Forum Views ()
Forum Replies ()
Read more with google mobile :
Security forces arrest hundreds across Syria
|
Edition:
U.S.
Article
Comments (1)
Slideshow
Video
Full Focus
Editor's choice
A selection of our top photos from the past 48 hours. Full Article
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
U.S. team's mission was to kill bin Laden, not capture
|
8:46am EDT
World on alert after U.S. kills bin Laden
|
11:28am EDT
Bin Laden was found at luxury Pakistan compound
|
8:59am EDT
Bin Laden killing prompts Arab anger, relief
|
10:57am EDT
Bin Laden's body buried at sea: report
8:21am EDT
Discussed
109
Obama to make statement late Sunday, White House says
105
White House releases longer Obama birth certificate
97
Donald Trump calls U.S. leaders ”stupid”
Watched
Osama bin Laden dead
5:44am EDT
Osama bin Laden is dead: Obama
12:11am EDT
Fire ants form rafts to defy floods
Tue, Apr 26 2011
Security forces arrest hundreds across Syria
Tweet
Share this
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian security forces going house to house rounded up more people in a clampdown on pro-democracy unrest across the country on Monday, rights activists said, after taking control of Deraa, cradle of the...
Email
Print
Related News
Teenagers' blood flows in video from Syrian city
11:49am EDT
Syrian forces arrest two Kurdish opposition figures
11:49am EDT
Syrian forces arrest prominent lawyer in Raqqa-group
11:49am EDT
Analysis & Opinion
Washington Extra – Syria slap
Iranian dissidents and a U.S. dilemma
Related Topics
World »
Syria »
Related Video
Under fire in Syria
Sat, Apr 30 2011
1 / 5
EDITOR'S NOTE: PICTURE TAKEN ON GUIDED GOVERNMENT TOUR A supporter of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad holds aloft a photograph of the president at Hamidiya market in Damascus April 30, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Khaled al-Hariri
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
AMMAN |
Mon May 2, 2011 11:50am EDT
AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian security forces going house to house rounded up more people in a clampdown on pro-democracy unrest across the country on Monday, rights activists said, after taking control of Deraa, cradle of the uprising.
Human rights campaigners said hundreds of pro-democracy sympathizers had been arrested since Sunday in an attempt to quell the six-week-old revolt, the gravest challenge ever to the authoritarian rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
"They are continuing their arrest operation in all the cities of Syria. They have lists and they are going into houses looking for people," activist Ammar Qurabi told Reuters.
"These are arbitrary arrests, it is happening without a warrant. We do not know what their charges are. Nobody knows."
Looking for men under 40 years old, security forces broke into houses in the old quarter of Deraa that a tank-backed force led by Assad's brother Maher shelled into submission on Saturday, witnesses told Reuters by telephone on Sunday.
The state news agency SANA said on Monday army units tracked down "terrorist groups that have terrorized civilians (in Deraa)...and killed 10 of its members and arrested 499 of them."
SANA quoted an army source as saying that in addition to the 10 dead, security forces also killed five snipers who were shooting at pedestrians. The source told SANA that two members of the security forces were also killed in clashes.
Syrian protesters deny that they have weapons and are using them in the unrest, targeting 48 years of Baath Party domination in Syria and inspired by other popular Arab revolts that have overthrown the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt this year.
Prominent rights campaigners were also arrested in the eastern cities of Qamishli, Raqqa and in suburbs of Damascus, along with scores of ordinary Syrians active in the mass protests demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption.
Qurabi said the security forces arrested writer Omar Khoush upon his return from Ankara. The reasons were not clear, he said.
CIVILIAN DEATH TOLL AT 560--RIGHTS GROUPS
Syrians kept up protests despite the arrests and violent repression that has resulted in the killing of at least 560 civilians by Assad's security forces, human rights groups say.
In the central city of Homs, thousands marched on Sunday chanting "downfall of the regime!"
In Rastan to the north, a funeral was held for 17 men killed when military intelligence agents fired at a protest on Friday during which the names of 50 resigning members of Assad's Baath Party were being read out.
Signs of discontent have been also emerging in the majority Sunni Muslim ranks of the army commanded by officers from the minority Alawite sect, to which the Assad family belongs.
Two thousand Kurds in the village of Karbawi near Qamishli attended the funeral of 20-year-old conscript Ahmad Fanar Mustafa. His father accused security forces of killing him for refusing to take part in the repression.
Fanar Mustafa refused to let the governor of the province attend the funeral of his son. "They kill and then they want to march in the funeral of the murdered," the father was quoted as saying by a witness at the funeral.
In Deraa, where the protests first broke out on March 18, a witness said young men in the old quarter fled to safety in neighboring villages to the west as security forces dragged 450 men under the age of 40 from their homes.
The witness, a trader who ducked Syrian security and crossed into the Jordanian city of Ramtha on Sunday, said the authorities were cleaning Deraa of blood from dozens of youths killed by machinegun fire.
Security forces drove away two trucks with the bodies of 68 civilians killed since Assad sent tanks into Deraa on Monday.
"Bullets are their response to the people's revolt. The security forces who came to Deraa told us 'Go buy bread from a bakery called Freedom. Let's see if it feeds you'," said a prominent lawyer in Deraa who declined to be identified further.
Foreign media are banned from Syria, making it harder to confirm accounts of events in the country.
(Writing by Mariam Karouny; additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi; editing by Mark Heinrich)
World
Syria
Tweet this
Share this
Link this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language, all capital letters or appear to be spam, and we review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters.
Comments (1)
Alfred.Brock wrote:
Is Bashar al-Assad some sort of genetic mutant? Look at that poster the guy is holding up. He looks like some sort of reptile.
May 02, 2011 7:13am EDT -- Report as abuse
See All Comments »
Add Your Comment
Social Stream (What's this?)
© Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters
Editorial Editions:
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
United States
Reuters
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Help
Journalism Handbook
Archive
Site Index
Video Index
Reader Feedback
Mobile
Newsletters
RSS
Podcasts
Widgets
Your View
Analyst Research
Thomson Reuters
Copyright
Disclaimer
Privacy
Professional Products
Professional Products Support
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Careers
Online Products
Acquisitions Monthly
Buyouts
Venture Capital Journal
International Financing Review
Project Finance International
PEhub.com
PE Week
FindLaw
Super Lawyers Attorney Rating Service
Reuters on Facebook
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.
Other News on Monday, 2 May 2011 Sri.Lankan leader spurns U.N. call for war crimes probe
|
Israel launches bid to reclaim Holocaust assets
|
Egypt says intends to open Gaza border permanently
|
Deep sea search uncovers Air France crash black box
|
Warner Music $3 billion buyout could be done this week: source
|
Fast Five and Thor top box office attractions
|
Children across continent to perform song simultaneously
|
Osama bin Laden killed in shootout, Obama says
|
Bin Laden's death makes the world safer, leaders say
|
Threat remains after bin Laden killed by U.S. forces
|
Osama bin Laden: 9/11 author who defied Bush, Obama
|
Brotherhood: U.S. troops should now quit Iraq, Afghan
|
Bin Laden killed in dramatic night-time raid near Islamabad
|
Al Qaeda No.2 Zawahri most likely to succeed bin Laden
|
Israel: bin Laden killing triumph for democracies
|
Afghan leader tells Taliban not to fight after bin Laden death
|
Sony seen facing long battle to regain trust after data breach
|
Facebook's growth exceeds expectations: report
|
Kelly Price releases first R&B album in eight years
|
Bryan Cranston to play mayor in Rock of Ages
|
Julie Andrews to be honored in L.A.
|
Vanessa Hudgens to play Fraser's daughter in drama
|
DNA very confident match to bin Laden: official
|
U.N. chief Ban hails bin Laden death as watershed
|
Iranian state TV carries report of Israeli build-up
|
Security forces arrest hundreds across Syria
|
Abbas government welcomes bin Laden death, Hamas deplores
|
Pakistan's Musharraf: Bin Laden death positive step
|
Bin Laden killing prompts Arab anger, relief
|
Yemen protesters urged not to raise bin Laden banners
|
RIM launches new BlackBerry Bold smartphone
|
Captured on Twitter: Raid against Osama bin Laden
|
EchoStar, Dish to pay TiVo to settle dispute
|
Children across continent to perform song simultaneously
|
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights