After attacking the town of Hama, Syrian forces last week stormed the port of Latakia. It may be a long time before the army returns to barracks, writes Bassel Oudat in Damascus The day after Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu left Damascus last week, the Turkish ambassador to Syria saw Syrian tanks leaving the town of Hama in the centre of the country, the Syrian authorities having apparently acted on the Turkish suggestion, conveyed by Davutoglu, to withdraw their forces from Syria's towns and cities, starting with Hama. However, to his consternation the ambassador soon learned that rather than returning to their bases the tanks had headed for another city to back up military forces that had already been pounding demonstrators there for at least 10 days. The city that the tanks rumbled into on Saturday was Latakia, birthplace of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, where mass protests demanding his removal have persisted non-stop for several weeks in spite of a brutal crackdown. Syrian officials claim that the army was sent into the city in order to combat "armed terrorist groups". However, this justification has been heard many times before and few will have been convinced, either in Syria or among foreign governments and international agencies. According to inhabitants of Latakia and activists, tanks and armoured vehicles surrounded quarters of the city where the protest has been strongest. Electricity and communications were severed, and the security forces conducted a broad sweep of detentions, intending to crush the protest movement that began in the south of the country in mid-March and quickly gained momentum. The tanks sent into Latakia were not just there to intimidate, but instead began to shell residential districts, notably Al-Raml in the south of the city, which is largely inhabited by Palestinian refugees. According to residents, revolutionary committees and human rights organisations, the Syrian army has also begun using a new combat tactic, bombarding districts of the city from naval vessels off-shore and firing missiles at residential buildings. Sources say that more than 34 people have died in the city as a result of the bombardments, including a two-year-old child. The bodies of the dead are lying in the streets because no one dares to go out and remove them for fear of sniper fire from surrounding rooftops. Using loudspeakers, Syrian army officers ordered residents of the Palestinian refugee camp and neighbouring districts to vacate their homes, warning that anyone who remained would be regarded as a combatant. A mass exodus, mainly of women and children, left the district half empty, with those remaining either fearing arrest or simply having nowhere else to go. Activist websites have carried video clips showing the military's storming and bombardment of the city and naval vessels patrolling the nearby coast. However, Syrian military authorities have denied that the vessels were used to bombard residential quarters, describing the claim as "totally unfounded". The developments have infuriated Ankara, with the Turkish foreign minister holding a press conference on Monday at which he insisted that all military operations against civilians in Syria must stop "immediately and unconditionally". Turkey is one of the few countries that have maintained good relations with Damascus over recent months, its foreign minister visiting the Syrian capital earlier this year and urging political reforms. During his visit to the Syrian president last week, Davutoglu may also have conveyed the American position since Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also held talks with US President Barack Obama last week, during which they discussed the violence in Syria. Erdogan told the US president that he hoped Syria would begin to take reform measures within the space of two weeks. Angry reactions issued from other quarters following the attack on Latakia. Given that the Al-Raml district houses around 10,000 Palestinian refugees, the PLO vehemently condemned the Syrian assault, describing it as a "crime against humanity." PLO authorities have asked UNRWA, the UN Palestinian refugee agency, for permission to visit the camp. In a phone call to his Syrian counterpart, the Jordanian prime minister called for an "immediate halt to the violence, the implementation of reforms and a commitment to dialogue". He expressed his government's "dismay at and opposition to the continuing killing and the state of escalation" against demonstrators protesting against the regime. In Washington, White House officials announced that President Obama and Saudi King Abdullah had jointly demanded the Syrian regime to halt the violence against the demonstrators "immediately". Both leaders "expressed the great distress they share at the Syrian government's use of violence against its own citizens, and they agreed that the vicious campaign of violence that the Syrian regime is waging against its people must stop immediately," the White House statement read. Alarmed by the deteriorating security situation in Syria, the French government advised its citizens to leave the country within 48 hours, advising French citizens to abandon any plans they might have to visit the country. In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Syrian analyst Omar Kush said that "the Turkish position on the Syrian crisis is blurred. It is not an independent position, but is one that is linked to that of the US and the international community in general." Syrians may be hoping that the army will end its operations in Latakia, but they are also afraid that should it withdraw from the city it will only turn its attention to another. Latakia is only the most recent in a series of cities that the army has invaded, the first being Deraa, the southern town that gave birth to the Syrian uprising, followed by Damascus, Hama, Aleppo, Deir Al-Zor, Adlab, and other cities. Syrian political activist Mundhir Khaddam told the Weekly that "there are international deals which have turned Syrian blood into a bargaining counter. What does granting the regime a 'grace period' mean other than more rivers of blood shed by the brutal machine of repression?"
