Syrian activists report blasts from besieged Hama

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BEIRUT (AP) — Tanks took over a main square in the besieged Syrian

city of Hama and electricity and telephone phone lines were cut off

Wednesday as President Bashar Assad’s regime showed no signs of

halting the intense military assault against an uprising now in its

fifth month, activists said.

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At least three tanks took up position in Hama’s central Assi

square, which had been thronged by hundreds of thousands of

anti-regime protesters in the weeks before the latest crackdown in

some the largest demonstrations against Assad’s rule.

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For the past four days, Syrian troops have tightened their siege on

Hama, sending residents fleeing for their lives. The death toll

since Sunday has reached around 100 people, but the exact figure is

difficult to verify, according to activists.

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Activists reported a new military push into the city early

Wednesday, with fresh explosions and machine gun fire heard in many

parts of the city.

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“We are being subjected to shelling, machine gun fire, snipers

fire, everything you can think of,” said activist Omar

al-Hamawi.

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Electricity and telephone lines were cut Wednesday morning but

mobile phone lines appeared to have been partially restored by

early afternoon.

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Al-Hamawy, reached by phone, said the shelling was mostly targeting

al-Hader neighborhood. He said sporadic tank and gunfire was also

heard in various other parts of the city. He spoke briefly saying

he had to save his phone battery to call and check on

relatives.

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Telephone calls to other activists and Hama residents were not

going through.

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“Early this morning people heard the sound of bombs,” said Rami

Abdul-Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human

Rights. “Then the phone lines were cut.”

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He says residents on the outskirts of Hama reported seeing lines of

tanks heading toward the city early in the day, and the blasts were

heard soon after.

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The observatory relies on a network of sources on the ground

throughout Syria.

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The Hama operation has drawn a fresh wave of international

condemnation against a regime defying the growing calls to end its

crackdown on anti-government protesters.

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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday met with

U.S.-based Syrian democracy activists as the Obama administration

weighed new sanctions on Syria. Congressional calls also mounted

for action against Assad’s regime.

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Italy recalled Tuesday its ambassador to Syria “in the face of the

horrible repression against the civil population” by the

government, which launched a new push against protesters as the

Muslim holy month of Ramadan began Monday.

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It was the first European Union country to pull its ambassador, and

the measure came a day after the EU tightened sanctions on

Syria.

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The mounting international outcry has had no apparent effect so far

in Syria, an autocratic country that relies on Iran as a main ally

in the region.

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About 1,700 civilians have been killed since the largely peaceful

protests against Assad’s regime began in mid- March, according to

tallies by activists.

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Syria has banned independent media coverage and has prevented most

foreign journalists from entering the country, preventing

independent assessments of the events.

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Hama, the focus of the crackdown, has a history of

defiance.

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In 1982, Assad’s father, Hafez Assad, ordered the military to quell

a rebellion by Syrian members of the conservative Muslim

Brotherhood movement. The city was sealed off and bombs dropped

from above smashed swaths of the city and killed between 10,000 and

25,000 people, rights groups say.

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The real number may never be known. Then, as now, reporters were

not allowed to reach the area.

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