Monday, May 9, 2011

Syrian tanks move into city of Homs





12-year-old boy reported killed as residents describe hearing gunfire and shelling

Reuters
guardian.co.uk, Monday 9 May 2011

"President Bashar al-Assad has sent tanks deep into Syria's third city, Homs, escalating a military campaign to crush a seven-week-old uprising against his autocratic rule.

Syrians demanding political freedom and an end to corruption have held weeks of what they say are peaceful demonstrations in the face of government repression, despite a civilian death toll that has reached 800, according to the Syrian human rights organisation Sawasiah.

On Sunday, residents in Homs said they heard machine-gun fire and shelling as troops made their first incursion into residential areas of the city of 1 million people, 100 miles north of Damascus.

At least one person, a 12-year-old child, was killed when tanks and troops went into the Bab Sebaa, Bab Amro and Tal al-Sour districts of Homs during the night, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The areas have been under total siege since yesterday," the organisation said. "There is a total blackout on the numbers of dead and injured. Telecommunications and electricity are repeatedly being cut in those districts."

Elsewhere, a witness said security forces killed at least two unarmed demonstrators when they fired on a night rally in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor....

This video shows the protest in Deir al-Zor before it was attacked:

شام - دير الزور - القورية - مظاهرة التحدي المسائية 8-5


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