Fears Rise With Arrests in Restive Syrian City

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在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian security forces arrested dozens of people on Monday in a new offensive, their largest foray into a central Syrian city since withdrawing last month, prompting residents to build barricades to block a more ambitious assault, residents said.

Since withdrawing with the military in June, the security forces have occasionally entered Hama, a city that still bears the scars of a ferocious government crackdown a generation ago. But Monday’s incursion appeared to be more extensive, though short-lived, and protesters vowed that they would stop any attempt to retake the city by force.

“People here are ready with rocks,” said Omar Habbal, an activist.

In past weeks, Hama, a city of 800,000 on the corridor between Damascus and Aleppo, has emerged as a symbolic center of the nearly four-month uprising against 41 years of rule by the Assad family. Protests have gathered momentum, with a remarkable demonstration of tens of thousands of people on Friday, and youths have turned out nightly to taunt the government in Aasi Square, which they have renamed Freedom Square.

Though some have described the city as liberated, the city’s administration still functions, and the military remains in force on Hama’s outskirts.

Residents said about 20 military vehicles and several buses carrying armed men in plain clothes arrived in the early morning. As they entered, some of the security forces chanted in support of President Bashar al-Assad; some residents in the streets responded with “God is great,” a religious invocation meant as defiance.

“The whole city woke up to defend against the raid,” Mr. Habbal said.

Activists said some residents threw rocks while others tried to build barricades with whatever was available — burning tires, stones and trash bins.

The security forces carried out dozens of arrests, mainly on the outskirts. One activist put the number at 43, while another said 65, though the estimates seemed to be guesswork. Residents reported gunfire, but the forces soon retreated.

“The security forces entered, then they left quickly,” said a 24-year-old student who gave his name as Abdel-Rahman. Like many, he insisted on partial anonymity. “People are waiting. They can’t control Hama unless they wipe out the people here.”

Accounts were almost impossible to verify, but several activists said residents had begun organizing what amounted to a defense of the city, although to what extent remained unclear. Self-defense committees with dozens of members have begun patrolling some neighborhoods, in part to maintain order with the withdrawal of security forces and in part to prepare for a government attempt to retake the city by force, they said.

After almost disappearing for weeks, more guards were visible at state installations, in particular the headquarters of the ruling Baath Party.

“Security and policemen were standing around every governmental building,” said Abu Muhammad, a 40-year-old Hama activist. “I hadn’t seen them for weeks.”

Some elements of the military’s feared Fourth Division and Republican Guard were also moving toward the city as of Sunday night, said Wissam Tarif, executive director of Insan, a Syrian human rights group. Another activist said they were headed for Idlib, a province in the northwest, where the government has deployed significant forces.

Before Monday, government officials had held up Hama as evidence of what they describe as the leadership’s good will, allowing dissent as long as there is no damage to property. But as has often happened in uprisings across the region, the protests have generated their own dynamics, and Hama is now a quandary for the government.

Its very name evokes the government’s historic brutality. In 1982, in the culmination of a struggle between an armed Islamic opposition and the government, the military stormed the city, killing at least 10,000 people, and the bloodshed has served as a cry in the protests that erupted in mid-March. Given that history, the government has sought to avoid more trouble in Hama, ordering the withdrawal and firing security officials after a particularly bloody day of protests June 3, when as many as 73 people were killed.

“It is hard for the regime to deal with Hama because it is a special case,” said a 36-year-old activist there who gave his name as Mazen. “Hama is boiling.”

The government may hope that protests there eventually lose momentum, but so far, that has not been the case. Any military attempt to retake it runs the risk of great bloodshed, possibly bolstering regional solidarities that have already become a facet of the uprising. In a country of strong local identities, protesters have organized rallies in support of other besieged cities like Dara’a, in the south, and Baniyas, on the coast.

“We’re expecting a big crackdown,” said a 25-year-old member of a local organizing committee in Hama who gave his name as Hammouda.

“If the army enters Hama, it will be the end of Bashar al-Assad as an acceptable president,” he added. “His father’s reputation was made by Hama’s massacre, and it stayed until his death. Bashar is very close to having the same reputation.”

Hwaida Saad and Nada Bakri contributed reporting from Beirut.

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Syrians Report Shelling of City and Mass Arrests

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The shelling, most intense between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., appeared to mark a further escalation in the crackdown.

“The situation is so bad this morning,” Abu Haydar, a resident there, said by telephone. “It’s been continuous shelling since Sunday.”

?He said he spent the night in a basement and described the city as paralyzed, with only grocery stores and pharmacies daring to open. Checkpoints had proliferated through the city, with security forces checking residents’ identity documents, Mr. Haydar said.

The Syrian government widened its crackdown on Tuesday to include more cities and towns. Activists said army troops, backed by tanks, entered Hama, in central Syria, and several southern villages near Dara’a, the impoverished and besieged town in a region known as the Houran that has become a symbol of the uprising.

“The big question now is what’s next,” said Wissam Tarif, executive director of Insan, a Syrian human rights group. “They are about to announce victory, but what will happen when they pull the troops out?”

At least seven people were killed in demonstrations on Monday night — three in Maadamiyah, a Damascus suburb, and four in Deir al Zour, a town in northeastern Syria, he said.

“The people are very angry and they swear they will be protesting again,” a resident who lives near Othman bin Affan mosque in Deir al Zour said by telephone. The protesters were killed in front of the mosque, which security forces closed two weeks ago to worshipers to prevent them from organizing demonstrations.

Heavy gunfire was also heard Tuesday in at least four southern villages, including Inkhil, Dael, Jassem, Sanamein and Nawa. Activists reported casualties though the numbers were difficult to ascertain, given the difficulties in communication and the Syrian government’s suppression of independent news gathering. Phones have been cut in most besieged towns and cities.

The military operations came as activists called for daily protests across the country on the Facebook page of Syrian Revolution 2011, an Internet-based opposition group.

“The Tuesday of solidarity with prisoners of conscience in the jails of the Syrian criminal regime,” the page said. “The demonstration will continue every day.”

In the capital, Damascus, security forces reinforced their presence, setting up more checkpoints and sending out more patrols, residents there reported. The measures came after 250 people, including university students and professionals, staged a small demonstration on Monday night in Arnoua Square in the heart of the city. The protesters, holding banners that read, “Stop the siege on our cities,” and, “A national dialogue is the solution,” were quickly dispersed by plainclothes police officers. Thirty-two of them were detained, Mr. Tarif said.

Protesters in Homs said they are planning a demonstration, even as the city reels under heavy security measures.

“We are changing strategies,” said Mr. Haydar, the resident in Homs reached by telephone. “We don’t want to reveal the location of our gathering. We want to surprise the security forces.” At least two neighborhoods have been completely isolated, with phones, electricity and water cut and no one allowed to enter or leave, Mr. Haydar said.

The army was also conducting operations in cities along the Mediterranean coast, including Baniyas and Jabla, both under siege for several days. In Baniyas, 63 people have been arrested since Monday night, bringing the total number arrested since Saturday to 419, Mr. Tarif said.

Meanwhile, Dorothy Parvez, a reporter who works for Al Jazeera English, the Qatar-based satellite channel, left Syria aboard a Ukrainian Airways flight headed to Iran on May 2, Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to Mr. Assad, said on Monday. She said Ms. Parvez had entered the country on April 29 on her Iranian passport.

Al Jazeera has reported that she was detained by Syrian authorities and, in an e-mailed statement Tuesday, it said it had nothing new to add.

 

Syrians Report Shelling of City and Mass Arrests

。

The shelling, most intense between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., appeared to mark a further escalation in the crackdown.

“The situation is so bad this morning,” Abu Haydar, a resident there, said by telephone. “It’s been continuous shelling since Sunday.”

?He said he spent the night in a basement and described the city as paralyzed, with only grocery stores and pharmacies daring to open. Checkpoints had proliferated through the city, with security forces checking residents’ identity documents, Mr. Haydar said.

The Syrian government widened its crackdown on Tuesday to include more cities and towns. Activists said army troops, backed by tanks, entered Hama, in central Syria, and several southern villages near Dara’a, the impoverished and besieged town in a region known as the Houran that has become a symbol of the uprising.

“The big question now is what’s next,” said Wissam Tarif, executive director of Insan, a Syrian human rights group. “They are about to announce victory, but what will happen when they pull the troops out?”

At least seven people were killed in demonstrations on Monday night — three in Maadamiyah, a Damascus suburb, and four in Deir al Zour, a town in northeastern Syria, he said.

“The people are very angry and they swear they will be protesting again,” a resident who lives near Othman bin Affan mosque in Deir al Zour said by telephone. The protesters were killed in front of the mosque, which security forces closed two weeks ago to worshipers to prevent them from organizing demonstrations.

Heavy gunfire was also heard Tuesday in at least four southern villages, including Inkhil, Dael, Jassem, Sanamein and Nawa. Activists reported casualties though the numbers were difficult to ascertain, given the difficulties in communication and the Syrian government’s suppression of independent news gathering. Phones have been cut in most besieged towns and cities.

The military operations came as activists called for daily protests across the country on the Facebook page of Syrian Revolution 2011, an Internet-based opposition group.

“The Tuesday of solidarity with prisoners of conscience in the jails of the Syrian criminal regime,” the page said. “The demonstration will continue every day.”

In the capital, Damascus, security forces reinforced their presence, setting up more checkpoints and sending out more patrols, residents there reported. The measures came after 250 people, including university students and professionals, staged a small demonstration on Monday night in Arnoua Square in the heart of the city. The protesters, holding banners that read, “Stop the siege on our cities,” and, “A national dialogue is the solution,” were quickly dispersed by plainclothes police officers. Thirty-two of them were detained, Mr. Tarif said.

Protesters in Homs said they are planning a demonstration, even as the city reels under heavy security measures.

“We are changing strategies,” said Mr. Haydar, the resident in Homs reached by telephone. “We don’t want to reveal the location of our gathering. We want to surprise the security forces.” At least two neighborhoods have been completely isolated, with phones, electricity and water cut and no one allowed to enter or leave, Mr. Haydar said.

The army was also conducting operations in cities along the Mediterranean coast, including Baniyas and Jabla, both under siege for several days. In Baniyas, 63 people have been arrested since Monday night, bringing the total number arrested since Saturday to 419, Mr. Tarif said.

Meanwhile, Dorothy Parvez, a reporter who works for Al Jazeera English, the Qatar-based satellite channel, left Syria aboard a Ukrainian Airways flight headed to Iran on May 2, Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to Mr. Assad, said on Monday. She said Ms. Parvez had entered the country on April 29 on her Iranian passport.

Al Jazeera has reported that she was detained by Syrian authorities and, in an e-mailed statement Tuesday, it said it had nothing new to add.