140 feared dead as Syrian tanks bid to crush dissent
Corpses littered the streets after a surge in violence that drew widespread international condemnation.
Estimates of the death toll, which were impossible to verify, ranged from around 75 people to nearly 140 on a day when the attacks began before dawn and witnesses said they were too frightened to collect corpses from the streets.
The worst carnage was in Hama, the scene of a 1982 massacre by President Bashar Assad’s late father and predecessor and a city with a history of defiance against 40 years of Assad family rule. Hospitals there were overwhelmed with bloodied casualties, suggesting the death toll could rise sharply, witnesses said.
US President Barack Obama called the reports “horrifying” and said Assad is “completely incapable and unwilling” to respond to the legitimate grievances of the Syrian people.
Ramadan, which begins tomorrow, will present a critical test for the government, which has unleashed deadly firepower since March but still has not been able to put down the revolt. Daily demonstrations are expected to surge during the holy month, when crowds gather in mosques each evening after the dawn-to-dusk fast.
Though the violence has so far failed to blunt the protests, the Syrian government appears to be hoping it can frighten people from taking to the streets during Ramadan. The protesters are promising to persevere.
Having sealed off the main roads into Hama almost a month ago, army troops in tanks pushed into the city from four sides before daybreak. Residents responded with firebombs, stones and sticks.
It appeared the regime was making an example of Hama, a religiously conservative city about 130 miles north of the capital, Damascus. The city has largely fallen out of government control since June as residents turned on the regime and blockaded the streets against encroaching tanks.
The United States and France enraged the government earlier this month when their ambassadors travelled to Hama in a trip designed to demonstrate solidarity with demonstrators.
But yesterday’s siege only ignited more calls for defiance among protesters.
The Local Coordination Committees, which helps organise anti-government protests, urged people to take to the streets and start a general strike to protest against the killings.
An escalation in violence during Ramadan, a time of heightened religious fervour for devout Muslims, would bring a new dimension to the unrest in Syria, which reached a stalemate in recent weeks. Assad’s forces have waged nearly non-stop crackdowns around the country, but new protest hotbeds have emerged — taxing the already exhausted and overextended military.
There have been credible reports of army defections, although it is hard to gauge how widespread they are.
Assad and his father stacked key military posts with members of their minority Alawite sect, melding the fate of the army and the regime. The army has a clear interest in protecting the regime as it fears persecution should the country’s Sunni majority gain the upper hand.
