90 Dead as Aleppo Protesters Demand Death for Assad and Activists Accuse Regime of Massacre in Hama
Protesters in Aleppo took to the streets Friday to demand death for Syrian President Bashar Assad even as violence raged there and 90 people were killed nationwide.
The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said regime forces shot dead at least 90 people across the country, among them 66 in Hama that witnessed a “massacre” in its al-Arbaeen neighborhood.
Ten people were killed in Idlib, nine in Damascus and its countryside, three in Deir Ezzor, one in Homs and one in Daraa, the LCC added.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in al-Shaar neighborhood of the country's economic capital, chanting: "The people want the execution of Bashar!" and "The people want freedom and peace."
"We go down the street with a single objective: the liberation of the country," said 20-year-old protester Abu Ahmed.
"Today you can take to the streets. Before there were shabiha" pro-regime militiamen, he said. "For 20 years we supported the military, but in fact this army is against us."
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported demonstrations in the Saif al-Dawla, Furqan and New Aleppo neighborhoods in western Aleppo, as well as in Sukari, Bustan al-Qasr and Fardoss in the south.
It also reported protests in the Kurdish region of Hasakeh, Daraa province of southern Syria and Idlib province to the northwest, where one demonstrator was shot dead by regime forces.
Also in Idlib, five rebels were killed in an army ambush, the Observatory said.
Shells rained down on rebel positions in the northern city of Aleppo ahead of a U.N. vote on Friday to deplore both the regime's use of heavy weaponry and world powers for failing to agree on steps to end the conflict.
Fierce clashes broke out between regime troops and rebels in the opposition stronghold of Salaheddin as well as in Martini in central Aleppo, while four civilians were killed elsewhere in the province, the Observatory said.
The official SANA news agency said the army and police killed 17 "terrorists" in the city, where the regime and rebels have been battling for control since July 20.
The army "is attempting to storm Salaheddin with tanks from the Hamdaniyeh side of the highway, while aircraft are shelling from above," according to media activist Mohamed Hassan, who said he was calling from the embattled district.
"The regime no longer has real power in Aleppo," Hassan told Agence France Presse, pointing out that security forces do not leave their posts and municipal functions like garbage collection have stopped.
"Waste fills the streets and the Free (Syrian) Army cleans it," he said.
The rebel Free Syrian Army has said it now controls "50 percent" of Aleppo, where the army has brought in a large number of reinforcements, but has yet to advance on the ground.
Security forces on Friday suppressed protests in the coastal city of Tartus and in the central city of Hama, with security forces and pro-regime gunmen blocking off mosques in a bid to prevent protests, the Observatory said.
Elsewhere in central Syria, three people were killed in heavy shelling overnight near Houla, a town in Homs province where at least 108 people were reported to have been massacred at the end of May.
In Damascus, six people were killed in the Tadamun district in fierce clashes between rebels and the army, which shelled the area, the Observatory said.
It also reported shelling of the Jdaidet Artuz district, southwest of the city, where fighting had erupted around Marj al-Sultan military airport.
The Observatory said Jdaidet Artuz was the scene of a deadly raid on Wednesday by security forces which left 43 people dead, some of whom were summarily executed.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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