CAIRO: At least 24 people were killed in continued attacks on civilians by the Syrian government on Monday. Activists have continued their protests and anti-government action despite being met with what foreign diplomats have called “all-out war” on the Syrian people. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said most of Monday's 24 deaths were in Hama, which has been the target of a heavy military operation since Sunday. Activists have disseminated harrowing videos of the attacks on social media websites over the past 48 hours, many of those videos showing the death and destruction that the Syrian military has delivered to its people. The current crackdown appears aimed at preventing protests from swelling during Ramadan, when Muslims throng mosques for the special nightly prayers after breaking their dawn-to-dusk fast. The gatherings could then turn into large protests throughout the country. About 1,700 civilians have been killed since the largely peaceful protests against President Bashar Assad's regime began in mid-March, according to tallies by activists, but rights organizations say the number of dead could be dramatically higher. Reports that the military is barring citizens from burying their friends and family members in cemeteries have surfaced and activists say they are forced to use local gardens to lay the dead to rest. Hama-based activist Omar Hamawi told the Associated Press that troops advanced about 700 yards from the western entrance of the city overnight, taking up positions near homes and buildings in an area known as Kazo Square. He said the force consisted of 8 tanks and several armored personnel carriers. Hamawi, who spoke to the AP over the telephone, added that troops were also reinforced on the eastern side of the city around the Hama Central Prison, an overcrowded jail. He said residents there saw smoke billowing from the prison overnight and heard sporadic gunfire from inside the premises, leading some to believe that the inmates were rioting. He added that it was impossible to know what was exactly going on in the prison or whether there were casualties inside the tightly controlled facility. BM
