AMMAN – Syrian troops tightened control on Wednesday over
flashpoints of protest against President Bashar al-Assad, who faced growing
international calls to end violence that a rights group said had killed over 450
people.
Tanks patrolled the southern city of Deraa, where the uprising against Assad
erupted nearly six weeks ago, troops poured overnight into the Damascus suburb
of Douma and security forces surrounded the restive coastal city of Banias.
Germany said on Wednesday it strongly supported European Union sanctions
against the Syrian leadership, and the bloc's executive body, the European
Commission, said all options were on the table for punitive measures against
Damascus.
France summoned Syria's ambassador to protest at the violence and said
Britain, Spain, Germany and Italy were doing the same. "Syrian authorities must
meet the legitimate demands of their people with reforms, and not through the
use of force," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
The United States, which imposed a limited economic embargo against Syria in
2004, says it is considering further targeted sanctions in response to the
"abhorrent and deplorable" violence by security forces deployed in the crackdown
on protesters.
A witness told Reuters that a convoy of at least 30 army tanks headed early
on Wednesday from southwest of Damascus, near the Golan Heights front line with
Israel, in a direction which could take them either to Douma or to Deraa.
Overnight, white buses had brought hundreds of soldiers in full combat gear
into Douma, from where protesters have tried to march into the center of the
capital in the last two weeks, only to be stopped by bullets.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had names of at least 453
civilians killed during the protests across the country against Assad's 11-year
authoritarian rule.
Syria has been dominated by the Assad family since Bashar's father, the late
President Hafez al-Assad, took power in a 1970 coup. The younger Assad kept
intact the autocratic political system he inherited in 2000 while the family
expanded its control over the country's struggling economy.
The unrest could have serious regional repercussions because Syria straddles
the fault lines of Middle East conflict.
Assad has strengthened Syria's ties with Shi'ite Iran, and both countries
back the Hezbollah and Hamas militant groups, although Damascus still seeks
peace with Israel. Syria and Israel are technically at war but the Golan
frontier between them has been quiet since a 1974 ceasefire. Reuters
