By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
Syrian forces raided houses in Hama on Thursday, residents
said, hours after the city's attorney general declared on YouTube he had
resigned in protest against the suppression of street demonstrations.
Five months of protests have
failed to unseat President Bashar al-Assad, who inherited power from his father
and retains the loyalty of the core of his armed forces comprised mostly of
members of the Alawite minority, the same sect as the president.
But demonstrators have been
encouraged by the fall of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and rising international
pressure on Syria,
including a planned European Union embargo on the oil industry which would
disrupt a vital source of income.
Residents of Hama said
security police and state militiamen, known as shabbiha, raided houses
overnight in the al-Sabouniya and al-Marabet districts, after troops backed by
tanks arrested dozens in two other neighborhoods of the city the night before.
"The inhabitants are
responding by shouting 'God is greatest' from windows and rooftops. Tonight
there are more random raids as opposed to what the army did yesterday, which
was go into specific houses looking for suspected activists on a list,"
Haidar, a local activist, told Reuters by phone.
Syrian forces mounted a 10-day
operation in the city at the beginning of August and arrested hundreds of people.
The attorney-general of Hama
-- who authorities reported on Monday had been kidnapped by gunmen -- said he
had resigned because security forces killed 72 jailed protesters and activists
at Hama's central jail on the eve of the military assault on the city on July
31.
He said at least another 420
people were killed in the operation and were buried in mass graves in public
parks.
"I, Judge Adnan Mohammad
al-Bakkour, Hama province Attorney-General, declare that I have resigned in
protest of the savage regime's practices against peaceful demonstrators,"
Bakkour said in a YouTube video released by activists.
FRANCE CONDEMNS CRACKDOWN
An independent lawyer said
the person in the video was Bakkour, who also denied reports by state media
that he had been kidnapped by armed groups this week.
The official state news
agency said television news channels that broadcast the Bakkour video
"proved their professional bankruptcy" because they had ignored
earlier official Syrian statements that Bakkour had been kidnapped.
"The kidnappers forced
the attorney general to present false information. The channels have become a
partner in the terrorist crimes against innocent Syrian citizens," the
agency quoted Hama governor Anas Naem as saying.
Assad appointed Naem after he
sacked the previous governor following large pro-democracy protests in Hama.
If confirmed, Bakkour's
resignation would be the first high profile defection in the uprising against
Assad. The United Nations says more than 2,000 civilians have been killed since
protests began in March.
French President Nicolas
Sarkozy said on Wednesday that Assad had committed "irreparable"
damage and that France and its partners would do everything
possible to "help the Syrian people's aspirations to freedom and
democracy."
The European Union is expected
to impose sanctions on Syrian oil exports soon, but European oil companies
appear to be betting that Assad will survive the growing economic pressures.
Several tankers are sailing to
Syria this week to deliver fuel or pick up crude. In contrast, the same
companies agreed months ago to supply opponents of Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi in the hope their support would be rewarded when he fell.
Assad has repeatedly said he
is fighting agents of what he calls a foreign plot to divide Syria. Authorities
blame "armed terrorist groups" for most of the bloodshed and say more
than 500 soldiers and police have been also killed.
Syrian authorities have
expelled most foreign media making it difficult to verify events in the
country.
In the eastern city of Deir
al-Zor, local activists said a six year old girl, Rama Khilyawi, was killed and
her mother wounded when shabbiha militiamen fired rifles in al-Joura
neighborhood to prevent protests after evening prayers.
In the northern Idlib province
one person was killed and five were wounded when troops and security forces
stormed the village of Ramla, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Several hundred women clad in
black also marched in the southern city of Deraa, carrying placards calling for
the downfall Of Assad.
(Additional reporting by
Suleiman al-Khalidi and John Irish;
Editing by Rosalind Russell)
Source : Reuters
EmpireMoney.com
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