BEIRUT: Hundreds of residents of Hama burned tires, erected sand barriers and set up other makeshift roadblocks Tuesday to prevent the advance of Syrian tanks and soldiers ringing the city, which has become a flashpoint of the uprising against President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime. On Monday, Syrian forces sealed off Hama and blocked the roads leading in, an apparent attempt to retake the city one month after security forces withdrew from it. About 300,000 people protested against the regime in Hama last week, a sign the city was spiraling out of government control. Rami Abdul-Rahman, the London-based director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said security forces killed three people Monday night in Hama. At least 20 were wounded, including Nasser Al-Shami, who won a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Hundreds of young men were burning tires and erecting barriers to prevent a military siege, he said, citing witnesses on the ground. Hama, which has a history of militancy against the Assad regime, was targeted by Assad's father and predecessor in a major government crackdown nearly three decades ago. In 1982, the late Hafez Assad ordered his troops to crush a rebellion by Sunni fundamentalists, killing between 10,000 and 25,000 people, rights groups say. The 14-week uprising against Assad has proved remarkably resilient despite a deadly government crackdown that has brought international condemnation and sanctions. Assad is facing the most serious challenge to his family's four decades of rule in Syria. Activists say security forces have killed more than 1,400 people — most of them unarmed protesters — since mid-March. The regime disputes the toll, blaming "armed thugs" and foreign conspirators for the unrest. Assad has promised a series of reforms that would have been unthinkable before the uprising, which was inspired by the revolutions sweeping the Arab world. He lifted the country's reviled emergency law, which gave the state a free hand to arrest people without charge, and said a national dialogue would start soon. But the protesters, enraged by a growing death toll, are increasingly calling for nothing less than the downfall of the regime. Syria has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted media coverage, making it nearly impossible to independently verify events on the ground. But witness accounts, including interviews with refugees who have fled to neighboring countries, indicate a brutal crackdown on the protest movement. Also Tuesday, a Syrian activist said buses carrying security forces had been spotted heading to restive, mountainous areas near the Turkish border. Omar Idilbi, a spokesman for the Local Coordination Committees, which track the protests in Syria, said witnesses told him the vehicles were rushing to the area where the military has been trying to prevent the opposition from establishing a base. About 10,000 Syrians have fled to Turkey amid the crackdown. The exodus has been a source of embarrassment to Syria, which has tried to tightly control coverage of the revolt. It also has strained ties with Turkey. On Tuesday, the head of the Syrian Red Crescent, Abdurrahman Attar, urged all Syrian citizens in Turkey to return home, Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency said. Attar visited the Turkish city of Hatay along the countries' border but did not visit the refugee camps, the report said. "Syrian citizens in Turkey can safely return home," Attar told a joint news conference with Head of the Turkish Red Crescent. He added: "Our wish is to see our citizens to voluntarily return Syria. I have been promised that their lives will be protected. We expect Syrians to return home as soon as possible."
