Up to 100 killed in Syrian crackdown

SYRIAN TANKS and troops yesterday moved into the city of Hama and mounted operations in Deir al-Zor in the northeast and Deraa in the southwest, killing up to 100 people and wounding scores more, say human rights activists.

The military appears determined to re-establish control of Hama ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins today, as opponents of the government vow to intensify their campaign to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

Residents replied to the entry of the army with shouts of “Allahu Akbar” (God is great), stones and Molotov cocktails. Clashes erupted between the army and armed elements, said by opposition spokesmen to be deserters and by the government to be members of the Muslim Brotherhood and ultra-orthodox Salafi groups.

Hospitals were overwhelmed with casualties and bodies lay in the streets.

Protesters said army snipers were on rooftops firing at residents while the Syrian state news agency, Sana, reported that rebel gunmen were “shooting intensively to terrorise citizens . . . Armed groups . . . set police stations on fire, vandalised public and private properties, set up roadblocks and barricades and burned tyres at the entrance to the city and in its streets.”

“Every day will be Friday during Ramadan,” local organising committees have said, a reference to mass protests after Friday prayers.

Hama, Syria’s fourth largest city, had been ringed with armour and soldiers for the past month after the armed forces pulled back from the city centre and suburbs.

“There are barricades and roadblocks everywhere,” official spokeswoman Reem Haddad said. “People can’t go to work, they can’t sit exams . . . it is simply not acceptable.”

The government cannot afford to allow Hama to slip from its grasp as it has long been a hotbed of Muslim fundamentalist activity.

Homs, the country’s third city, could try to follow Hama’s example. In 1982, Dr Assad’s father, the late Hafez al-Assad, crushed a Muslim Brotherhood rebellion in Hama at the cost of thousands of lives.

President Barack Obama said he was “appalled” by the brutality of the Syrian government and described reports from Hama as “horrifying”. The US press attache in Damascus, JJ Harder, described the operation as “full-on warfare” by the Syrian government against the country’s citizens.

British foreign secretary William Hague said the onslaught was “all the more shocking on the eve of Ramadan” and seemed to be a “co-ordinated effort to deter Syrians” from protesting during the holy month, traditionally a time of cessation of hostilities and reconciliation.

“President Bashar is mistaken if he believes that oppression and military force will end the crisis in his country,” Mr Hague added. “He should stop this assault on his own people now.”

Activists claim that 1,400 to 1,600 civilians and 350 security personnel have died since the rebellion began in mid-March. The government blames violence on “armed groups” and says 500 troops and security men have died.