AMMAN – Syrian army units backed by tanks have tightened the siege
of two defiant urban centers, in a sign that President Bashar al-Assad is
widening the use of the military to crush demonstrations against his autocratic
rule.
Tanks and armored vehicles deployed around Rastan town on Wednesday and army
units set up checkpoints in Sunni districts in Banias, days after a loyalist
army division led by Assad's brother Maher crushed protests in the southern city
of Deraa with shellfire and machineguns.
The demonstrations in Syria, inspired by pro-democracy uprisings elsewhere in
the Arab world, began with demands for political freedom and an end to
corruption. Assad's response -- repression and an offer of limited reform -- led
to wider demands for his removal.
Before the army stormed Deraa, the cradle of the Syrian uprising, Assad had
relied mainly on security forces and secret police to confront the mass
demonstrations.
"Assad's decision to use the army is pretty much the utmost escalation of
force he can muster and a clear signal that he has no interest in any
reconciliation," an Arab government official monitoring the situation in Syria
said.
Assad belongs to the minority Alawite sect. His father Hafez ruled majority
Sunni Syria for 30 years, succeeded on his death 11 years ago by Bashar.
The elder Assad extended Alawite control of the army, which is now led by
mostly Alawite officers and effectively controlled by Bashar's brother Maher
al-Assad, military experts say.
The army and pervasive security apparatus underpin the power structure in
Syria, fulcrum of several Middle Eastern conflicts. The ruling hierarchy has an
anti-Israel alliance with Iran, but has kept the Golan Heights frontier with the
Jewish state quiet since a 1974 U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
Human rights groups say the army, security forces and gunmen loyal to Assad
have killed at least 560 demonstrating civilians since the protests erupted in
Deraa on March 18.
Last Friday military intelligence staff shot dead at least 17 demonstrators
in Rastan, residents and rights campaigners said, after 50 members of the ruling
Baath Party in the town resigned.
Tanks were deployed there after residents rejected a demand by Baath Party
official Sobhi Harb that they hand over several hundred men in exchange for
tanks staying outside the town. Reuters
