challenging the government and that’s important,” she said, about protests condemning the position of the Lebanese government at the U.N. Security Council earlier this month.