Syrian Forces Turn Focus to Activists
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian security forces conducted house-to-house raids in the central city of Hama on Wednesday, hunting for activists involved in the country’s uprising, residents and activists said. Several tanks and military buses were parked on the eastern entrance of the city, they said, while hundreds of soldiers searched two neighborhoods, Al Qusour and Al Hamidiya, asking by name for people known or suspected to be involved in planning the uprising. It was <a href="http://www.monclerjacketsonsales.com/moncler-vest-men-c-9.html"><strong>cheap moncler vest</strong></a> not clear how many were detained. With foreign journalists barred from the country and the official Syrian hewing to the government’s line, activists constitute a crucial funnel for information. “We are hearing gunfire every now, and we heard they have long lists of wanted people,” said one Hama activist, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution. “We don’t know what more they want from us.” The two neighborhoods had been very active in protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad until troops raided the city on July 31, holding it by force for 10 days. Activists said the death toll was 130 civilians on that day alone, a painful reminder of a massacre under Mr. Assad’s father, Hafez, in 1982. Intending to crush an uprising then, he leveled the city, killing at least 10,000. In recent days, as the downfall of Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi in Libya bolstered the spirits of government opponents across Syria, activists reported a surge of protests in Hama. Fears for the thousands of people the Syrian forces have detained in the months of protest have grown with a report published this week by a Western human rights group saying that the Syrian government might have committed crimes against humanity in its handling of detainees. The group, Amnesty International, said there was enough evidence to conclude that torture or ill-treatment caused or contributed to the deaths of at least 52 of the 88 people who died while in detention since April, 10 of them less than 18 years old. At least one was 13. The victims, all male, were arrested for their involvement or suspected involvement in the protests against Mr. Assad’s rule. The group said that independent forensic pathologists who reviewed a number of cases concluded by the type of <a href="http://www.monclerjacketsonsales.com/"><strong>moncler</strong></a> injuries on the victim’s corpses that they may have suffered beatings, burns, blunt force injuries and whipping marks and slashes. “Taken in the context of the widespread and systematic violations taking place in Syria, we believe that these deaths in custody may include crimes against humanity,” said Neil Sammonds, Amnesty International’s researcher on Syria, in the report, which was drawn from accounts by Syrians who fled to Lebanon and Turkey, and those communicating by phone and email from within the country, including relatives of the dead, medical professionals, released detainees and activists. Most of the cases highlighted by <a href="http://www.monclerjacketsonsales.com/"><strong>moncler down coats</strong></a> Amnesty International took place in Homs, in central Syria, and in Dara’a in the south. Both cities were scenes of large protests against Mr. Assad’s government since mid-March when the uprising started and were repeatedly attacked and put under siege for several days by armed troops. “The accounts of torture we have received are horrific,” said Mr. Sammonds. “We believe the Syrian government to be systematically persecuting its own people on a vast scale.” On Tuesday, the Obama administration added to the economic pressure on Mr. Assad’s government, freezing the United States assets of Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem and two other officials.
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