Fwd: [bangla-vision] MASSACRE IN SYRIA: 150 CIVILIANS DEAD. By Noora Faraj and Mustapha Ajbaili

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MASSACRE IN SYRIA: 150 CIVILIANS DEAD. By Noora Faraj and Mustapha Ajbaili

Sunday, 31 July 2011

Tanks stormed Hama after besieging it for nearly a month in response to some of the biggest protests against President Bashar Al Assad's rule. (File photo)

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By NOORA FARAJ AND MUSTAPHA AJBAILI
Al Arabiya And Agencies

Syrian forces killed reportedly at least 150 civilians and wounded hundreds in major tank assaults on Hama and other cities that began at dawn on Sunday to crush pro-democracy demonstrations. Some Syrian activists said early Monday morning that the death toll could exceed 200, but there was no way of independently confirming this figure.

What could be confirmed was the brutal nature of the assault against unarmed civilians by military forces of Pesident Bashar Al Assad of Syria. Amateur videos transmitted by residents of Hama and other cities show tanks firing at crowds, and corpses on streets. Fires rage. The scenes seem surreal.

"The army and security forces launched an attack on Hama and opened fire on civilians, killing 95 people," Ammar Qorabi, who heads the National Organization for Human Rights, told AFP.

He said that elsewhere, "19 people were killed in Deir Ezzor in the east, six more died in Harak in the south and one in Al Bukamal," also in the east.

Several observers wondered if Mr. Assad was truly in charge of the situation. Some suggested that his brother, Maher, may be leading the assault against pro-democracy protesters. Maher Assad is known for his personal brutality and intolerance of dissent.

Reports have suggested that President Assad's immediate family is in London, including his wife Asma. Mrs. Assad is particularly popular throughout Syria and internationally because of her humanitarian concerns, social work – and her great beauty. She grew up in London, and hails from a Sunni family; her husband is an Alawite, a sect of Shia Islam.

London is also where President Assad's uncle, Rifaat Al Assad, lives in comfortable exile. It was Rifaat who personally led the 1982 assault on Hama, supposedly to decimate the Muslim Brotherhood there. To this day, no final death toll has been established – the figures range from 20,000 to 100,000.

While speculation increased Sunday afternoon about President Assad's whereabouts and whether he was still in control of Syria, world condemnation of Syrian brutality slowly started.

US President Barack Obama said he was "appalled" by Syria's crackdown on Sunday, and vowed to step up pressure to isolate President Assad.

"I am appalled by the Syrian government's use of violence and brutality against its own people. The reports out of Hama are horrifying and demonstrate the true character of the Syrian regime," President Obama said in a statement that was issued late Sunday afternoon by the White House.

"Once again, President Assad has shown that he is completely incapable and unwilling to respond to the legitimate grievances of the Syrian people. His use of torture, corruption and terror puts him on the wrong side of history and his people," Mr. Obama said.

"Through his own actions, Bashar Al Assad is ensuring that he and his regime will be left in the past, and that the courageous Syrian people who have demonstrated in the streets will determine its future. Syria will be a better place when a democratic transition goes forward," President Obama said.

A US embassy official in Damascus earlier said Syrian authorities had launched a war against their own people by attacking the city of Hama to try to crush pro-democracy demonstrations.

"It is desperate. The authorities think that somehow they can prolong their existence by engaging in full armed warfare on their own citizens," Press Attache J. J. Harder told Reuters by phone. He described the official Syrian account of the violence as "nonsense."

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations on Sunday called on President Assad to halt his military offensive, a UN spokesman said.

Mr. Ban strongly condemned the action by Mr. Assad who has been refusing to take the UN leader's calls for several weeks.

"The secretary general is deeply concerned over reports from Syria that hundreds of protesters have been killed and injured in Hama and other towns and cities throughout the country," said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.

"He strongly condemns the use of force against the civilian population and calls on the government of Syria to halt this violent offensive at once," Mr. Nesirky said.

Secretary General Ban – a South Korean national – reaffirmed Syria's obligation to respect human rights, including the freedom to demonstrate peacefully and urged President Assad "to listen to the legitimate aspirations of the population."

"The secretary general reminds the Syrian authorities that they are accountable under international human rights law for all acts of violence perpetrated by them against the civilian population," the spokesman said.

Canada also strongly condemned on Sunday "the brutal attack" in Hama by Syrian security forces "against peaceful protestors."

"The use of military force, including tanks, by the Assad regime to suppress the Syrian people's calls for democratic reform is utterly indefensible," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a statement.

According to activists, Syrian forces killed nearly 200 people on Sunday including at least 100 when the army stormed the flashpoint protest city of Hama to crush dissent on the eve of Ramadan.

Mr. Harper added that Canada is concerned about reports that a key opposition official has been arrested and Harper said his government "calls for the immediate release of this individual, along with all others detained because of peaceful protests."

Opposition figure and chief of one of the country's largest clans, Nawaf Al Bachir was arrested Saturday afternoon according to the Syrian League for the Defense of Human Rights.

"The use of military force, including tanks, by the Assad regime to suppress the Syrian people's calls for democratic reform is utterly indefensible," said Harper.

"The status quo is not acceptable. The Syrian President is faced with a clear choice: deliver the reform that the Syrian people are asking or get out of the way so others can deliver it," he added.

The Syrian president replaced the governor of Hama after a record 500,000 protesters rallied in the opposition bastion on July 1 calling for the fall of the regime.

At least 1,583 civilians and 369 members of the army and security forces have been killed since mid-March in Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Activists say Sunday's offensive in Syria was one of the deadliest since demonstrators first took to the streets on March 15 demanding democratic reforms.

Syrian forces stormed the flashpoint protest city of Hama to crush dissent on the eve of Ramadan, activists said early Monday morning.

A group identifying itself as "The Free Army of Syria" warned security forces against attacking civilians

Witnesses earlier said three people, including a child, were killed and 15 others wounded in Al Harak Village near the flashpoint city of Deraa, Al Arabiya TV reported.

The official SANA news agency, meanwhile, reported two members of the security forces killed on Sunday by "armed groups" in Hama.

"Two law enforcement members were martyred by armed groups in Hama who set police stations on fire, vandalized public and private properties, set up roadblocks and barricades and burned tires at the entrance of the city and in its streets," an English-language report on the SANA Website said.

The agency gave little report of the civilian killings by the security forces.

The Facebook page of the "Syrian Revolution Against Bashar Al Assad" posted videos an army unity that has defected in Hama. Another video showed a police station in the city torched down in fighting between defected soldiers and security forces.

One of the residents, a doctor, said there were 51 people wounded at Badr hospital alone, which was running short of blood for transfusions. He said tanks had surrounded another main hospital, Al Horani.

"Tanks are attacking from four directions. They are firing their heavy machineguns randomly and overrunning makeshift road blocks erected by the inhabitants," he said by phone, the sound of machinegun fire crackling in the background.

Another resident said snipers had climbed onto the roofs of the state-owned electricity company and the main prison, and that electricity had been cut in eastern neighborhoods.

Mr. Assad is attempting to crush an uprising against his 11-year rule that broke out in March, inspired by "Arab Spring" revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, and has spread across the country.

Syrian authorities have expelled most independent journalists, making it difficult to verify reports of fighting.

Hama was the scene of a massacre in 1982 when Mr. Assad's father, the late president Hafez Al Assad, sent his troops to crush an Islamist-led uprising, razing whole neighborhoods and killing up to 30,000 people in the bloodiest episode of Syria's modern history. Some say that more than 100,000 people were killed, and the true figure will perhaps never be known.

The US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, visited the city earlier this month in a gesture of international support for what he described as peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, once one of Mr. Assad's main allies, said in May that "we do not want to see another Hama massacre," and warned the 45-year-old president that it would be hard to contain the consequences if it were repeated.

The Syrian leadership blames "armed terrorist groups" for most killings during the revolt, saying that more than 500 soldiers and security personnel have been killed.

An activist group, Avaaz, said in a report last week that Syrian security forces had killed 1,634 people in the course of their crackdown, while at least 2,918 had disappeared.

Another 26,000 had been arrested, many of whom were beaten and tortured, and 12,617 remained in detention, it said.

(Noora Faraj, Senior producer of Web TV at Al Arabiya English, can be reached at: noora.faraj@mbc.net. Mustapha Ajbaili, Managing Editor of Al Arabiya English, can be reached at: Mustapha.ajbaili@mbc.net)

 

 

قُل لَّن يُصِيبَنَآ إِلَّا مَا كَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ لَنَا هُوَ مَوْلَىٰنَا ۚ وَعَلَى ٱللَّهِ فَلْيَتَوَكَّلِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ

I am going with the light of truth radiant in my blood
I am going with the banners of piety as my title
I am going with the treasures of Muhammad upon my lips
And my heartbeats are poems of Faith

 

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--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
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