Hundreds held in bloody crackdown on Syrian protests

Syrian forces heaped more punishment on the residents of restive towns, detaining hundreds in raids or at checkpoints, firing on people trying to retrieve bodies of anti-government protesters and even shooting holes in rooftop water tanks in a region parched by drought, witnesses said.

In the southern city of Daraa, where Syrian army tanks and snipers killed at least 34 people in two days, a resident said security forces shot dead a man as he walked out of the main Omari mosque and shouted at them: “Enough! Enough! Enough! Stop killing your brothers!”

The crackdown by President Bashar Assad has intensified since Friday, when more than 100 people were killed. Security forces also conducted raids in the Damascus suburb of Douma and the northern coastal town of Jableh.

Human rights groups estimate more than 400 people have been killed since mid-March as the Assad regime has tried to crush the uprising. But instead of intimidating protesters, it has emboldened them and their calls for modest reforms have them now increasingly demanding that Assad go.

European leaders escalated their criticism of the Syrian crackdown, with the French president calling the current situation “unacceptable,” and Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague raising the possibility of sanctions.

Even the Arab League said that those in the region demanding freedom and democracy “require support, and not shooting with bullets”.

The attack on Daraa – where the uprising began – appeared to be part of strategy of crippling, pre-emptive action against any opposition to Assad, rather than reacting to demonstrations. But the campaign of intimidation through violence and arrests was unlikely to work, according to a human rights worker, noting that every time Syrian forces surrounded or attacked one town, sympathetic protests broke out elsewhere.

“When the army was sweeping through parts of Daraa, the people were demonstrating in other parts,” said the activist, Rami Nakhla, who is based in Beirut, Lebanon. “All they are doing is increasing the people’s determination.”

Syrian residents reported hundreds of people detained in the towns of Daraa, Jableh and outlying neighbourhoods of Damascus – either seized at checkpoints or in dawn raids. Detainees included all male relatives of the same family, a resident said.

Daraa residents braved fire from snipers and other troops to pull bullet-riddled bodies of protesters killed on Monday off the streets and hide them from security forces, witnesses said.

Snipers also targeted Daraa residents’ water supply, shooting holes in rooftop tanks – the last source of clean water for many desperate residents of the parched region of 300,000 people, a resident said.

Troops cut off electricity to Daraa on Friday, and most food has spoiled in refrigerators.

Most doctors were arrested, leaving only two to treat the wounded – without fresh bandages or antiseptic, another resident said.

Similar scenes were reported in the northern coastal city of Jableh, which was attacked on Friday.

Syrian state media reported that officials captured an “extremist terrorist cell” in Daraa, based in the Omari mosque. It quoted one detainee, Mustafa Ayyash, as saying that the cell was led by three Muslim scholars who told them to kill Syrian forces and accusing the troops of being Zionists.

Syria has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted access to troublespots since the uprising began, making it almost impossible to verify the dramatic events shaking one of the most authoritarian, anti-Western regimes in the Arab world. Residents all spoke anonymously because of fears of reprisal.

The US stepped up demands that Syria halt its crackdown on pro-reform demonstrators but refused to question Assad’s legitimacy. US officials said Washington had begun drawing up targeted sanctions against Assad and his inner circle and conferring with European countries and the United Nations about options for Syria.

Mr Hague told the House of Commons that the international community would have to consider sanctions against Assad if he undertook “ever more violent repression, which can only bring short-term security for the authorities there”.

“The situation has become unacceptable,” added French president Nicolas Sarkozy at a news conference in Rome with Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi. “You don’t shoot at demonstrators.”

Mr Berlusconi urged Assad to fulfil promises of reform and “stop the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations”.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned Syria’s use of force against demonstrators, called for an independent investigation and said “only an inclusive dialogue and genuine reform can address the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people and restore peace and social order”.

Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Assad and urged him to show “restraint”.

The Arab League said it was watching events in Syria, Yemen, Libya and elsewhere in the region, noting the demands to move “their countries towards democracy and reform”.

It said “these are demands that require support, and not shooting with bullets”.

The uprising was sparked by the arrest of teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall, with protesters inspired by uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world.

Last week, Assad fulfilled a key demand by abolishing nearly 50-year-old emergency laws that had given the regime a free hand to arrest people without cause. But he coupled the concession with a stern warning that people would no longer have an excuse to hold mass protests, and any further unrest would be considered “sabotage”.