BEIRUT – Syrian tanks rolled into a Mediterranean coastal town on Saturday in
an escalating crackdown by President Bashar Assad, just a day after clashes with
anti-government protesters left at least 30 dead nationwide, activists said.
Details of the troop deployment in Banias, which has seen weeks of
demonstrations demanding regime change, were scarce as communication and phone
lines with the town and the surrounding area were cut off.
But activists in touch with townspeople said soldiers deployed in Banias
before dawn.
One activist said tanks rolled into the seaside area and were stationed in at
least three Sunni villages just south of Banias, adding that soldiers were
carrying out house-to-house searches and arrests in al-Marqab district about a
mile southeast of the town and in the villages of Bayda and Basatin further
south.
Banias, which has a major oil refinery and is the main point of export for
Syrian oil, has a potentially explosive mix of religious groups and sects. It is
divided between Sunni Muslims and Alawites — the sect of the ruling Assad family
and many key officials.
Several other activists reported gunboats off the Banias' coast. They said
the town, which had become a leading focus of anti-regime demonstrations, was
now completely besieged. The activists spoke on condition of anonymity for fear
of reprisals.
The Banias deployment came just hours after Friday's clashes with
anti-government protesters killed 30 people across the country, according to a
leading Syrian rights activist.
The move raises fears of a large-scale military operation in Banias, similar
to the one carried out in the flashpoint southern city of Daraa.
Daraa, near the Jordanian border, has been under siege since April 25, when
Syrian authorities cut off electricity and phone lines and deployed tanks and
snipers to crush dissent there.
The army announced the end to an 11-day military operation on Thursday, but
residents have since said troops still remain in the streets. About 50 people
have been reported killed in Daraa over the past 10 days.
The uprising in Syria was sparked by the arrest of teenagers who scrawled
anti-regime graffiti on a wall in Daraa. Protests spread quickly across the
nation of some 23 million people.
More than 580 civilians and 100 soldiers have been killed since the revolt
began, rights groups say.
The U.N. said Saturday it is sending a team into Syria to investigate the
situation, and the European Union is expected to place sanctions on Syrian
officials next week. Both actions are significant blows to Assad, a
British-educated, self-styled reformer who has tried to bring Syria back into
the global mainstream over his 11 years in power.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. was
pressing the Syrian government to cease "violence against innocent citizens who
are simply demonstrating and trying to state their aspirations for a more
democratic future."
Friday's protests spanned the nation, from the capital to the Mediterranean
coast and the arid northeast.
Rallies were held in major areas including the capital, Damascus, and its
suburbs, Banias on the coast and Qamishli in the northeast.
A prominent human rights activist told The Associated Press that 30 people
were killed Friday, all of them protesters.
Syria's state-run media said 10 soldiers and policemen were killed in the
central city of Homs, and 25 others were wounded in Hama.
The bloodshed was the latest spasm in what has become a weekly cycle of mass
protests followed by a swift and deadly crackdown.
But pressure was mounting on Assad, who insists the unrest is a foreign
conspiracy carried out by "terrorist groups." AP
