Matthew Price on the Jordanian-Syrian border says he has heard “there is a growing humanitarian problem” in Deraa
‘Six die’ in besieged Syrian city
At least six people have been killed by security forces in Deraa as the Syrian government seeks to tighten its grip on the southern city, activists say.
Tanks were earlier seen rolling into the city and gunfire was heard coming from the old quarter. One activist said the dead had been shot by snipers.
On Friday, more than 60 protesters were killed across the country – more than half of them in Deraa – activists said.
Officials said the number of dead was far lower, and included four soldiers.
Foreign journalists are not being allowed into Syria, and the exact picture of what is happening remains unclear.
On Saturday, witnesses said there was continuing army action in Deraa.
One told the BBC that soldiers were close to the city’s main Omari mosque and that he could see bodies in the street. Gunfire could be heard in the background.
“[Deraa] is besieged. Food, water and medicine are running out”
Syrian human rights activist
Later, activists said that at least six people had died.
“They were killed as the army began pounding the town at dawn and snipers opened fire,” one activist told the AFP news agency.
It is not known if the deaths came as people attended the funerals of the 40 people who witnesses said had been killed in Deraa on Friday.
According to some reports, officials asked the relatives of those who died in Deraa and elsewhere to keep the funerals small and personal.
In the past that has not prevented crowds of sympathisers turning out and chanting slogans against the regime, says the BBC’s Jim Muir in Beirut.
Websites supporting the uprising in Syria have said the bloodshed will only increase the resolve of the protesters to see through the mission of those who have fallen, our correspondent says.
They have called for a “week of breaking the siege” – a reference to the dire situation in Deraa, which has been in the grip of a crackdown by troops and tanks for the past six days, he adds.
They are planning demonstrations in different parts of the country everyday, culminating in nationwide protests at the end of the week.
President Bashar al-Assad’s government blames extremists for the unrest Activists said it was difficult to know exactly what was happening in Deraa because residents were not being allowed to move far from their homes.
“The city is besieged. Food, water and medicine are running out,” one quoted a witness as saying.
Some people had tried to bring in food and medicine to the city, but they were told they could not enter the city and turned back, the activists added.
Unconfirmed reports said some soldiers had deserted and were taking refuge with locals after refusing to fire on protesters in Deraa.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 539 people have been killed nationwide since protests began on 15 March.
President Bashar al-Assad’s government blames extremists for the unrest, which it says have left 80 security personnel dead.
On Friday, the UN Human Rights Council condemned violence, in a US-led resolution by 26 votes to nine with seven abstentions.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague welcomed the resolution on Saturday and voiced alarm at the “credible” reports of hundreds of deaths.
“I am extremely concerned by ongoing violence and repression in Syria,” he said in a statement.
“The Syrian government has failed to heed repeated calls by the international community for restraint. It is vital to respond with reform not repression.”
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