Syria’s bloody crackdown on protesters — which seemed to signal a new, harrowing chapter in a conflict that has already killed nearly 400 people — provoked growing international concern on Tuesday with calls for the violence to stop and talk of possible sanctions.
Syria’s bloody crackdown on protesters — which seemed to signal a new, harrowing chapter in a conflict that has already killed nearly 400 people — provoked growing international concern on Tuesday with calls for the violence to stop and talk of possible sanctions.
The Syrian Army stormed the restive city of Dara’a with tanks and soldiers and helped detain dozens nationwide Monday in an escalation of the counter offensive against Syria’s five-week-old uprising, according to residents and human rights activists. They said at least 25 people had been killed in Dara’a, with reports of bodies strewn in the streets.
Such was the alarm in the West about developments in Syria, a critical regional player adjacent to Israel and a close ally of Iran, that the United States State Department urged American citizens not to visit the country and said Americans already there should leave immediately.
An official travel advisory late Monday said the State Department had instructed the evacuation of diplomats’ families and some personnel not essential to the functioning of the American embassy in Damascus — measures similar to those taken in Egypt as the uprising there unfolded earlier this year. Britain also urged its citizens with “no pressing need” to remain in Syria to leave.
The British foreign secretary, William Hague, said on Tuesday that moves were underway at the United Nations Security Council. the European Union and among some Arab countries to send a “strong signal” to the Damascus authorities. “This violent repression must stop,” he said in a statement. But he did not specify what measures might be taken to restrain the Syrian military and security services.
At a news conference in Rome, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy used similar language to condemn the crackdown in Syria.
Earlier, the United States called the violence “completely deplorable.” Tommy Vietor, a National Security Council spokesman, said the Obama administration was considering sanctions against Syrian officials to “make clear that this behavior is unacceptable.”
At the United Nations, European and American officials circulated a draft Security Council statement condemning the crackdown and calling on the government to respect human rights and freedom of expression. The draft endorses a call by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, released last Friday, urging an independent investigation into the mounting death toll.
Until Monday, the Syrian government had been hewing to a mix of concessions and brute force, but its latest actions indicate that it has chosen the latter, seeking to crush a wave of dissent in virtually every province that has shaken the once uncontested rule of President Bashar al-Assad, 45.
“The government has decided to choose the path of violence and repression,” said a Syrian analyst in Beirut, who asked to remain anonymous for his safety. “How far can they go in this repression? That is the question.”
As in 1982, when it crushed an Islamist revolt and killed at least 10,000 people in Hama, the military again showed its willingness to use force to repress its own people. Though there were rumors of discord among soldiers, the leadership is still dominated by Mr. Assad’s minority sect, and its deployment to Dara’a illustrated that a crucial bastion of government support remained loyal — in stark contrast with Egypt, where the military’s refusal to fire on protesters proved decisive in President Hosni Mubarak’s fall.
The official Syrian news agency said Monday night that the military had entered the town at the request of citizens to hunt what it called “extremist terrorist groups.”
Dara’a, a town of low-slung buildings with 75,000 inhabitants, has become almost synonymous with the popular revolt that has posed the greatest challenge to four decades of rule by the Assad family. Protests erupted there in March after security forces arrested high school students accused of scrawling anti-government graffiti on a wall, galvanizing demonstrations that have spread from the Mediterranean coast and eastern regions dominated by Kurds to the steppe of southern Syria, where Dara’a is located.
Residents said at least eight tanks drove into the town before dawn, with 4,000 to 6,000 troops, though some estimates put the numbers far lower, in the hundreds. Water, electricity and phone lines were cut, making firsthand accounts difficult and the numbers impossible to verify, and nearby border crossings with Jordan were reported sealed. Snipers took positions on the roofs of mosques, residents said, and a mix of soldiers and armed irregular forces went house to house to search for protesters.
“There are bodies in the streets we can’t reach; anyone who walks outside is getting shot at,” said a resident of Dara’a who gave his name as Abdullah, reached by satellite phone. “They want to teach Syria a lesson by teaching Dara’a a lesson.”
A handful of videos posted on the Internet, along with residents’ accounts, gave a picture of a city under broad military assault, in what appeared to mark a new phase in the government crackdown. Tanks had not previously been used against protesters, and the force of the assault suggested that the military planned some sort of occupation of the town.
“It’s an attempt to occupy Dara’a,” Abdullah said.
He said soldiers had taken three mosques, but had yet to capture the Omari Mosque, where he said thousands had sought refuge. Since the beginning of the uprising last month, it has served as a headquarters of sorts for demonstrators. He quoted people there as shouting, “We swear you will not enter but over our dead bodies.”
He said residents had also tried to block roads with cement blocks and cars. “We didn’t pay such a high price to quit now,” he said.
For weeks, organizers have managed to circumvent the government’s attempt to black out news from Dara’a and cities like Homs. But it appeared to have more success Monday.
Organizers themselves had trouble reaching contacts, and only occasional videos emerged from the tumult. One showed heavily armed soldiers taking up positions behind walls, a few feet from a tank parked on a leafy avenue. In another, a young boy threw a chunk of concrete at a passing tank. Other videos showed a cloud of black smoke rising and volleys of heavy gunfire echoing in the distance.
“These are the reforms of Bashar al-Assad,” one resident said, as he filmed tanks entering the city. “He is reforming Dara’a with the tanks of Bashar al-Assad.”
Wissam Tarif, executive director of Insan, a human rights group, said his organization had a list of 25 people killed Monday in Dara’a.
Across the country of more than 22 million, the government continued a campaign of mass arrests, protesters said. Security forces searched house to house in Azra, another restive town near Dara’a. Activists said security forces had also entered two towns on the capital’s outskirts — Douma and Maadamiah — detaining dozens of people.
Clashes have been especially pronounced in the poor towns that encircle the capital, Damascus, and activists said there were reports of shooting during the raids.
In Jabla, a coastal city inhabited by Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority and members of the minority Alawite sect, from which the government draws much of its support, security forces killed at least 12 people in a crackdown that began Sunday and persisted into the night. One resident said protesters had burned an army car and taken a soldier hostage.
“The army is deployed all over the area,” said another resident, who gave his name as Abu Ahmed. “I can’t describe how bad the situation was all night. It’s a street war.”
He said the shootings had exacerbated tension between Sunnis and Alawites, a potentially dangerous manifestation in a country with a mosaic of religious and ethnic minorities, many of whom fear the government’s collapse may endanger them.
“The plate has shattered,” he said, using an Arabic expression. “There’s strife between us now, it’s been planted, and the problem is going to exist forever in Jabla.”
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