Thursday 4 August 2011

Midan, Damascus 3/8/2011

UPDATE (4/8/2011): At least 51 martyrs yesterday (45 of them in Hama), while hundreds of families were reported to have fled Hama to Salamiyah. There is a lot of destruction in Qusour and Hamidiah areas after the heavy tank shelling. Food and water supplies and communication are still CUT while Assad’s forces are now in control of the city’s hospitals. Deir Ez Zur is also being heavily shelled since this morning.
The Syrian Days Of Rage – English

08.04.2011) Al-Rastan | Homs | Nightly protests demanding the fall of Alassad’s regime http://www.youtube.com/watch?v?=RKv5nr3nsXs

 (08.04.2011) Al-Rastan | Homs | Nightly protests demanding the fall of Alassad’s regime

Syrian city of Hama blacked out | AP | 08/04/2011 http://www.philly.com/philly/w?ires/ap/news/world/mideast/201?10804_ap_syriancityofhamablack?edout.html

Syrian city of Hama blacked out | AP | 08/04/2011
www.philly.com
Syrian authorities kept the restive city of Hama under a blackout Thursday, cutting phone lines, Internet and electricity as part of a brutal, five-day-old crackdown on anti-government dissent. Activists expressed concern about worsening humanitarian conditions there, saying medical supplies and bre…

?#Syrian Residents tell of random shooting by armed men and communication blackout as Assad announces new #political concessions.

Reports: Syrian army intensifies Hama assault

english.aljazeera.net

Residents tell of random shooting by armed men and communication blackout as Assad announces new political concessions.

…
NOW! Lebanon
[local time] 22:29 Protesters in Hama in the area of Aleppo road are being shelled. Dozens are being either injured or killed. (S.N.N)
 22:28 An anti-regime protest began in Daraa’s town of Enkhel. Thousands protested and security forces shot at them to disperse them . (S.N.N)
 22:26 People began protesting in support of Hama in Aleppo’s neighborhood of Salah Eddine. An anti-regime protest also began in Aleppo near al-Shami Mosque. (S.N.N)
 22:25 An anti-regime protest and in support of Hama and Abu Kamal began in Deir az-Zour. (S.N.N)
 22:24 An anti-regime protest began in Tal Shehab, Nimr, Mahja and Daael in Daraa. (S.N.N)
 22:24 A mass protest against the regime began in Homs’ neighborhoods of al-Waar al-Jadid, Bab al-Sibaa and al-Inshaat. (S.N.N)
 22:24 Al-Barnawi in Hama is being shelled and heavy gunfire can be heard there. (S.N.N)
 22:20 The area of Aleepo road in Hama is being shelled. (S.N.N)
 22:19 More than 20,000 people began protesting against the regime and in support of Hama in Homs’ neighborhood of al-Bayada. (S.N.N)
 22:19 A protest in support of Hama began in Daraa’s town of Saida. (S.N.N)
 22:18 President Bashar al-Assad’s militants ran away after protesters threw fireworks at them in Daraa’s neighborhood of al-Yarmouk. (S.N.N)
 22:17 An anti-regime protest began in Homs’ neighborhood of al-Khalidieh. (S.N.N)
 22:16 A mass protest began in al-Marygeh in Homs. (S.N.N)
 22:15 People are gathering in Daraa’s town of Aalma and will head to Daraa’s town of al-Harak to protest. (S.N.N)
 22:15 An anti-regime protest and in support of the surrounding cities began in Daraa’s town of al-Gharya. (S.N.N)
 22:14 An anti-regime protest and in support of Hama and Deir az-Zour began in Daraa’s town of Mseifra. (S.N.N)
 22:13 A protest in support of Hama began in Jableh. (S.N.N)
 22:13 People began gathering for protests in Houla, Homs. (S.N.N)
 22:12 An anti-regime protest began in Damascus’ neighborhood of al-Salehyeh. (S.N.N)
 22:12 People began protesting for overthrowing the regime in Homs’ neighborhood of al-Hamra. (S.N.N)
 22:11 Heavy gunfire can be heard in Daraa’s town of Jassem after a mass anti-regime protest has started there. (S.N.N)
 22:10 Electricity has been cut in some areas in Moadamyeh near Damascus. (S.N.N)
 22:09 A protest in support of Hama and against the regime began in Aleppo’s town of Aandan. (S.N.N)
 22:08 Gunfire can be heard in Homs’ neighborhood of Baba Amro. (S.N.N)
 22:07 Security forces are trying to disperse a protest in al-Mattar neighborhood of Daraa. (S.N.N)
 22:07 A protest in support of Hama began in Daraa’s town of al-Harak. (S.N.N)
 22:06 Protesters in Daraa’s neighborhood of al-Qsour are being fired at. (S.N.N)
 22:05 Protests in support of Hama began in Amouda. (S.N.N)
 22:04 President Bashar al-Assad’s militants stormed Saad and al-Omari mosques in Daraa’s town of Enkhel and beat up the people who were praying inside. (S.N.N)
 22:03 Security forces stormed Omar Bin al-Khattab Mosque in Moadamyeh near Damascus and detained around ten young men. (S.N.N)
 22:02 Security forces arrive in Homs’ neighborhood of al-Maalab. (S.N.N)
 22:01 A protest in support of Hama began in Madaya near Damascus. (S.N.N)
 22:00 An anti-regime protest in support of Hama began in Daraa’s neighborhood al-Qsour. (S.N.N)
 21:59 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Thursday shows people protesting in support of Hama, Homs and Deir az-Zour in Damascus’ neighborhood of al-Qadam. Protesters are chanting for overthrowing the regime.
 21:56 Security forces are heavily deployed in Daraa’s neighborhood of al-Sad. (S.N.N)
 21:55 Security forces began entering Moadamyeh near Damascus. (S.N.N)
 21:54 Protests began in Hama’s Salamiya. (S.N.N)
 21:53 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Thursday shows people protesting against the regime in Daraa’s town of Nawa. Protesters are chanting that they support Hama and Deir az-Zour until death.
 21:53 Protests began in support of Hama in Qamshili. (S.N.N)
 21:52 Around 12,000 people are protesting against the regime in Qusyar, Homs. (S.N.N)
 21:50 An anti-regime protest began in Aleppo’s town of al-Rtyan. (S.N.N)
 21:50 Security forces are heavily deployed in Damascus’ al-Hajar al-Aswad. (S.N.N)
 21:49 Army forces are heavily deployed in Moadamyeh’s neighborhood of al-Arabaeen. (S.N.N)
 21:48 A mass protest began in Talbisa in Homs in support of Hama and Deir az-Zour. (S.N.N)
 21:41 Al-Arabiya quoted on Thursday an eye witness as saying that Syrian security forces and Shabeeha militants, Syrian regime thugs, “completely” surrounded Moadamyeh near Damascus.
 21:40 Security reinforcements arrive in Daraa’s neighborhood of al-Kashef. (S.N.N)
 21:39 Security forces stormed Tafas in Daraa and detained two children. (S.N.N)
 21:38 Security forces are heavily deployed around Jassem’s Al-Kabeer Mosque. (S.N.N)
 21:37 Security forces, Shabeeha militants (thugs) and snipers are deployed in Artouz near Damascus. They are also surrounding mosques. (S.N.N)
 21:36 Heavy gunfire can be heard in Daraa’s neighborhood of al-Qsour. Security forces are heavily deployed there. (S.N.N)
 21:35 Heavy gunfire was heard in Daraa’s town of Jassem a while ago. (S.N.N)
 21:25 Heavy gunfire and sounds of explosions can be heard in Talbisa in Homs. (S.N.N)
 21:17 Heavy gunfire was recently heard in Homs’ neighborhood of Khalidieh. (S.N.N)
 21:10 Security forces and Shabeeha militants threatened to target all hospitals in Deir az-Zour if they do not close down and kick out all patients. (S.N.N)
 21:05 Gunfire can be heard near Homs’ neighborhood of Baba Amro. (S.N.N)
 21:02 The United States on Thursday stepped up the pressure on Syria over its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, imposing sanctions on a businessman close to President Bashar al-Assad and his family, AFP reported.
 20:28 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Thursday shows people protesting against the regime and in support of Hama in Soueida.
 20:21 CNN quoted human rights organizations as saying that 109 killed were killed on Thursday in Syria’s Hama and in the surrounding towns.
 20:20 The EU on Thursday approved increasing sanctions against Syria, Reuters website reported, adding that EU officials said that sanctions will be issued against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and 34 others, in addition to companies linked to the Syrian army and to the crackdown on protesters.
 20:01 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Thursday shows people marching in the funeral procession of Omran al-Jahmani in Daraa’s town of Nawa.
 20:00 Security forces closed and surrounded al-Imam al-Nawawi Mosque in Daraa’s town of Nawa. (S.N.N)
 19:56 The United States warned Thursday that President Bashar al-Assad had put Syria and the Middle East on a “very dangerous path,” again toughening rhetoric on a crackdown by Damascus, AFP reported.
 19:25 Al-Arabiya television quoted an eye witness as saying on Thursday that 50 buses with Shabeeha militants, Syrian thugs, entered Hama from the South.
 18:42 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called the situation in Syria “dramatic” and expressed “enormous concern” over the deadly violence in the country, AFP reported.
 18:00 Sheikh Khaled Kooki was arrested in Damascus after the funeral procession of Khaled al-Fakahani ended. (S.N.N)
 17:40 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Thursday shows dozens of people marching in the funeral procession of Khaled al-Fakahani in Kafr Soussa in Damascus. The participants are chanting in support of those killed in the anti-regime protests and against President Bashar al-Assad. Among their chants can be heard “Assad is God’s enemy. He who kills his people is a traitor.”
 17:36 A YouTube video purportedly filmed on Thursday shows dozens of people marching in the funeral procession of Amer Bzazeh in al-Midan neighborhood of Damascus. People are chanting against President Bashar al-Assad.
 17:33 Security forces have recently stormed Daraa’s town of Mseifra. (S.N.N)
 16:35 Some people were arrested on Wednesday evening in Edleb’s town of Ariha during anti-regime protests. (S.N.N)
 14:55 Security forces closed down Al-Nour Hospital in the city of Deir az-Zour. (S.N.N)
 14:13 At least 30 people were killed in the Syrian city of Hama on Wednesday as security forces stormed the flashpoint protest center, a witness told AFP in Nicosia on the phone.
strong> 12:29 France on Thursday slammed as “provocation” a decree by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allowing opposition parties, and said instead he should stop his deadly crackdown on democracy protests.
 12:21 Snipers were spotted on the rooftops of buildings in the city of Nawa.
 11:46 National Liberal Party leader MP Dori Chamoun said in an interview published on Thursday that the attack on pro-democracy protesters in Hamra outside the Syrian Embassy in Lebanon was “expected because the Syrian regime is dying.”
 11:08 Intermittent sounds of gunfire can be heard in Hama, and snipers are spotted on the rooftops of tall buildings. (S.N.N)
 11:03 A You Tube video purportedly filmed on Wednesday shows the body of a child killed by the Syrian security forces.
 11:02 A You tube video purportedly filmed on Wednesday shows dozens of protesters marching in Reef Damascus’ suburb of Darayya in support of Hama and other besieged cities. The protesters are chanting against the regime.
 10:55 Dozens of families fled from Homs’ neighborhood of Baba Amro. (S.N.N)
 10:36 A You Tube video purportedly filmed on Wednesday night shows dozens of protesters in Daraa’s town of  Al-Mseifra. Protesters are calling on Bashar al-Assad to leave.
 10:20 Future bloc MP Mustafa Allouch said in an interview published on Thursday that “the international community has come to [a point] in which it has to take maximum measures to protect the Syrian people.”
 9:45 A You Tube video purportedly filmed on Wednesday night shows dozens of protesters gathering in Daraa’s town of Kfar Shams. Protesters are chanting against the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Baath party.
 9:44 A You Tube video purportedly filmed on Wednesday night shows dozens of people protesting in Homs’ town of Al-Shammas. Protesters are chanting: “The people want to overthrow the regime.”
 9:41 A You Tube video purportedly filmed on Wednesday night shows dozens of protesters gathering Homs’ neighborhood of Al-Khalidiyeh. Protesters are chanting against the regime.
 9:40 French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Wednesday hailed as a “turning point” a UN Security Council declaration condemning Syria’s deadly crackdown on protests.
 9:39 A You Tube video purportedly filmed on Wednesday night shows dozens of people protesting in the city of Jabal az-Zawiya. Demonstrators are chanting: “We prefer death over humiliation.”
 9:38 A You Tube video purportedly filmed on Wednesday night shows dozens of people gathering in the city of Edleb. Protesters are chanting for the cities of Hama and Deir az-Zour.
 9:36 Britain on Wednesday welcomed the United Nations’ condemnation of the Syrian government’s deadly crackdown on protesters and warned it faced increased international pressure unless the violence ended.
 9:35 A You Tube video purportedly filmed on Wednesday night shows dozens of people protesting in Homs’ neighborhood of Al-Qousour.
 9:33 Some 300 protesters in a Sunni Muslim bastion in north Lebanon hit the streets on Wednesday night to demand Syria’s Bashar al-Assad step down.
 9:32 A You Tube video purportedly filmed on Wednesday night shows dozens of people protesting in Homs’ area of Waar. People are calling on President Bashar al-Assad to “leave.”
 9:30 A You Tube video purportedly filmed on Wednesday night shows dozens of people protesting in Homs’ neighborhood of Al-Bayyada. Protesters are chanting: “The Syrian army is a traitor!” 
 9:28 Security forces raided houses in the Homs’ neighborhood of Baba Amro. (S.N.N)
 9:13 President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday issued a decree authorizing a multi-party political system in Syria, the official SANA news agency reported.
 9:09  A Syrian Canadian woman on Wednesday said she and other members of her community have received threats after posting videos and information online about the Syrian government’s crackdown on protests.
 8:56 Syrian security forces shot and killed four civilians and wounded dozens as they cracked down on protests in three cities after prayers on Wednesday, a rights activist said.
 7:53 Amal Movement MP Michel Moussa said on Thursday that Lebanon has no interest in becoming enemies with Syria, adding that “this is why it has to stay away from any internal conflict” in the neighboring country.

…

REUTERS: Dozens die, thousands flee Syrian tank assault in Hama

Syrian troops killed at least 45 civilians in a tank assault to occupy the center of the besieged city of Hama, residents said on Thursday, seeking to crush an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

Thousands of civilians were fleeing the city, a bastion of protest against 41 years of Assad family rule surrounded by a ring of steel of troops with tanks and heavy weapons.

“The sound of tank shelling and their heavy machineguns echoed in Hama all day. We fear many more martyrs. Most people in my neighborhood have fled,” said one resident in Sabounia district, a small business owner who did not want to be named.

“The shabbiha (militiamen loyal to Assad) are cleaning the streets near the university campus to stage a pro-Assad march tomorrow as if nothing is happening in Hama,” he told Reuters by satellite phone.

Electricity and communications have been cut off and as many as 130 people have been killed in a four-day military assault since Assad, from Syria’s minority Alawite sect, sent troops into the city on Sunday, residents and activists say.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington believed Assad’s forces were responsible for the deaths of more than 2,000 Syrians in their attacks on peaceful protesters.

Clinton repeated that the United States believed Assad had lost legitimacy in Syria and said Washington and its allies were working on strategies to apply more pressure beyond new sanctions announced earlier on Thursday.

Last week, tanks also moved into the eastern provincial capital of Deir al-Zor and the town of Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq. Both towns have seen large pro-democracy protests.

Activists said Syrians in their tens of thousands marched in cities and towns across the country after nightly Ramadan prayers demanding Assad’s overthrow, in intensifying daily demonstrations during the Muslim fasting month.

Damascus residents said armed shabbiha militiamen surrounded worshippers at the Rifai mosque in Kfar Souseh district and security forces arrested tens of people after the prayers, known as ‘tarawih’, in the old Maydan quarter.

On Wednesday Assad’s forces killed at least seven demonstrators after tarawih prayers across the country, witnesses and rights campaigners said.

“TARGETED FEROCITY”

“The security apparatus thinks it can wrap this uprising up by relying on the security option and killing as many Syrians as it thinks it will take,” a diplomat in Damascus said.

“Tanks are firing their guns at residential buildings in Hama and Deir al-Zor after the two cities were left for weeks to protest peacefully. This is the first time the regime is using tanks with such targeted ferocity,” the diplomat said.

In a sign that the assault on Hama and other Syrian cities may be galvanising the international community against Assad, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, whose country had resisted U.N. condemnation of Syria, said Assad risked a sad fate if he failed to reconcile with his opponents.

His comments came a day after Russia, which has a naval base in Syria, backed a U.N. Security Council statement condemning “the widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities.”

The United States extended sanctions against Syria on Thursday to include Mohammad Hamsho, a prominent Syrian businessman and member of parliament who it said was a front for the interests of Assad and his brother Maher, who directly commands ultra-loyalist forces from the minority Alawite sect, the same sect as Assad, spearheading military assaults.

The move by the U.S. Treasury fell short of calls by Syrian dissidents and some U.S. senators to target Syria’s oil and gas sector to put some muscle behind the sanctions, which have had little impact on Assad’s tactics.

The European Union also agreed to further extend sanctions on Syria. Germany said it would ask the United Nations to send a special envoy to Syria to increase pressure on Assad and Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said Syria was increasingly isolated.

“Given the regime’s cold-blooded violence against its own people, the front of countries holding their protective hand over the Syrian leadership is starting to crumble,” he said.

In Hama, residents said tanks had advanced into the main Orontes Square, the site of some of the biggest protests against Assad, who succeeded his father Hafez al-Assad in 2000. Snipers spread onto rooftops and into a nearby citadel.

An activist who managed to leave the city told Reuters that 40 people were killed by heavy machinegun fire and shelling by tanks in al-Hader district on Wednesday and early on Thursday.

The activist, who gave his name as Thaer, said five more people, including two children, were killed as they were trying to leave Hama by car on the al-Dhahirya highway.

MEMORIES OF 1982

Hama has been one of the main centres of protest against Assad, reviving memories of 1982 when his father sent troops to crush Islamist protests in the city, killing thousands of people and razing much of al-Hader district.

In Deir al-Zor, thousands of people have began fleeing Deir al-Zor, expecting a tank assault, after the authorities cut off wheat supplies from the city, said Rami Abdelrahman, president of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

Syrian authorities say the army has gone into Hama to confront armed groups trying to take control of the city. They say at least eight soldiers have been killed by gunmen.

The contrasting accounts from activists and state media are difficult to verify because Syria has barred most independent media since the beginning of the protests.

Rights groups said the lack of communication with the besieged city was alarming. There were also some reports that water supplies were blocked.

“Hama has been cut off. We’re in the dark and of course we’re very worried,” said Human Rights Watch’s Beirut-based senior Syria and Lebanon researcher, Nadim Houry.

Abdelrahman of the Observatory said 1,500 families managed to flee Hama in the last 48 hours, heading mainly to the east or the west of the besieged city. Other activists said authorities had blocked the road north toward the commercial hub of Aleppo and Turkey.

“We are talking about hundreds of families leaving Hama since yesterday by cars and pick-up trucks,” said one activist in touch with the families that escaped.

Alongside the military crackdown, Assad has lifted a state of emergency in place for nearly 50 years and promised constitutional changes to open Syria up to multi-party politics, but human rights campaigners and Assad’s opponents say the moves were largely on paper and did not alter the Syrian police state.

On Thursday he formally approved laws passed by the cabinet last week allowing the formation of political parties other than his ruling Baath Party and regulating elections to parliament, which has so far been a rubber-stamp assembly.

A new report by the Syrian National Human Rights Organization, headed by dissident Amman Qarabi, said a campaign of arbitrary arrests and abductions by secret police across Syria has intensified in the last few days, with over 12,000 people in jail since the uprising.

The report said two brothers, Wael and Bassel Skaf, were arrested two days ago after they took part in a demonstration demanding Assad’s overthrow in the resort town of Zabadani near the border with Lebanon after nightly Ramadan prayers.

“The scale of arrests in Zabadani were unprecedented,” Qarabi said. “The Skaf brothers are Christian. Their arrest contradicts the regime’s argument about militant Muslims terrorising Zabadani.”

World must boost pressure on Syria’s Assad: Clinton

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday Washington believed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government was responsible for more than 2,000 deaths in its crackdown on peaceful protests.

Clinton repeated that the United States believed Assad has lost legitimacy in Syria, and said the U.S. and its allies were working on strategies to apply more pressure beyond new sanctions announced on Thursday.

U.S. adds Syrian MP to sanctions list, cites Assad ties

The United States extended sanctions against Syria on Thursday to include a prominent Syrian businessman and member of parliament who it said was a front for the interests of President Bashar al-Assad and his brother.

The move by the U.S. Treasury marks the fourth round of U.S. sanctions against Syria aimed at pressuring Assad’s government to ease its bloody crackdown against unarmed protesters.

But it fell far short of calls by Syrian dissidents and some U.S. senators to target the Middle Eastern nation’s oil and gas sector to put some muscle behind the sanctions, which have had little effect on altering Assad’s tactics.

Previous rounds of U.S. sanctions have targeted the Syrian president and his brother Mahir al-Assad, other top government officials and the security forces.

The Treasury said it added Muhammad Hamsho and his holding company, the Hamsho International Group, to its sanctions list, which bans U.S. transactions with them and seeks to freeze any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction.

It said Hamsho has close ties to the Assads and has acted as a front for Mahir al-Assad’s business interests.

The Hamsho International Group has interests in metal fabrication, construction equipment, telecommunications gear, chemicals, civil contracting, hotel management and ice cream production, among other businesses.

“During the current unrest, he cast his lot with Bashar al-Assad, Mahir al-Assad and others responsible for the Syrian government’s violence and intimidation against the Syrian people,” Treasury terrorism undersecretary David Cohen said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a news conference on Thursday that Washington believes Assad’s government was responsible for more than 2,000 deaths in the crackdowns, and had lost its legitimacy.

She said moves such as the U.N. Security Council statement on Wednesday condemning Syrian government violence, as well as further international sanctions, could turn the screws.

“We are working around the clock to try to gather up as much international support for strong actions against the Syrian regime as possible. I come from the school that actions speak louder than words,” Clinton told reporters.

EU STOPS SHORT OF ENERGY SANCTIONS

European Union ambassadors meeting in Brussels on Thursday also agreed to add more names to their Syria sanctions list, but EU officials said they, too, stopped short of targeting the country’s oil industry and banking sector. Dissidents say that would be the only way to effectively choke off funds fueling repression in Syria.

The extent of new sanctions would depend on recommendations from the EU delegation in Damascus and EU states, the EU officials added.

Some political analysts said the U.S. and EU measures did not go nearly far enough and that they should move quickly against Syria’s oil and gas industry, a major money generator for the Assad government.

“This is not Iran. The amounts (of oil) they’re talking about here are trivial,” said Elliott Abrams, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. “I think this was a lost opportunity.”

Clinton said it was time for the international community to match its rhetorical outrage “with actions that will send a very clear message to the Assad regime, the insiders there, that there’s a price to pay for this kind of abuse and attacks on their own people.”

The addition to the sanctions blacklist came as Syrian activists said government troops killed at least 45 civilians on Thursday in a tank assault to occupy the center of Hama, causing thousands of people to flee the besieged city, which has been a bastion of protest.

U.S. President Barack Obama has said Assad has lost his legitimacy and is the cause of Syria’s instability, but has stopped short of directly calling for his ouster. In recent days, however, White House officials have ramped up their rhetoric.

“Assad is on his way out and … we all need to be thinking about the day after Assad because Syria’s 23 million citizens already are,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Thursday.

…

BBC: Syria violence: ‘At least 2,000 killed’, says US

The Syrian government is responsible for more than 2,000 deaths in its crackdown against protests, says US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

She spoke as an army assault against protest hub Hama was reported to have killed dozens of people in recent days.

Residents of the city say snipers and tanks are firing on civilians and food and medicine are running low.

Activists have dismissed a government decree to allow opposition parties after decades of Baath party rule.

Multi-party rule was a key demand of protesters who have been taking to the streets in large numbers across Syria since mid-March to call for the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.

Mrs Clinton repeated an earlier statement that the United States believed Mr Assad had lost legitimacy in Syria.

“We’ve seen the Assad regime continue and intensify its assault against its own people this week,” she said on Thursday.

“We think to date the government is responsible for the deaths of more than 2,000 people of all ages.”

‘People are being slaughtered like sheep while walking in the street’, Hama resident

She added that the US and its allies were working to apply more pressure on Syria beyond the addition of more individuals to a sanctions blacklist.

Human rights have estimated that more than 1,600 civilians have been killed since anti-government protests began in March.

At least 150 people have been killed since Sunday, mainly in Hama, the rights groups say, as the military intensifies its efforts to quell dissent.

Mr Assad blames the current violence on “armed criminal gangs” backed by unspecified foreign powers.

‘Sad fate’

International criticism of Syria has been mounting since the UN Security Council adopted a statement on Wednesday condemning the government of President Assad for “widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians”.

President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, long an ally of Syria, said Mr Assad would “face a sad fate” unless he urgently carried out reforms and reconciled with the opposition.

The BBC’s Jim Muir says almost no information is coming from Hama, as unverified footage claims to show tanks on the move in the city

And EU states extended their sanctions against Syria, adding more names to a list including President Assad and 34 other people as well as firms linked to the military. They stopped short of targeting the oil industry and banks, however.

Dozens of people are believed to have been killed in a five-day military assault on Hama, with residents saying on Thursday that tanks had shot their way into Assi (Orontes) Square, in the centre of the city of 800,000 people.

Activists said as many as 30 more people were killed in Hama late on Wednesday, after Ramadan prayers.

Communication with the city is all but completely cut off, as are water and electricity, correspondents say.

One resident who escaped the city on Wednesday told the BBC it looked “exactly like a battlefield… like a Gaza Strip kind of city. Like some villages in Iraq when the US army invaded it. That’s how it looks like”.

He said artillery was firing at buildings and snipers were shooting at anyone they saw on the streets.

Many people had left the city, he said, but for those left, food and medicine were running low.

Another resident said “people are being slaughtered like sheep while walking in the street.

“I saw with my own eyes one young boy on a motorcycle who was carrying vegetables being run over by a tank,” the man told Associated Press news agency.

…

GUARDIAN: Syrian protesters reject Assad gesture amid fresh bloodshed

Democracy movement spurns move to allow formation of opposing parties as dozens more civilians reported killed