Syrian tanks have deployed at the entrances to the city of Hama, activists and residents said today, two days after it saw the largest protest against president Bashar al-Assad since an uprising began three months ago.
"Tens of people are being arrested in neighbourhoods on the edges of Hama. The authorities seem to have opted for a military solution to subdue the city," said Rami Abdel-Rahman, president of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Hama, 210km north of Damascus, was the scene of the bloodiest episode in Syria's modern history, when troops killed up to 30,000 people in an assault in 1982 to put down an Islamist-led uprising against the iron rule of Dr Assad's father, the late president Hafez al-Assad.
A resident of Hama said communication networks had been cut off in the city, a tactic that has been used by the military ahead of assaults on cities and towns elsewhere, and security forces and gunmen loyal to DrAssad were seen in several neighbourhoods.
"They fired their rifles randomly this morning in the Mashaa district. Arrests concentrated in the areas around the football stadium and in Sabounia district," the resident, a shop owner who gave his name as Kamel, said by telephone from an area outside the city where communications had not been cut off.
Dr Assad sacked the governor of Hama province yesterday following Friday’s protests.
The protests took place while Dr Assad's troops, backed by tanks and helicopters, pursued a military campaign in the northwestern province of Idlib where a prominent rights lawyer said 14 villagers were killed on Friday.
Another 10 people were shot dead by security forces who confronted demonstrators in the central city of Homs, Damascus suburbs and the Mediterranean city of Latakia, activists said.
State news agency SANA agency said Dr Assad issued a decree dismissing Ahmad Khaled Abdulaziz, governor of Hama province, without giving details.
Rights groups say Syrian security forces have shot dead at least 1,300 civilians since the protests started and arrested over 12,000. Authorities say 500 police and soldiers have been killed by gunmen they also blame for most civilian deaths.
Dr Assad has already sacked the governors of Deraa, where the protests first broke out on March 18th, and Homs, but neither move halted the momentum of protests in those provinces. He has also promised a national dialogue to discuss political reform in Syria, and authorities say preliminary talks with the opposition will take place on July 10th.
Reuters