Syria Escalates Crackdown as Tanks Go to Restive City

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Syrian Army stormed the restive city of Dara’a with tanks and thousands of soldiers and carried out arrests in poor towns on the capital’s outskirts on Monday in a sharp escalation of a widening crackdown on Syria’s five-week-old uprising, according to human rights activists and accounts posted on social networking sites. They said at least 25 people were killed in Dara’a, with bodies strewn in the streets.

The move into the town seemed to signal a new, harrowing chapter in a crackdown that has already killed nearly 400 people, with the single highest toll coming on Friday, when more than 110 people were killed in 14 towns and cities. So far hewing to a mix of concessions and brute force, the government’s actions on Monday indicated that it had chosen the latter, seeking to crush a wave of dissent in virtually every Syrian province that has shaken the once-uncontested rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

Residents said at least eight tanks entered Dara’a before dawn from four directions, with anywhere from 4,000 to 6,000 troops. Water, electricity and phone lines were cut to the area, making first-hand accounts difficult, and nearby border crossings with Jordan were reportedly sealed. Snipers took positions on the roofs of mosques, residents said, and a mix of soldiers and armed irregulars went house to house to search for protesters.

“There are bodies in the streets we can’t reach; anyone who walks outside is getting shot at,” said a resident of Dara’a who gave his name as Abdullah, reached by satellite phone. “They want to teach Syria a lesson by teaching Dara’a a lesson.”

A handful of videos posted on the Internet, along with residents’ accounts, painted a picture of a city under broad military assault, in what appeared to mark a new phase in the government crackdown. Tanks had not previously been used against protesters, and the force of the assault suggested the military planned some sort of occupation of the town.

“It’s an attempt to occupy Dara’a,” Abdullah said.

He said soldiers had taken three mosques, but had yet to capture the Omari Mosque, where thousands had reportedly sought refuge. Since the beginning of the uprising last month, it has served as a headquarters of sorts for demonstrators. He quoted people there shouting, “We swear you will not enter but over our dead bodies.”

For weeks, organizers have managed to circumvent the government’s effort to black out news from Dara’a and cities like Homs. But it appeared to have more success Monday. Organizers themselves had trouble reaching contacts, and only occasional videos emerged from the tumult. One showed heavily armed soldiers taking up positions behind walls, a few feet away from a tank parked in a leafy avenue. In another, a young boy threw a chunk of concrete at a passing tank. Other videos showed a cloud of black smoke rising on the horizon and volleys of heavy gunfire echoing in the distance.

“God is great, Bashar,” a protester cried in one. “Why are you attacking us?”

The town of low-slung buildings, with about 75,000 inhabitants, has become almost synonymous with the revolt, which has posed the greatest challenge to four decades of rule by the Assad family. Protests erupted there in March after security forces arrested a group of high school students accused of scrawling antigovernment graffiti on a wall, galvanizing demonstrations that have spread to virtually every province in Syria.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, urged a halt to the killings Monday, condemning “such disregard for human life by Syrian security forces.”

The United States called the violence “completely deplorable.” Tommy Vietor, a National Security Council spokesman, said the Obama administration was considering sanctions against Syrian officials to “make clear that this behavior is unacceptable.”

The government moved against other regions, too. Activists said security forces entered two towns on the capital’s outskirts — Douma and Maadamiah — carrying out dozens of arrests. Clashes have been especially pronounced in the poor, restive towns that encircle the capital, Damascus, and activists said there were reports of shooting during the raids.

Residents said security forces had surrounded the towns Sunday, with tanks and checkpoints. Anyone leaving or entering was searched, they said, either in preparation for Monday’s raids or in an effort to stop protesters from marching on the capital, a bulwark of the Assad family’s four decades of rule.

In Jabla, a coastal city inhabited by Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority and members of the minority Alawite sect, from which the government draws much of its support, security forces killed at least 12 people in a crackdown that began Sunday and persisted into the night. One resident said protesters had burned an army car and took a soldier hostage.


Syrian troops in tanks and armored vehicles moved into the southern town Dara'a and opened fire on Monday, according to residents.