By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Tulay
Karadeniz
(Reuters) - Syrian forces killed at least 17 people in raids
near the Lebanon border and in the country's Sunni tribal heartland, activists
said, pursuing a military campaign to crush street protests against President
Bashar al-Assad.
Assad's forces have
intensified assaults on towns and cities across the country since the start of
Muslim fasting month of Ramadan to subdue mounting dissent against the ruling
family, from Syria's minority Alawite sect, despite threats of new U.S.
sanctions and calls from Turkey,
Syria's powerful northern neighbor, and Arab nations, to halt the attacks.
Activists and rights
campaigners said 11 civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed
Thursday when troops backed by tanks swept into Qusair, 135 km (85 mile) north
of Damascus, after overnight protests calling for Assad's removal.
In nearby Homs, activists said
Friday three people were killed in an overnight raid on the Byada residential
district following protests in the city.
Nightly Ramadan prayers, which
follow the breaking of the fast and known as 'tarawih', have presented a venue
for more Syrians to march in daily protests against 41-years of Assad family
rule across the country of 20 million, activists said.
Syrian authorities have
expelled most independent journalists since the five-month uprising, making it
difficult to verify accounts on the ground.
In the east, troops and
members of the feared Military Intelligence, backed by tanks and armored
vehicles, expanded assaults in Deir al-Zor, capital of an oil producing
province bordering Iraq's Sunni heartland.
Four civilians were killed in
house to house raids in Deir al-Zor Thursday and several shops belonging to
families of prominent dissidents in the city were torched, the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said.
One person was also killed in
the coastal city of Latakia.
In Saraqeb, a town on Syria's
main north-south highway that has seen daily demonstrations, around 14 tanks
and armored vehicles also swept into the town. One hundred people were arrested
by the security forces, residents said by telephone.
The tanks later withdrew and
residents took to streets in a night rally, but security forces fired at the
demonstrators, injuring four, the Syrian Observatory said.
Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said what was necessary to pressure Assad was to sanction Syria's oil
and gas industry. She called on Europe and China,
the main foreign players in Syria's energy sector, to join in any proposed
sanctions on the sector.
Linked to the ruling family,
Syria's oil industry generates most of the hard currency for the state, through a crude output
of 380,000 barrels per day.
Asked why the United States
has not yet called for Assad to step down, Clinton said Washington wants other
nations to add their voices.
The United States has been
"very clear" in its statements about Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad's loss of legitimacy, Clinton said, according to excerpts of an
interview with CBS, a day after Washington imposed sanctions on Syria's largest
bank and on Syria's biggest mobile telephone company, controlled by Assad's
cousin Rami Makhlouf.
Robert Ford, the United
States ambassador to Damascus earlier warned Syria Thursday of more U.S.
sanctions if the authorities' use of violence does not stop.
Regional powers Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt have all added pressure on
Assad to stop the violence, although no country has proposed the kind of
military intervention being carried out by NATO forces against Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi.
U.S. President Barack Obama
and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan spoke Thursday and agreed Syrians'
demands for a transition to democracy must be met, the White House said.
Syria's northern towns have
been a particular target in recent days of the crackdown on demonstrations
calling for Assad's overthrow, inspired by popular revolts against rulers
elsewhere in the Arab world.
Officials escorted a group of
Turkish reporters around the city of Hama Thursday after a week-long crackdown.
Hama was scene of a 1982
massacre, when troops loyal to Assad's father, late President Hafez al-Assad,
overran the city to crush Islamist insurgents, killing many thousands of
people.
At least 1,700 civilians have
been killed in the current uprising, rights groups say, and a series of
military assaults on cities and towns since the start of the Muslim holy month
of Ramadan 10 days ago has sharpened international condemnation.
Syria says 500 soldiers and
police have died in the bloodshed, which it blames on armed gangs and
terrorists.
HAMA STREETS EMPTY, SCARRED
In Hama, main streets were
empty Thursday, windows shuttered and most shops closed after the week-long
military assault to crush protests in the city which became a symbol of
defiance against Assad.
A day after authorities
announced the army had pulled out, following the crackdown in which activists
said scores of people were killed, Assad's forces appeared in full control.
No tanks could be seen but
armed, uniformed men stood on rooftops, soldiers manned a series of checkpoints
into the city, and the governor's building in the central square was flanked by
two military vehicles topped by machine guns.
Several residents, their
comments translated to the visiting Turkish journalists by Syrian officials,
said the army moved in after the city was taken over by groups who had blocked
roads and burned state buildings.
But one youth, his face
masked and only his eyes visible, had a different message. "You see us, we
have no weapons, but they are attacking us with tanks and planes," he
said. "And I tell President Assad that, even though it will be difficult,
we will get you out of power."
Syrian human rights group
Sawasiah said at least 30 people were arrested in dawn raids in the northern
countryside near Aleppo, while similar arrest took place in the northern Idlib
province, Damascus suburbs and the southern Hauran Plain.
The Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights said rights campaigner Abdelkarim Rihawi was also arrested while
he was at a cafe in Damascus.
Another activist group, the
Local Coordinating Committees, said nine detainees had died from torture in
detention over the last 10 days in Damascus, Homs, Deraa and Damascus suburbs.
European members of the U.N.
Security Council Wednesday warned Syria that it could face tougher U.N. action
if Assad continued the onslaught against protesters, while Russia urged Damascus to implement promised
reforms as soon as possible.
But Russia and China, both
with veto powers in the Council and backed by India, South Africa andBrazil,
have vehemently opposed the idea of slapping U.N. sanctions on Damascus, which
Western diplomats say would be the logical next step.
At Wednesday's Council
meeting, U.N. deputy political affairs chief Oscar Fernandez-Taranco said that
nearly 2,000 Syrian civilians had been killed since March -- 188 since July 31
and 87 on August 8 alone, diplomats at the meeting said.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly
Churkin said Moscow had made clear to Damascus that Assad should follow through
on reform promises as swiftly as possible. Asked if he thought the new U.S.
sanctions on Syria were helpful, Churkin said: "No."
Syrian envoy Bashar Ja'afari
criticised European nations, accusing them of hiding misleading reporters and
ignoring Assad's promises of reform and national dialogue.
(Additional reporting by Louis
Charbonneau at United
Nations, Arshad
Mohammed, Jeff Masonand Tabassum
Zakaria in Washington,
Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Philippa
Fletcher)
Source : Reuters
Online Booking Hotel
EmpireMoney
No comments:
Post a Comment