Syrian army kills 136 in crackdown
SYRIA: Syrian forces killed nearly 140 people on Sunday
including at least 100 when the army stormed the flashpoint protest city
of Hama, activists said, prompting calls for emergency Security Council
talks. Activists said it was one of the deadliest days in Syria since
demonstrators first took to the streets on March 15 demanding democratic
reforms before turning their wrath on the regime and calling for its
ouster.
As reports of the brutal pre-Ramadan crackdown on Hama unfurled, US
President Barack Obama and European leaders condemned the crackdown as
Germany and Italy called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security
Council.
A meeting could be held Monday. But the move is likely to reopen
bitter divisions within the Security Council, which has not yet been
able to agree even a statement on President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown
against opponents.
“It is one of the deadliest days” since the protests erupted, said
Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights.
Rights activists said at least 136 people were killed across Syria
and expected the toll to rise, while scores were wounded.
“One hundred civilians were killed on Sunday in Hama by gunfire from
security forces who accompanied the army as it stormed the city,” said
Abdel Karim Rihawi, head of the Syrian League for the Defence of Human
Rights.
Rihawi said five other people were killed in the central city of Homs
and three more in the northwestern province of Idlib when security
forces opened fire on protesters who rallied in support of Hama. The
head of the National Organisation for Human Rights, Ammar Qorabi, put
the Hama death toll at 95. The Observatory’s Abdel Rahman said at least
47 people were killed in and around the central city.
AFP |