Home
News
In Focus
Business
Metro
Nation
World
Sports
Feature
Opinion
View more 禄Opinion Columns
Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
City-born architect lists inspiration behind his designs in a new book
Digitization helps preserve, disseminate intangible cultural heritage
Sunday
- Subscribe
Syrian troops take key mosque
Source: Agencies |
May 1, 2011, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SYRIAN army troops backed by tanks and three helicopters yesterday took a prominent mosque that had been controlled by residents in a besieged southern city killing four people, a witness said.
The operation in the town of Daraa came a day after President Bashar Assad unleashed deadly force to crush a six-week-old revolt, killing at least 65 people, mostly in the border town.
Daraa resident Abdullah Abazeid said the assault on the mosque lasted 90 minutes during which troops used tank shells and heavy machine guns. Three helicopters took part in the operation dropping paratroopers onto the mosque itself, he said. The Omari mosque, in Daraa's Roman-era old town, had been under the control of the residents.
Daraa is the heart of a six-week-old uprising against the government and has been under siege since Monday when the government first sent in tanks to crush the daily demonstrations.
Abazeid said that among the dead was Osama Ahmad, the son of the mosque's imam, Sheik Ahmad Sayasna. The other three were a woman and her two daughters who were killed when a tank shell hit their home near the mosque, he said.
In the early hours of the morning, military reinforcements poured into Daraa, including 20 armored personnel carriers, four tanks, and a military ambulance, a resident of the city said.
The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said 65 people were killed on Friday. with 36 deaths in the Daraa province, 27 in the central Homs region, one in Latakia and another in the Damascus countryside. Total civilian deaths since the uprising began has reached 535, he said.
The latest deaths came as the United States slapped three top officials in Assad's government - including his brother - with sanctions and nations agreed to launch a UN-led investigation of Syria's crackdown.
The uprising began in mid-March, sparked by the arrest of teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall.
The operation in the town of Daraa came a day after President Bashar Assad unleashed deadly force to crush a six-week-old revolt, killing at least 65 people, mostly in the border town.
Daraa resident Abdullah Abazeid said the assault on the mosque lasted 90 minutes during which troops used tank shells and heavy machine guns. Three helicopters took part in the operation dropping paratroopers onto the mosque itself, he said. The Omari mosque, in Daraa's Roman-era old town, had been under the control of the residents.
Daraa is the heart of a six-week-old uprising against the government and has been under siege since Monday when the government first sent in tanks to crush the daily demonstrations.
Abazeid said that among the dead was Osama Ahmad, the son of the mosque's imam, Sheik Ahmad Sayasna. The other three were a woman and her two daughters who were killed when a tank shell hit their home near the mosque, he said.
In the early hours of the morning, military reinforcements poured into Daraa, including 20 armored personnel carriers, four tanks, and a military ambulance, a resident of the city said.
The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said 65 people were killed on Friday. with 36 deaths in the Daraa province, 27 in the central Homs region, one in Latakia and another in the Damascus countryside. Total civilian deaths since the uprising began has reached 535, he said.
The latest deaths came as the United States slapped three top officials in Assad's government - including his brother - with sanctions and nations agreed to launch a UN-led investigation of Syria's crackdown.
The uprising began in mid-March, sparked by the arrest of teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
