Activists: 24 killed in Syria's latest protests

[August 06, 2011]  BEIRUT (AP) -- The Syrian military tightened its suffocating siege on the city of Hama on Saturday, and activists said security forces killed at least 24 civilians the day before in a nationwide crackdown on anti-government protesters.

A Hama resident said tanks shelled the city Friday night, which resulted in several casualties. He said there were reports that at least one of the hospitals in the city had been targeted.

Authorities have imposed a media blackout on Hama and the reports could not be immediately confirmed.

The resident sneaked out of besieged Hama on Friday to try and get supplies, and spoke to The Associated Press by phone Saturday from an area on the outskirts of the city.

"I am trying to get back but it's impossible, they've tightened the siege even more, not even an ant can go in or out today," he said.

Syria's government has broadcast images of buildings and empty rubble-strewn streets in Hama, the epicenter of the protests, claiming the military was putting an end to an armed rebellion launched by "terrorists."

Under the relentless clampdown, residents on Friday warned that medical supplies were running out and food was rotting after six days without electricity.

Syrian government forces began their ferocious assault on Hama on Sunday, cutting off electricity, phone services and Internet and blocking supplies into the city of 800,000 as they shelled neighborhoods and sent in tanks and ground raids.

It appeared to be an all-out attempt to take back the city -- which has a history of dissent -- after residents all but took it over since June, barricading it against the regime. Rights group say at least 100 people have been killed, while some estimates put the number as high as 250.

The tolls could not be verified because of the difficulty reaching residents and hospital officials in the city, where journalists are barred as they are throughout Syria.

Across the country, tens of thousands of protesters marched on Friday, chanting their solidarity with Hama and demanding the ouster of President Bashar Assad.

Syria-based rights activist Mustafa Osso said at least 24 people civilians died Friday, most of them in Damascus suburbs when security forces opened fire during daytime protests and late night demonstrations following evening Ramadan prayers.

He says five civilians were killed in Hama and its surrounding countryside.

The toll was confirmed Saturday by the Local Coordination Committees, a key activist groups tracking the Syrian uprising.

The U.S. State Department on Friday urged Americans to leave the country immediately and advised those who remain in the country to restrict their movements. The warning came as congressional calls grew for the Obama administration to impose severe new sanctions on President Bashar Assad's regime.

In a new travel warning, the department said Americans should depart Syria while commercial flights and other transportation are still available "given the ongoing uncertainty and volatility of the situation." It noted that Syrian authorities had imposed tight restrictions on the ability of U.S. and other diplomats to move around the country.

[Associated Press; By ZEINA KARAM]

Zeina Karam can be reached at http://twitter.com/zkaram.

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