24 dead in Syria as Ramadan begins
Syrian forces killed 24 people on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a human rights group said today.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said most of the deaths were in the central city of Hama, the target of a heavy military operation since Sunday.
Protests escalated yesterday, the first day of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.
The group said today that yesterday’s deaths included 10 people in Hama, six in the Damascus suburb of Arbeen and three in the central province of Homs. Two were killed in the eastern town of al-Boukamal, two in the coastal city of Latakia and one in Maadamiyah, near Damascus.
About 1,700 civilians have been killed since anti-regime protests began in mid-March, according to tallies by activists.
The Syrian regime disputes the death toll and blames a foreign conspiracy for the unrest, saying religious extremists - not true reform-seekers - are behind it.
Hama-based activist Omar Hamawi told The Associated Press that troops advanced about 700 yards from the western entrance to Hama overnight, taking up positions near homes and buildings in an area known as Kazo Square.
He said the force consisted of eight tanks and several armoured personnel carriers.
Mr Hamawi added that troops were also reinforced on the eastern side of the city around Hama Central Prison, an overcrowded jail.
He said residents there saw smoke billowing from the prison overnight and heard sporadic gunfire from inside the premises, leading some to believe that the inmates were rioting.
He added that it was impossible to know what was exactly going on in the prison or whether there were casualties inside the tightly controlled facility.
The activist also said parts of Hama were hit this morning with heavy machine gun fire after sporadic shelling overnight.
He said a shell hit a compound known as the Palace of Justice in the city centre, causing a huge fire which burned much of the building, home to several courts.
Hama has a history of being opposed to the Assad family’s 40-year dynasty in Syria.
In 1982, President Bashar Assad’s father, Hafez Assad, ordered the military to quell a rebellion by Syrian members of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood movement. The city was sealed off and bombs dropped from above smashed swathes of the city and killed between 10,000 and 25,000 people, rights groups say.
The real number may never be known. Then, as now, reporters were not allowed to reach the area.
