Tuesday, April 26th, 2011, 3:42 pm Amman Time | Make this your
Residents tell grim story of assault on Syrian city
In this citizen journalism image made on a mobile phone and acquired by AP,
Syrian women carry a banner in Arabic that reads: `The women of Daraa want an
end to the siege,' as they protest in Daraa, southwest of Damascus, Syria,
Monday (AP photo)
In this citizen journalism image made on a mobile phone and acquired by AP,
Syrian women carry a banner in Arabic that reads: `The women of Daraa want an
end to the siege,' as they protest in Daraa, southwest of Damascus, Syria,
Monday (AP photo)
By Suleiman Al Khalidi
Reuters
AMMAN - Residents of the city of Daraa, cradle of the pro-democracy protests
that have swept Syria, painted a chilling picture on Monday of an assault by
security forces using tanks, heavy artillery and machineguns.
Artillery pounded the town, electricity and most telephone lines were cut and
soldiers took over mosques and other key locations, residents reported.
Foreign correspondents are being kept out of Syria so the reports could not be
verified, but residents contacted by telephone painted a consistent picture of
a ruthless attempt to subjugate the city through military force.
A prominent activist said at least 18 people were killed by gunfire and tank
shelling, adding to the grim toll of a month-old uprising against President
Bashar Assad which human rights groups say has already cost 350 lives.
"Army units are pounding Daraa at this moment. There seems to be no end to the
sounds of heavy machinegun fire and occasional mortars," said resident Abu
Salem, several hours after the tanks rolled in at dawn.
Another witness said he had seen bodies lying in a street near the Omari Mosque
after eight tanks and two armoured vehicles were deployed in the old quarter. A
pall of black smoke hung over the city.
Most residents sought refuge indoors, but a few groups of defiant youths played
cat-and-mouse with the troops patrolling on foot, shouting "down, down with
Bashar".
It was a dangerous game.
"Anywhere they find people coming out in the streets, they attack with heavy
ammunition," said another resident.
Clouds of black smoke from the gunfire filled the sky above the city, said Abu
Salem, from the large Al Masalmah tribe.
Daraa, which in its heyday was a stopping place on the Hijaz Railway built
during Ottoman rule a century ago, was more recently known as a recruiting
ground for cadres of the ruling Baath Party and agents of the secret police.
In the past six weeks, the Sunni Muslim city has emerged as a centre of
defiance against the autocratic rule of Assad and his minority Alawite family.
Call to prayer
Hours before troops stormed the city centre and the old quarter, nearly 2,000
people gathered in the old Omari Mosque, focal point of almost daily protests.
One community leader after another criticised what they termed the "inhumanity
and criminality" of the security forces during recent crackdowns, and called
for the peaceful popular uprising against Assad to spread, residents said.
Abu Salem said the echo of gunfire drowned out the dawn call to prayer after
the tanks and soldiers arrived.
"They occupied several mosques, including the Omari Mosque and Sheikh Abdul
Aziz [mosque], to ensure that even volunteers or imams cannot use minarets to
ask for blood or urge medics to help the wounded," he added.
He said dozens of tanks and scores of armoured personnel carriers took up
positions in the old quarter and the main squares in Mahatta, the heart of the
commercial area.
"They stationed tanks even in public gardens and security patrols seem to have
orders to shoot on the spot."
Witnesses described how black-clad snipers took up positions on high government
buildings.
Asked whether the residents were fighting back - Daraa is a region where tribal
traditions of vengeance are strong - Abu Salem said that, until Monday, most
residents had resisted calls to avenge the dozens of deaths.
"Defenceless people cannot just watch as they get slaughtered. There is hardly
a family that does not have a martyr now," he said.
26 April 2011
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