Syria Ramps up Bloody Crackdown
The Syrian government has escalated its bloody crackdown on mass protests in recent days, killing and detaining hundreds in major cities across the Arab nation.
Security forces from the regime of President Bashar Assad have killed and detained hundreds while Syrians say that government snipers have manned rooftops and shot at those trying to aid wounded demonstrators.
In the epicenter of the revolt, the Southern city of Dar’aa, tanks pounded their way into the city center from all directions early Monday, with gunfire heard soon after and bodies strewn over the streets, according to witnesses there.
There were widespread reports by opposition activists of disappearances- 217 people have gone missing by one Syrian organization’s count- as well.
The government has killed almost 400 people in response to the five-week-old uprising. Last Friday saw the largest and most widespread protests to date, with protesters reporting that 70 people- the largest one-day toll yet- were killed by security forces over the course of the day’s demonstrations that were particularly intense in the suburbs around the capital Damascus.
Shocked witnesses to the crackdown told news agencies of regime snipers firing against Syrian citizens in broad daylight.
“There are bodies in the streets we can’t reach; anyone who walks outside is getting shot at,” a Syrian from the restive southern city of Dara’a told the New York Times Monday “They want to teach Syria a lesson by teaching Dara’a a lesson.”
The head of the UN Human Rights Council- which has traditionally focused on condemning Syria’s neighbor Israel- bluntly demanded Monday that the Syrian regime “stop killing its own people.”
"We are seeing such disregard for human life by Syrian security forces,” Human rights commissioner Navi Pillay said. “The killings must stop immediately.”
International rights groups as well as the United States also vigorously condemned the brutal response by Assad’s regime. The U.S. is also considering sanctions on Syrian officials, News outlets reported Monday.
Assad, in an attempt to appease protesters, lifted the country’s notorious Emergency Law that granted his government almost limitless authority in arresting opposition activists on April 21. Yet the bloody crackdown on anti-government protests in the last few days suggests the move has not restrained the regime from continuing violent reprisals against a growing opposition movement.
While Syria has abided by a 40-year-old ceasefire agreement with Israel, Assad’s government has actively supported the terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas, both of which are committed to the destruction of Israel.