Syrian tanks launch Hama assault

BBC News - Syrian unrest: 'Many deaths' as army attacks Hama BBC

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Skip to content Skip to local navigation Skip to bbc.co.uk navigation Skip to bbc.co.uk search Help Accessibility Help World Home UK Africa Asia-Pac Europe Latin America Mid-East South Asia US & Canada Business Health Sci/Environment Tech Entertainment Video 31 July 2011Last updated at 07:45 GMT Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print Syrian unrest: 'Many deaths' as army attacks Hama Hama has seen some of the biggest protests yet Continue reading the main story Syria Crisis 'Wait and see' for Syria protests Refugees' stories Guide: Syria Crisis Dissidents unity The Syrian army has begun an assault on the city of Hama in northern Syria, with residents saying that dozens of people have been killed.

Hama has been in a state of revolt and virtually besieged for the past month.

Locals said more than 20 people were killed in "intense gunfire" after forces moved in from several sides.

The army is signalling that it will not tolerate large-scale unrest ahead of the month of Ramadan, when protests are expected to grow, correspondents say.

Syria has seen more than four months of protests against the authoritarian four-decade rule of President Bashar al-Assad's Baath party.

Centre of protests

According to activists on the ground, troops and tanks began their multi-pronged assault at dawn, smashing through hundreds of barricades erected by locals to reach the centre of Hama.

"[Tanks] are firing their heavy machineguns randomly and overrunning makeshift road blocks," a doctor in Hama told Reuters by phone, with machinegun fire in the background.

He said the death toll was rising rapidly, putting the latest estimate at 24. Three of the city's hospitals had received 19, three and two dead bodies respectively, he added.

Residents of northern Hama told Reuters that tank shells were falling at the rate of four a minute there. They also confirmed deaths in the area.

Electricity and water supplies had been cut, they said, in a tactic regularly used by the military when storming towns to crush protests.

Security forces snipers were reported to have taken up positions on high buildings, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon.

One local activist said that five tanks had been abandoned by their crews in two parts of town, and that protesters had attacked and burnt down three police stations, our correspondent says.

Continue reading the main storySignificance of Hama

Hama - a bastion of dissidence - occupies a significant place in the history of modern Syria. In 1982, then-President Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar, sent in troops to quell an uprising by the Sunni opposition Muslim Brotherhood. Tens of thousands were killed and the town flattened. The operation was led by the president's brother, Rifaat.

Similarly, current President Bashar Assad has turned to his own brother, Maher, who commands the army's elite Fourth Division, to deal with the unrest.

Hama, with a population 800,000, has seen some of the biggest protests and worst violence in Syria's 2011 uprising. It was slow to join in, but has now become one of the main focuses of the revolt, and is largely out of government control.

Earlier this month, the US and French ambassadors broke protocol and staged solidarity visits to the city. The Turkish Prime Minister, Recip Tayyip Erdogan has said there must not be "another Hama", meaning, another massacre.

Mass arrests The government blames armed Islamist gangs for the unrest, but correspondents say the protests appear largely peaceful, with only isolated cases of residents arming themselves against the military assault.

Most foreign media is banned from the country, making it difficult to verify reports.

Hama was the scene of the suppression of an uprising against President Assad's father in 1982. The city has seen some of the biggest demonstrations of the recent unrest.

Activists say more than 1,500 civilians and 350 security personnel have been killed across Syria since protests began in mid-March. More than 12,600 have been arrested and 3,000 others are missing.

The protests show no sign of letting up despite a government crackdown that has brought international condemnation and sanctions.

On Saturday, troops shot dead three people who threw stones at a military convoy sent to quash unrest in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Spokesman Rami Abdel Rahman said about 60 military vehicles, including tanks, personnel carriers and trucks crammed with soldiers deployed in the key oil hub, which has seen near daily protests.

A total of 20 people were killed and 35 wounded on Friday as hundreds of thousands of protested in cities across Syria, rights groups said.

More than 500 people were arrested in a single operation in the Qadam neighbourhood of the capital Damascus, they added.

#ss-syria_beginners_guide{border:1px solid #bdbdbd;}#ss-syria_beginners_guide {width: 464px;}Syria's anti-government protests, inspired by events in Tunisia and Egypt, first erupted in mid-March after the arrest of a group of teenagers who spray-painted a revolutionary slogan on a wall. The protests soon spread, and human rights activists and opposition groups say 1,700 people have died in the turmoil, while thousands more have been injured.Although the arrest of the teenagers in the southern city of Deraa first prompted people to take to the streets, unrest has since spread to other areas, including Hama, Homs, Latakia, Jisr al-Shughour and Baniyas. Demonstrators are demanding greater freedom, an end to corruption, and, increasingly, the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad.President Assad's government has responded to the protests with overwhelming military force, sending tanks and troops into at least nine towns and cities. In Deraa and Homs - where protests have persisted ? amateur video footage shows tanks firing on unarmed protesters, while snipers have been seen shooting at residents venturing outside their homes.Some of the bloodiest events have taken place in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour. In early June, officials claimed 120 security personnel were killed by armed gangs, however protesters said the dead were shot by troops for refusing to kill demonstrators. As the military moved to take control of the town, thousands fled to neighbouring Turkey, taking refuge in camps. Although the major cities of Damascus and Aleppo have seen pockets of unrest and some protests, it has not been widespread - due partly to a heavy security presence. There have been rallies in the capital - one with an enormous Syrian flag - in support of President Assad, who still receives the backing of many in Syria's middle class, business elite and minority groups.The Assad family has been in power for 40 years, with Bashar al-Assad inheriting office in 2000. The president has opened up the economy, but has continued to jail critics and control the media. He is from the minority Alawite sect - an offshoot of Shia Islam ? but the country's 20 million people are mainly Sunni. The biggest protests have been in Sunni-majority areas.Although the US and EU have condemned the violence and imposed sanctions, the UN Security Council has been unable to agree on a response. Some fear the country could descend into civil war if the government collapsed, while others believe chaos in Syria ? with its strategic location and its web of regional alliances - could destabilise the entire Middle East. BACK{current} of {total}NEXT  More on This Story Syria Crisis Features and analysis'Wait and see' for Syria protests

Syria's regime could be changing tactics with the threat of capture now the greatest fear among protesters, according to the personal account of one political analyst in the country.

Refugees' stories Guide: Syria CrisisDissidents unityHiding with protestersProtest footage mappedInvestigating Jisr al-Shughour Too little, too late?Damascus reacts to speechDodging Syrian patrolsDivided DamascusNo man's land on borderTurkey's Syrian dilemmaRuling family dynamicsProtest leaders ProfilesProfile: Bashar al-AssadCountry profile: SyriaPresident's inner circleProtest hotbed: Deraa Around the webBBC Arabic websiteRevolution 2011 on FacebookSyrian state news agency SanaHuman Rights Observatory (Arabic) From other news sites TheStar.com.my Syrian tanks storm Hama city, 24 dead - doctor 36 mins ago ABC Online Dozens killed as Syrian tanks storm Hama 45 mins ago Telegraph Syria: at least 24 dead as army attacks Hama 1 hr ago Yahoo! UK and Ireland Syrian tanks storm Hama, 24 dead - doctor 1 hr ago France24 SYRIA: Syrian tanks storm restive Hama in deadly crackdown 2 hrs ago About these results Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print More World stories RSSUS parties hopeful for debt deal

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Thousands protest in Syrian city

8 July 2011 Last updated at 15:40 GMT Hama was the scene of a brutal crackdown by the government in 1982 Hundreds of thousands of people are attending an anti-government protest in the Syrian city of Hama, activists say.

Organisers have called on demonstrators to express their total rejection of the government's decision to hold a national dialogue conference on Sunday.

Earlier, the US and French ambassadors visited Hama to show their solidarity.

Syria's interior ministry said the US envoy had met several "saboteurs" and denounced the "direct and unacceptable interference" in its internal affairs.

Tanks were deployed on the outskirts of Hama last weekend after the central city witnessed the largest protest since anti-government demonstrations began in March.

At least 22 people in Hama have since been shot dead by security forces.

"No-one can predict what is going to happen in the next few days," one resident told BBC Arabic. "Many families have left Hama for the neighbouring villages."

'Incitement'

Despite the crackdown, people once again took to the streets of Hama after noon prayers on Friday, demanding the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad and rejecting an offer of dialogue, activists and witnesses said.

Continue reading the main story

Hama - a bastion of dissidence - occupies a significant place in the history of modern Syria. In 1982, then-President Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar, sent in troops to quell an uprising by the Sunni opposition Muslim Brotherhood. Tens of thousands were killed and the town flattened. The operation was led by the president's brother, Rifaat.

Similarly, President Bashar al-Assad has turned to his own brother, Maher, who commands both the Republican Guard and the army's elite Fourth Division, to deal with the unrest.

Hama, with a population 800,000, has seen some of the biggest protests and worst violence in Syria's 2011 uprising.

Rami Abdul Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the AFP news agency as many as 450,000 people were taking part.

A witness told the Associated Press that many protesters were carrying olive branches and chanting: "We only kneel to God".

"There was no violence. As long as we have no security forces, we have no violence," another said.

One person told BBC Arabic that thousands of people from nearby villages had been prevented by security forces from entering Hama and joining the march.

The US and French ambassadors to Syria, Robert Ford and Eric Chevallier, travelled to the city on Thursday as acts of solidarity, but left before Friday's protests began, according to officials in Washington and Paris.

But the Syrian interior ministry said Mr Ford's visit, for which he did not seek the permission of the authorities in Damascus, was an act of incitement.

"The ministry wondered at the US ambassador's arrival in Hama contrary to the diplomatic norms and despite the roadblocks set up by the saboteurs to prevent citizens from reaching their jobs," state media quoted it as saying.

The ministry said Mr Ford had met "a number of the saboteurs and incited them to more violence and protest and to refuse dialogue".

It added that the ambassador, "under the cover of visiting some hospitals", had met other people in an attempt to encourage further violence and instability, to sabotage national dialogue, and to deepen discord and sedition among the Syrian people "who strongly reject and condemn such foreign instigation".

On Thursday, a US state department spokeswoman said Mr Ford had "spent the day expressing our deep support for the right of the Syrian people to assembly peacefully and to express themselves". He also visited a hospital where some people were taken for treatment this week during the security crackdown.

A French foreign ministry spokesman said: "France recalls its concern for the inhabitants of Hama and its condemnation of the violence in Syria perpetrated by authorities against protesters."

Hama was the scene of a brutal crackdown in 1982 ordered by Hafez al-Assad, the president's late father, which left at least 10,000 dead.

At least 60 people were shot dead in Hama during protests on 3 June.

'Disgrace'

There were also mass demonstrations in other towns and cities across the country on Friday.

Continue reading the main story

Dialogue with this regime is out of the question as we cannot talk to murderers”

End Quote Mohammed al-Abdullah Local Co-ordination Committees Activists said three protesters were killed in Maarat al-Numan, a town not far from the restive north-western town of Jisr al-Shughour.

At least one person was also killed in the central Damascus district of Midan, and another died in the nearby suburb of al-Dumair, they added. A policeman was reportedly killed in the city of Homs.

Overnight, three people were killed at a demonstration in Harasta, another of the capital's suburbs, activists said.

The death toll could not be independently confirmed as international journalists have been denied access to Syria.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Local Co-ordination Committees, which represents many of the protesters, insisted that they would send no-one to the government's national dialogue conference on Sunday.

"Dialogue with this regime is out of the question as we cannot talk to murderers," Mohammed al-Abdullah told al-Jazeera. "This is being declared by the rebels in the street."

"The city of Hama is being massacred and besieged, the Syrian people are being tortured, and therefore talk of any dialogue with the regime is a disgrace to the blood of the martyrs."

He added: "We do not believe that there are any members of the regime who believe in dialogue."

State media have said amendments to the constitution will be on the agenda at the meeting, including Article 8, which grants the Baath Party unique status as the "leader of state and society".

Participants will also reportedly examine proposed new laws on political parties, elections, local administration and the press.

Human rights activists say more than 1,400 civilians and 350 security forces personnel have been killed across the country since March.

The government has blamed "armed criminal gangs" for the unrest.

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Syrian refugees flee army advance

23 June 2011 Last updated at 11:04 GMT Many Syrians are heading to refugee camps in Turkey Hundreds of Syrian refugees are fleeing across the border into Turkey to escape an assault by Syrian troops in the area, witnesses say.

Tanks and snipers have entered the village of Khirbet al-Jouz - a base for makeshift refugee camps.

One group of people broke through barbed wire to cross the border close to the Turkish village of Guvecci.

More than 1,300 people are estimated to have been killed in the government crackdown on the popular uprising.

Thousands more protesters have been detained since the crackdown began in March, opposition activists say.

The recent military offensive in the north of the country forced thousands of Syrians to flee towards Turkey.

Many crossed the border, but a significant number opted to camp on the Syrian side of the border - preferring to remain on Syrian soil as long as possible.

Turkish mobilisation

Syrian troops reportedly stormed Khirbet al-Jouz early on Thursday morning. Tanks and soldiers were seen on roads around the village and snipers were spotted on roof tops.

A watchtower which had been flying a Turkish flag - put there by Syrians grateful for Turkey's help - is now flying a Syrian flag.

Villagers and journalists in Guvecci could see military activity across the border.

The AFP news agency said several hundred people broke through barbed wire to cross into Turkish territory, while another group of several hundred people were spotted further down the same road.

They are expected to join some 10,000 Syrians already taking refuge at tent cities erected by the Turkish Red Crescent in the border province of Hatay.

Meanwhile, Turkish forces have mobilised along the border.

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Istanbul says it is not clear how the Turkish government - increasingly critical of Syria - will respond to seeing troops harrying refugees who had assumed they were under de facto Turkish protection.

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'Heavy fighting' over Syrian town

12 June 2011 Last updated at 10:47 GMT Troops have been in the area of Jisr al-Shughour for several days Syrian government forces have advanced into the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour, state media say, as part of a widespread government crackdown.

TV reported heavy fighting with armed groups, two dead and large numbers of arrests, while witnesses reported an attack using tanks and helicopters.

The government says it is trying to restore order after it claimed 120 security personnel had been killed.

Residents say they died after a mutiny and fighting between security forces.

The government advance sent more people fleeing towards the Turkish border, to join thousands who have already crossed.

BBC correspondents on the border say the number of those who have crossed is probably now much higher than the official figure of 4,300 given 24 hours ago.

US officials say Syria's crackdown has created a humanitarian crisis, and called for the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) to be given access to the north.

On the Turkish side two camps are already full of refugees and a third is filling up rapidly.

There is a need for food, tents, blankets and mattresses, but medical supplies are in particularly in demand to cope with large numbers of wounded.

UN refugee agency the UNHCR has praised Turkey's response to the crisis but requested broader access to those in the camps.

The agency says it considers anyone fleeing such a level of persecution to have the legal status of a refugee.

Turkey maintains that the displaced people are not seeking refuge, as their eventual aim is to return home.

Feared militia

Activists and residents say troops bombarded Jisr al-Shughour in the early morning.

Continue reading the main story 20km (12 miles) from Turkish border to the northIn remote, agricultural province of IdlibPopulation: approx. 50,000Mainly Sunni Muslim1980 rebellion against Hafez al-Assad brutally crushedThey then began to move in from the east and south in a two-pronged attack with 200 military vehicles, they said.

State media said the operation began after explosive devices were defused on the approaches to the town.

"Heavy confrontations are raging between army units and members of armed organisations taking up positions in the surroundings of Jisr al-Shughour and inside it," state TV said, quoted by Reuters news agency.

"Two members of the armed organisations were killed, large numbers of them arrested, and lethal weapons in their possession were seized."

"Tanks came from the south after shelling randomly and sending volleys of machinegun fire all over the town," one resident told the agency.

Helicopter gunships were also seen hovering overhead.

There are reports that the troops are part of an elite unit commanded by President Bashar al-Assad's younger brother Maher.

The BBC's Jim Muir, in neighbouring Beirut, says there are reports of members of the feared Shabiha militia group fighting alongside the soldiers.

It is not clear how much resistance the army is facing in the town, our correspondent adds, with so many people having fled.

"There are only a few people left. I escaped on my motorcycle through dirt tracks in the hills," one man told Reuters.

Syria has prevented most foreign journalists, including those from the BBC, from entering the country, making it difficult to independently verify reports from there.

However, an Associated Press reporter who is has been permitted to travel with Syrian troops said he saw "gunmen" arrested, and at least two dead in the town hospital.

State media said two command groups of armed organisations had been detained, and others killed or wounded. Arms and ammunition were seized.

One account said some of those who tried to flee towards Turkey were intercepted, while others were shot and killed.

Continue reading the main story Owen Bennett-Jones BBC News, Turkey-Syria border

This is the latest camp to be constructed by the Turkish authorities. They've got two camps already which were overflowing. Three days ago the governor of this province came through this area, saw these fields here which he thought were very suitable for a potential camp and just ordered it to be done.

And within a couple of days they've put it together. It's the Red Crescent that's done this. They've got the capacity here, they reckon, with this camp and a few other sites they've identified, to get 5,000 people homed here if they need to.

It's been a rapid effort - sewage lines have gone in, water, gravel has gone down so they can drive vehicles between the tents. It's a big logistical exercise, and already this one's beginning to fill up.

On Saturday witnesses described homes being bulldozed in nearby villages and crops and fields burnt and uprooted.

Violence has also been reported in the nearby town of Maarat al-Numan, with armed men attacking the courthouse, police station and strategic fuel depot.

Meanwhile there are continuing but unverifiable reports of army defections, with the latest saying that an officer and 50 men had changed sides rather than fire on civilians in Jisr al-Shughour.

Protests against President Bashar al-Assad began in March and have spread across the country.

Rights groups say hundreds of people have been killed and there are reports the army has been using aircraft to open fire on people.

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