Syria forces in Hama push as crackdown continues

Unverified amateur footage purportedly shows newly-dug graves in Syria

Syrian security forces have continued their siege of the central city of Hama as they maintain an offensive in which scores of people have died.

Residents told the BBC that many people were fleeing to nearby villages, fearing a full-scale assault.
The government does not control Hama, and its attack on the city is part of a nationwide crackdown on dissent that began on Sunday.
The UN Security Council has resumed discussions on the crisis.
International pressure has been mounting on the Syrian government to call off its offensive against Hama.
However, diplomats say a strong resolution is unlikely, and on Tuesday, the UN Security Council was unable to agree to a text condemning the violence.

They say Nato turned a UN mandate to protect Libyan civilians into a pretext for regime change, and fear the same could happen with any resolution on Syria.
But the mood has shifted since the "Ramadan Massacre" in Hama at the weekend. "It's less tense around the table" said one ambassador, "we're all speaking the same language."
Only to a degree though. The apparent convergence in views has yet to translate into a common resolution or statement.

Human rights groups say some 140 people have been killed by the authorities since Sunday, most of them in Hama. More than 1,600 civilians are believed to have been killed since protests began in March.

President Assad has promised reforms but says citizens and security forces are being attacked by "armed gangs" backed by unspecified foreign powers.
International journalists have been denied access to Syria and it is not possible to verify accounts by witnesses and activists.
'Guns and knives' After renewing their assault on Hama on Tuesday, Syrian tanks and troops held their positions around the city. Residents said three more people were killed by tank and sniper fire.
Residents told Reuters news agency that the violence resumed after nightly Ramadan prayers on Tuesday, with tanks shelling the eastern Rubaii and al-Hamidiya neighbourhoods, the Aleppo road in the north and the eastern Baath district.
Witnesses and activists told Reuters that tens of people had also been injured after troops opened fire in western Damascus, in the north-eastern city of Hasaka, and in the coastal city of Latakia.
Mobile phone footage purporting to show tanks firing in Hama on Monday was posted on social media websites.
But Syrian state television has been showing its own footage, apparently also shot on mobile phones, saying it was taken in Hama on Sunday.
It showed some anti-government protesters carrying shotguns, sticks, and knives, and one man wearing an ammunition vest and carrying an AK-47 rifle.

Significance of Hama

Hama - a bastion of defiance - occupies a significant place in the history of modern Syria. In 1982, then-President Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar, sent in troops to quell an uprising by the Sunni opposition Muslim Brotherhood. Tens of thousands were killed and the town flattened.
The city, with a population of 800,000, has seen some of the biggest protests and worst violence in Syria's 2011 protests. It was slow to join in, but has now become one of the main focuses of the revolt.

Later, it reported that a group of "saboteurs" had stormed the main courthouse in Hama and set fire to much of the building.

But Mr Hamawi told AP that a shell fired from a government tank had caused the fire.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 24 people were killed across Syria on Monday, including 10 in Hama.
The current crackdown appears aimed at preventing protests from growing during Ramadan, when Muslims visit mosques for prayers after breaking their dawn-to-dusk fast.
The government fears the gatherings could then turn into large protests, observers say.
'Totally unacceptable' The UN Security Council is due to resume the debate on Wednesday.
Council members including Russia, China, India and Brazil have been opposed to a draft resolution circulated by European members that would condemn Damascus.
But the latest violence has led to wider acceptance that the council must act.
At a closed-door meeting on Monday, a UN official told delegates that on top of those killed on Sunday, 3,000 people had gone missing and 12,000 been taken prisoner since the protests erupted, diplomats said.
As the council met again on Tuesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the Syrian president.

Posted in: middle east