DAMASCUS (Agencies) – Syria is paying a price for saying no to Israel and the United States, Syrian writer Colette Khoury has said.

“We are proud to be citizens of Syria, the only independent state that refused to give up resistance against Israel,” Khoury stated on Monday.
Interviewed by the Syrian TV Satellite Channel, she added “Nowadays, we pass through a serious stage in Syria. It isn’t a matter of reform, not anymore. It is about Syria and the Syrian people.”
In turn, the Lebanese Political Analyst Faysal Abd el-Sater said, “What Syria faces is so far from what is called demands or reforms. It is obvious in President Bashar al-Assad's directives in response to the popular demands of change and political reform, blocking those who want to destabilize the region, in other words the U.S. and other regional powers.”
Foreign media owners will be prosecuted
Meanwhile, Syria has asked a legal committee to study the situation of crimes perpetrated by a number of Arab and international TV stations and individuals who have contributed to the media forgery and acts of instigation to destabilize Syria.
The committee has begun collecting evidence and documents to support the lawsuits to present in the international and national courts against those who had made the unfair propaganda.
“The legal committee has contacted different sides that have evidence and documents to back the case file,” Nizar al-Skeif, Chief of Syrian lawyers said in a statement to SANA.
The Bar Association has inspected the acts of some mass media and individuals who sought to instigate chaos and disorder in the country.
Based on its national role and legal responsibility, the Bar Association formed a legal committee to prosecute everyone who proves guilty for committing crimes against the Syrian people.
Chavez lends support to Syria
In another development, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has thrown his weight behind Assad and pointed a finger of blame at the West for recent unrests in the country.
Chavez accused the United States and its allies of fomenting unrest and protests in Syria, arguing that Western powers were seeking to topple the Syrian government.
“Terrorists are being infiltrated into Syria and producing violence and death -- and once again, the guilty one is the (Syrian) president, without anyone investigating anything,” AFP quoted Chavez as saying on Monday.
Chavez's remarks in support of his Syrian counterpart come at a time Washington is gearing up to impose sanctions on Damascus under the pretext of punishing the state for alleged crackdown on protesters.
Syrian authorities blame armed groups and foreign elements for the violence and have repeatedly denied allegations that security forces are responsible for the death of protesters, saying they have been given clear instructions not to hurt civilians.