Syrian army ‘enters city of Hama’

Friday’s protest in Hama was one of the largest in three months of demonstrations

Syrian troops are raiding houses and arresting people in the central city of Hama, reports say, after massive anti-government protests there on Friday.

Residents had set tyres on fire and blocked roads to delay the movement of troops, who were arriving in busloads and “firing randomly”, residents said.

Meanwhile, tanks that were surrounding Hama have moved towards villages in the north, sparking fears of clashes there.

And in Damascus, two protesters were reportedly shot dead on Sunday.

The killings took place in the Hajjar al-Aswad suburb of the capital amid ongoing arrest campaigns there too, human rights activists said.

The latest deaths and detentions come at a time when the government is pushing for a national dialogue next week, says the BBC’s Lina Sinjab in Damascus. The opposition has refused to take part in any dialogue while the violence continues.

Activists say more than 1,350 civilians and 350 security personnel have been killed across Syria since protests began in mid-March.

On Monday, a resident of Hama told the Reuters news agency that he had seen dozens of Syrian soldiers surround a house in the Mashaa neighbourhood and make arrests.

“At least 30 buses carrying soldiers and security police entered Hama this morning. They are firing randomly in residential neighbourhoods,” the resident, a workshop owner who gave his name as Ahmad, told Reuters by telephone.

Other residents reported hearing gunfire in the western areas of the city.

Security forces had detained more than 20 people in early morning raids, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement obtained by the AP news agency.

Reports cannot be independently verified as the Syrian authorities have banned most foreign media from the country.

On Friday, the city saw some of the biggest demonstrations yet against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. A day later, Mr Assad sacked the local governor, Ahmad Khaled Abdel Aziz for reportedly failing to suppress the protests.

Hama was the scene of a Muslim Brotherhood uprising against Mr Assad’s father, Hafez, in 1982, which the army crushed, killing at least 10,000 people.

Also on Monday, tanks and armoured vehicles that had been surrounding Hama moved north towards the province of Idlib, activists said, sparking concerns that the situation there could get worse.

Many of the deaths during the recent uprising are said to have happened in the north-western province, where there has been a heavy army crackdown on protests.

At least 10,000 people fled to Turkey, following attacks in the town of Jisr al-Shughour. Some 9,300 still remain camped there in tents, Turkish officials say.

Activists say that the army is now intensifying its operations in the nearby towns of Kfar Nubbul and Kfar Roumah, where at least six people were wounded when tanks opened fire on Monday morning.

The uprising shows no sign of letting up despite a deadly government crackdown that has brought international condemnation and sanctions.

President Assad is facing the most serious challenge to his family’s four-decade ruling dynasty in Syria.

His administration has blamed a “small faction” of “saboteurs” of exploiting popular grievances.

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