Syria shells Deraa’s Roman quarter

Stranglehold on southern city at the heart of uprising tightens after storming of key mosque and death toll rises to 535 Syrian army tanks have shelled the old quarter of Deraa, the southern city at the heart of the six-week-old uprising, said a witness on Sunday. Daraa has been without water, fuel or electricity since Monday, when the regime sent in troops backed by tanks and snipers to crush protests seeking an end to President Bashar al-Assad’s authoritarian rule. Tanks and armoured personnel vehicles have cut off neighbourhoods, and snipers on rooftops throughout the city have kept residents pinned in their homes. Other areas of the country have also come under military control, but Deraa has come under the most serious stranglehold as the death toll has soared to 535. Tanks fired shells into the heart of Deraa’s ancient Roman quarter, said a resident who lives on the outskirts of the city. He said he could identify the weaponry because he was a former soldier. Men were forbidden to leave their homes but women were allowed out in the early morning to search for bread, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear that Syrian forces would identify him. Residents have responded to the crackdown by shouting the traditional rallying cry “God is great!” from their homes over the past several evenings, he said. “It was like a wave from quarter to quarter, it raises our spirits,” he said. “Our houses are close to each other, so even though we can’t go outside, we stand by the windows and chant it. Our neighbours can hear us and they respond.” The witness’s account could not be independently verified. Syria has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted access to trouble spots, making it almost impossible to confirm the dramatic events shaking one of the most authoritarian regimes in the Arab world. On Saturday, Syrian troops killed four people while storming a mosque that has become a focal point for protesters in Deraa, and security forces in Damascus kept dozens of women from marching on parliament to urge Assad to end his crackdown. The military raid on the Omari mosque came a day after 65 people were killed, most of them in Deraa, near the border with Jordan. Friday was the second deadliest day since the uprising began in mid-March in Deraa, sparked by the arrest of a group of teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall. The protest movement quickly spread and is now posing the gravest threat to the 40-year rule of the Assad family. The president has responded with overtures of reform coupled with a brutal crackdown , although in the past week, the regime has intensified its attempts to crush the revolt by force. David Cameron has condemned the Syrian government’s “completely disgraceful and unacceptable” crackdown. The prime minister said international pressure on Assad’s regime needed to be stepped up. Speaking on BBC1′s Andrew Marr Show, Cameron said: “It is a completely disgraceful and unacceptable situation, to see the regime killing so many of its own people.” Pressed on why the UK and international allies had intervened in Libya but were not taking action against Syria, Cameron said: “There are some differences. In Libya we were asked by the Arab League to go into that country, we were asked by the Libyan people, we were backed by a United Nations resolution. Clearly in Syria we need to do more to step up the pressure on that regime to show, internationally, that is not acceptable. We have started that process in the European Union but I think we have further to go and more to do.” Syria Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Bashar Al-Assad guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 1, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.