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Syrian soldiers comb mountains in crackdown
DAMASCUS Syrias army, under fire for its harsh crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, was pursuing armed gangs in mountains near Jisr al-Shughur after storming the hotbed northern town, state media said. The crackdown followed what the authorities said was the massacre of 120 policemen in Jisr al-Shughur, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Turkish border.Rights activists reported heavy gunfire and explosions throughout Sunday in the town after troops backed by helicopter gunships and around 200 tanks launched a two-pronged assault at dawn. State television said late Sunday that the army now completely controlled the town and that troops were pursuing armed gangs into the woods and nearby mountains. Official media also reported the discovery of a mass grave in the town containing the mutilated bodies of 10 security agents whose hands, head and feet had been cut off. Armed groups had mutilated the corpses which were removed from the mass grave, the broadcaster said. It said the army entered the town after defusing dynamite placed on the bridges and roads by the armed groups. The Anatolia news agency reported Monday meanwhile that the number of people fleeing into neighbouring Turkey to avoid the brutal army assault had risen to 6,800. Those who have made it across the border described how the army had embarked on a scorched earth policy in Jisr al-Shughur and other villages in Idlib province, which has long been a hotbed of hostility towards the Syrian regime. But while some troops had appeared to be bent on destruction, others tried to defend the townsfolk and battles flared among the army on Sunday when parts of a tank division defected and then set up base by bridges into the town. The troops are divided. Four tanks defected and they began to fire on one another, said 35-year-old Abdullah, who fled Jisr al-Shughur on Sunday and sneaked over the border into Turkey in order to find food. When they started to fire on each other, I decided to flee. I dont know if they destroyed the bridges or not... which is where the tanks have gone. But everyone inside those four tanks would probably have died the moment they were hit, he said. Abdullah, who like many other refugees would only give his first name, said that the troops had pounded the town with heavy gunfire at the start of the operation. They began by surrounding the town with tanks, and then began firing from outside, spraying it with machinegun fire and using heavy weapons, he said. And then they entered the town, saying there were armed groups inside but in fact there was no-one. The place was empty. Ali, another Syrian refugee who made it to Turkey, also described evidence of a rift within the ranks. There is now a split within the army and you have a group who are trying to protect the civilians: they have blown up two bridges in Jisr al-Shughur, the 27-year-old told AFP, confirming similar testimony from other refugees who fled the town on the same day. Abdullah said that while the army was still inside Jisr al-Shughur, other members of the security forces had now reached Ziayni, a town which is only around six kilometres from the border. They torched all the crops, they slaughtered the goats, the cows. In the town itself, all the bakeries and the supermarkets have been pillaged, there is nothing left. The doors have been smashed in, he said. They bombarded the prison, destroying it. They fired on the mosques, they fired at some peoples homes. And municipal buildings have been wrecked like the registry office and the post office. The harrowing accounts tally with those gathered by US-based Human Rights Watch, which at the beginning of June released a report alleging systematic killings and torture by the Syrian security forces. Security forces had been given shoot-to-kill orders by the commanders, said the report, which was based on interviews with more than 50 victims and eyewitnesses. The way the regime is currently handling the protests is exactly what caused demonstrations to spread in the first place: security forces detaining, torturing and killing citizens, said Syrias local coordination committees. The committees, who coordinate protests on the ground, issued a statement calling for Assads departure and for the creation of a transitional political body to govern the country for six months. Posted by: Steve White 2011-06-14 |
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