At least 25 killed as Syrian tanks storm Daraa'
DAMASCUS (AFP) - Thousands of Syrian troops backed by tanks stormed the
flashpoint town of Daraa on Monday killing at least 25 people, witnesses said,
as a leading rights activist accused Damascus of opting for a "military
solution" to crush dissent.
Troops also launched assaults on the Damascus suburbs of Douma and Al
Maadamiyeh, witnesses said, as the head of the UN human rights agency slammed
what she called the security forces' disregard for human life.
A military official later said that troops entered Syria's flashpoint southern
town of Daraa on Monday at the request of citizens to hunt "extremist terrorist
groups".
"In response to calls for help from the inhabitants of Daraa, who urged the
armed forces to intervene and the killings and destruction by extremist
terrorist groups, units entered Daraa this morning to restore calm and
security," state television quoted a military official as saying.
"The army is now pursuing these groups with the help of the security forces and
has arrested several of them and seized large quantities of weapons and
ammunition," a statement said.
"As a result of the confrontations there were a number of martyrs in the ranks
of the army and the security forces," it said, adding that an unspecified
number of suspects were "killed and wounded".
The United States, which has repeatedly denounced Syria's repression of the
protests, was considering sanctions against Damascus, an official in Washington
said.
Activist Abdullah Abazid told AFP by telephone from Daraa that Syrian forces
were pounding the southern town near the border with heavy artillery and that
"at least 25 martyrs have fallen".
"There are still bodies sprawled in the streets," he said, with the sound of
loud explosions and gunfire in the background.
A group of activists said in a statement to media that "more than 25 people
fell but no one could reach them because of the heavy shelling" and that only
seven bodies were retrieved.
They were identified by name and included a father and his two sons, said the
statement which accused Syrian troops of firing indiscriminately with
anti-aircraft guns.
"The commander of the Third Army Corps, Kamal Ayyash, a citizen of Daraa, was
arrested because he protested against the killings," the statement said.
A resident earlier said he witnessed five people killed when their car was
raked with fire in Daraa, where Syria's unprecedented anti-regime protests
erupted six weeks ago.
Abazid said Daraa was "like being in a battlefield".
The army seized at least two mosques in the town as well as the cemetery where
scores of people killed in anti-regime protests have been buried, activists
said.
The assault began at dawn when 3,000 to 5,000 army and security forces swooped
down on Daraa, with tanks taking up position in the town centre and snipers
deploying on rooftops, activists said.
"The minarets of the mosques are appealing for help. The security forces are
entering houses. There is a curfew and they fire on those who leave their
homes. They even shot at water tanks on roofs to deprive people of water," said
a witness.
A massive crackdown was also under way in Douma, a large suburb in northern
Damascus, and nearby Al Maadamiyeh, said activists reached by telephone.
"The situation is dramatic. Patrols man each alleyway and prevent people from
going out even to buy bread," one resident reached by AFP said.
"Even funerals of youths killed on Friday and Saturday were not held," he
added. Schools stayed closed and civil servants were unable to go to work.
An activist from Douma said security forces "surrounded a mosque and are firing
indiscriminately. Streets are cut off from each other and Douma is isolated
from the outside world".
There have been sweeping arrests in Douma since Sunday, he added.
Some 390 people have been killed in security crackdowns since the protests
erupted, rights activists and witnesses say.
Rami Abdel Rahman, a prominent rights activist, told AFP that Monday's
crackdown showed Damascus had decided to crush the protests militarily.
"It is clear that the Syrian authorities have taken a decision for a military
and security solution," Abdel Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.
In Washington, US National Security Council spokesperson Tommy Vietor said his
government could respond to the "brutal violence" with sanctions.
"The United States is pursuing a range of possible policy options, including
targeted sanctions, to respond to the crackdown and make clear that this
behaviour is unacceptable," said Vietor.
"The Syrian people's call for freedom of expression, association, peaceful
assembly, and the ability to freely choose their leaders must be heard."
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the killings must stop.
"Just a few days after the announcement of sweeping and important reforms, we
are seeing such disregard for human life by Syrian security forces," she said
in a statement issued in Geneva.
"The first step now is to immediately halt the use of violence."
Meanwhile diplomats said that Britain, France, Germany and Portugal are seeking
a UN Security Council condemnation of the killing of demonstrators in Syria and
a call for an independent investigatio
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