Syrian regime's attacks on protesters escalate (& at least 500 pro-democracy activists arrested)

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Bodies lying on the streets of Deraa as residents come under artillery and sniper fire, according to witnesses

Barry Neild and agencies, Tuesday April 26 2011 12.48 BST

Fresh gunfire was reported in the Syrian city of Deraa, which has been at the centre of three weeks of unrest, as the government pushed on with a crackdown against pro-democracy protesters, despite growing international condemnation.

Bodies were left lying on the streets of Deraa on Tuesday as residents sought shelter from artillery and sniper fire, witnesses said, a day after tanks rolled into the city, marking a dramatic escalation in efforts to crush the uprising.

A resident told the Associated Press that families had been unable to recover the bodies of protesters killed by gunmen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

"We are being subjected to a massacre," the man screamed over the telephone as cracks of gunfire reverberated in the background. "Children are being killed. We have been without electricity for three days, we have no water."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/26/syrian-attacks-on-protesters-escalate

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Libya, Syria and Middle East unrest - live coverage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/apr/26/libya-middle-east-syria-gaddafi-misrata

Syria Live Blog - April 26: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/middle-east/syria-live-blog-april-26




Syria intensifies crackdown on protests
At least 500 pro-democracy activists arrested, rights group says, after authorities deployed troops to quell protests.
Last Modified: Apr 26 2011 11:03

Syrian security forces have arrested at least 500 pro-democracy activists, a rights group said, as the government continues a violent crackdown on anti-government protests across the country.

The arrests followed the deployment of Syrian troops backed by tanks and heavy armour on the streets of two southern towns, the Syrian rights organisation Sawasiah said on Tuesday.

The group said it had received reports that at least 20 people were killed in the city of Deraa in the aftermath of the raid by troops loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Monday. But communications have been cut in the city, making it difficult to confirm the information.

"Witnesses managed to tell us that at least 20 civilians have been killed in Deraa, but we do not have their names and we cannot verify," a Sawasiah official told the Reuters news agency.

More details and video report: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/20114265855623958.html


Related OP posted by Hissyspit yesterday...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4826301">Hundreds of Syrian Troops Backed by Armoured Vehicles Move Into Deraa, Heavy Shooting Reported

[HolyCity2012]

1. Syria deploys troops and tanks in brutal crackdown

The Syrian government mobilises hundreds of troops, backed by tanks and armoured vehicles, in a determined effort to crack down on anti-government protests.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x577139

[pampango]

2. I wonder if Mubarak gets wistful when he watches Syria and wonders how long

he could have lasted if Egypt's military had been willing to use its firepower on civilians.

[Turborama]

3. Syria sends in more troops 'as Daraa assault rages'

Published: 26/04/2011 at 11:31 PM (Bangkok time)

Syria sent more troops to the southern town of Daraa on Tuesday where a deadly crackdown against pro-democracy protesters raged into a second day, activists said, as Washington considered "targeted sanctions" against Damascus.

=snip=

"New army troops and security reinforcements have entered Daraa and a tank was deployed in the central Kaziat al-Balad square," activist Abdullah Abazid told AFP by telephone from Daraa near the Jordanian border.

He said troops were firing on residents and a mosque and had laid siege to the home of Daraa's top Muslim cleric, Mufti Rizk Abdulrahman Abazeid, who quit last week in protest at the crackdown.

"The bullets continue against the people, but we are resisting," he said, adding that shooting continued well into the afternoon.

Full article: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/233873/syrian-sends-in-more-troops-as-daraa-assault-rages

[Turborama]

4. Syria deploys troops in Damascus suburb

Witnesses say hundreds of soldiers enter Douma as rights group says 400 people killed since pro-democracy protests began.
Last Modified: Apr 27 2011 06:06 GMT

Troops have been deployed overnight in a suburb of the Syrian capital, Damascus, witnesses say.

White buses brought in hundreds of soldiers in full combat gear into Douma, a witness told Reuters news agency on Wednesday. Pro-democracy protesters have tried to march from the suburb into the centre of the capital in the last two weeks but have been dispersed by security forces.

More than 2,000 security police deployed in Douma on Tuesday, manning checkpoints and checking identity cards to arrest pro-democracy sympathisers, the witness, a former soldier, said.

He said he saw several lorries in the streets equipped with heavy machine guns and members of the plainclothes secret police carrying assault rifles. He believed the soldiers to be Republican Guards, among the units most loyal to Bashar al-Assad, the president.

More details plus video report: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/20114274815152261.html

Syria Live Blog - April 27: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/middle-east/syria-live-blog-april-27

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. Syrian security forces kill 35 in Daraa, cutting water, electricity and telecommunications

Source: Reuters

At least 35 have been killed since attack in Daraa began at dawn on Monday; over 2,000 Syrian security police deployed in Damascus suburb of Duma Tuesday, manning road blocks and checking the identity of residents.

Syrian security forces have killed at least 35 civilians since they began attacking the city of Daraa at dawn on Monday to crush an uprising, Syrian rights organization Sawasiah said on Tuesday.

The organization, founded by jailed human rights lawyer Mohannad al-Hassani, said electricity, water and telecommunications remained cut in Deraa for the second day, with supplies of baby milk and blood at hospitals starting to run low.

This intensification in clashes in Daraa took place as more than 2,000 Syrian security police deployed in the Damascus suburb of Duma on Tuesday, manning road blocks and checking the identity of residents, a witness told Reuters.

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/news/mideast-in-turmoil/report-syrian-security-forces-kill-35-in-daraa-cutting-water-electricity-and-telecommunications-1.358265

[arcane1]

6. Cutting water, electricity and telecommunications???

Hey, that's OUR job!!!

[Turborama]

7. Gunfire, explosions heard in besieged Syrian city

(AP) – 3 hours ago

BEIRUT (AP) — Gunfire and sporadic explosions were heard in a tense southern city Wednesday after the Syrian army sent in more tanks and reinforcements as part of a widening crackdown on the uprising against President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime.

In addition to the unrest in Daraa — the city where the uprising began more than five weeks ago — security forces were conducting sweeping arrests and raids elsewhere in the country, witnesses said.

The crackdown came as opposition figures said their "massive grassroots revolution" will break the regime unless Assad leads a transition to democracy.

The statement from an umbrella group of opposition activists in Syria and abroad called the National Initiative for Change said a democratic transition will "safeguard the nation from falling into a period of violence, chaos and civil war."

Full article that's well worth reading: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5glA_xx31_ghgFQ4UWt9cP2U-3QlA?docId=e028e40be66545cb86897ace9e37e62b