WarSclerotic

Syria forces enter Hama as residents take to streets – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Local resident reports at least 30 buses of soldiers and police enter Hama Monday; thousands of Hama residents on streets protesting despite recent regime crack-down on demonstrators.

By Reuters and DPA

Syrian troops stormed houses in the city of Hama on Monday as thousands of residents took to the streets shouting “God is greater” in defiance of a government crack-down on recent large protests, residents said.

“At least 30 buses carrying soldiers and security police entered Hama this morning. They are firing randomly in residential neighborhoods,” one of the residents, a workshop owner who gave his name as Ahmad, said by telephone.

	Syrian anti-regime protesters tearing down a poster of President Bashar al-Assad in Hama, north of Damascus.
	Photo by: AFP/YouTube

He said he had seen dozens of soldiers surround a house in the Mashaa neighborhood and make arrest.

Syrian government troops have pulled back from positions around the central city of Hama, a report said earlier on Monday.

Soldiers had deployed around the city of 650,000 late Saturday following protests by tens of thousands of people against President Bashar Assad, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria told Al Jazeera news agency.

The troops withdrew late Sunday, after arresting dozens of people in outlying neighborhoods of the city, unidentified witnesses were quoted as saying.

The opposition said secret police were patrolling the city and that authorities had carried out arrests in Hama amid heavy gunfire and increased troop presence.

Saturday’s protests were the largest against the government since the unrest began three months ago, the Al Jazeera report said.

The crackdown in Hama came one day after Assad dismissed the governor when crowds started gathering in the provincial capital on Friday.

More than 1,365 civilians and 344 security personnel have been killed, according to local human rights groups, since the protests calling for Assad’s ouster began in mid-March.

Al Jazeera reported Monday that troops had killed two protesters in a suburb of Damascus.

At least 10,000 people have been detained, according to human rights advocates. Reports of casualties and arrests cannot be independently verified because most foreign media have been banned from Syria.

Last month, Assad said a national dialogue would start soon to review new legislation including laws on parliamentary elections, allow the creation of political parties other than the ruling Baath Party and to consider changes to the constitution.

Protesters and Western diplomats have called Assad’s promises for a national dialogue insufficient as the violent crackdown on the demonstrations continued.

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