Five Dead in Hama as Army Storms Damascus Suburb
At least five people were killed on Tuesday as the Syrian army pressed on with its crackdown on the flashpoint protest city of Hama and troops stormed a Damascus suburb.
At least 24 civilians were reported killed across Syria on Monday, among them 10 during protests after special evening prayers, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdul Rahman said.
"Ten martyrs fell and several people were wounded by gunfire from security forces during protests in several Syrian towns after the 'tarawih' evening prayers," Abdul Rahman said.
Syrian tanks shelled the outskirts of the flashpoint protest city of Hama late on Monday, he said. The death toll on the first day of the Ramadan fasting month was 24, while more than 150 people were detained.
On Tuesday troops tightened their siege on Hama by taking up positions near homes and sending residents fleeing for their lives.
Hama-based activist Omar Hamawi told The Associated Press that parts of Hama were hit Tuesday morning with heavy machine gun fire after sporadic shelling overnight.
He said a shell hit a compound known as the Palace of Justice in the city center, causing a huge fire that burned much of the building, which is home to several courts.
"A group of armed saboteurs stormed the Palace of Justice in Hama yesterday (Monday) afternoon and set fire to some offices before ransacking them," state-run news agency SANA said, quoting the head of the lawyers' union in Hama.
"Plumes of black smoke were seen yesterday afternoon rising from the complex where several departments were on fire," SANA quoted Mohammed Abbas as saying.
The agency also quoted unnamed sources as saying that "hundreds of masked men riding motorbikes" attacked the main courthouse and set fire to offices.
Opposition-affiliated Sham News Network reported that security forces on Tuesday shot dead two people in the Hama neighborhood of al-Mizrab.
Two other people were also killed in Hama Tuesday when security forces shelled a poultry truck near the city’s central prison, SNN added, identifying the two as Khaled and Fateh Katil.
And snipers shot dead a fifth person near Hama’s fire department, Abdul Rahman said.
Meanwhile, the Hama neighborhood of al-Qsour was heavily bombarded on Tuesday and security forces were shooting at anything that moves, SNN said.
Elsewhere, security forces stormed the Damascus suburb of Arbin during a funeral for Monday’s victims, SNN added, reporting “indiscriminate” shooting in the suburb.
Protests erupted Monday evening across the country, with hundreds turning out in cities including Homs, Latakia, the Damascus suburbs and the eastern city of Deir Ezzor.
There were scattered protests in Hama, but shelling kept most people inside. Hama has been the target of the recent operation because it has emerged as an opposition stronghold.
Hamawi said that troops advanced about 700 meters from the western entrance of the city overnight, taking up positions near homes and buildings in an area known as Kazo Square. He said the force consisted of eight tanks and several armored personnel carriers.
The activist, who spoke to the AP by telephone, said troops were also reinforced on the eastern side of the city around the Hama Central Prison, an overcrowded jail.
He said residents there saw smoke billowing from the prison overnight and heard sporadic gunfire from inside, leading some to believe the inmates were rioting. He added that it was impossible to know what was exactly going on in the prison or whether there were casualties inside the tightly controlled facility.
Hama has a history of defiance to the Assad family 40-year dynasty in Syria.
In 1982, Assad's father, Hafez Assad, ordered the military to quell a rebellion by Syrian members of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood movement. The city was sealed off and bombs dropped from above smashed swaths of the city and killed between 10,000 and 25,000 people, rights groups say.
Source: Agence France Presse, Associated Press
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