AMMAN – Syrian protesters chanted “Bye bye Gadafy, Bashar your turn is coming” overnight, but Syrian president Bashar al-Assad showed few signs of cracking after months of demonstrations and his forces raided an eastern tribal region again yesterday.
The new chant, inspired by the apparent collapse of Col Muammar Gadafy’s rule in Libya, was filmed by residents in the Damascus suburb of Duma after prayers on Wednesday.
But in eastern Syria, tanks and armoured vehicles entered Shuhail, a town southeast of the provincial capital of Deir al-Zor, where daily protests have taken place against Dr Assad’s rule since the start of the fasting month of Ramadan.
“Initial reports by residents describe tens of tanks firing randomly as they stormed the town at dawn,” a local activist said.
“Shuhail has been very active in protests and the regime is using overwhelming force to frighten the people.”
Since Ramadan began on August 1st, tanks have entered the cities of Hama, scene of a 1982 massacre by the military, Deir al-Zor and Latakia on the Mediterranean coast, trying to crush dissent after months of street protests.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group based in Britain, said 11 civilians had been killed across Syria on Wednesday.
State news agency Sana said “armed terrorist groups” killed eight soldiers when they ambushed two military vehicles near the towns of Rastan and Telbiseh.
Syria has expelled most independent journalists, making it difficult to verify accounts on the ground from authorities and activists.
Prominent cartoonist and Assad critic Ali Ferzat was beaten up in Damascus by a group of armed men and then dumped in the street, an opposition activist group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said he was taken to hospital with bruises to his face and hands.
Ferzat, whose cartoons often mock repression and injustice in the Arab world, has criticised Dr Assad’s repression of protests. He told Al Arabiya television three weeks ago: “For the first time there is a genuine and free revolution in Syria.”
The defeat of Col Gadafy may encourage western nations to step up moves against Dr Assad.
EU diplomats said on Wednesday the bloc’s governments were likely to impose an embargo on imports of Syrian oil by the end of next week.
– (Reuters)