Syrian army enters key city after deadly shooting

[April 11, 2011]  BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian soldiers on army trucks and jeeps rolled into the key port city of Banias on Monday, a day after security forces killed at least four anti-government protesters and wounded dozens, witnesses said.

An eyewitness said the military entered the Mediterranean city in the morning hours, taking up positions around key buildings and intersections. The witness, speaking on the phone from Banias, said schools and shops were closed because people feared more clashes.

He said the army's arrival was met mostly with relief.

"We are happy it's the army and not security forces who are like regime-hired gangs," he told The Associated Press. Like most eyewitnesses who spoke to the AP, he requested anonymity for fear of reprisals from the government.

Witnesses and human rights activists say Syrian security forces and pro-government gunmen killed four protesters in Banias on Sunday as hundreds were gathering for an anti-government rally, undaunted by the regime's use of deadly force to quell more than three weeks of unrest.

Protests erupted in Syria more than three weeks ago and have been growing steadily every week, with tens of thousands of people calling for sweeping reforms to President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime.

More than 170 people have been killed, according to human rights groups.

The government blames the violence on armed gangs rather than reform-seekers and has vowed to crush further unrest. On Sunday, state television reported that thugs killed nine soldiers in an ambush near Banias, which is 185 miles (300 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Damascus.

The report said gunmen hiding among trees along a road shot at the soldiers, and it broadcast images later of ambulance and other civilian vehicles coming under fire along the same road.

The accounts could not be independently confirmed. The government has placed severe restrictions on news coverage and many journalists -- including from The Associated Press -- have been ordered to leave the country.

Assad has made a series of overtures to try and appease the growing outrage, including sacking local officials and granting Syrian nationality to thousands of Kurds, a long-ostracized minority. But the gestures have failed to satisfy protesters who are demanding political freedoms and an end to the decades-old despised emergency laws.

On Sunday, Assad ordered the release of 191 detainees who were arrested in the past few weeks during protests in the Damascus suburb of Douma, where 12 people were shot dead during last Friday.

A Syrian official told AP that Assad made the announcement during a meeting with the families of the 12 killed.

He said Assad listened to the grievances of Douma residents -- mainly the need to combat corruption -- and promised to help Syrians. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give official statements.

[Associated Press; By ZEINA KARAM]

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