Syria's Banias Besieged, Nearby Village Raked with Gunfire amid New Demos
Syrian security forces locked down the protest flashpoint town of Banias and raked the nearby village of Baida with gunfire on Tuesday, witnesses told Agence France Presse by telephone.
"Security forces and armed men are firing machine guns indiscriminately at the village," a witness said.
"The gunfire against Baida is intense like the rain. At least one person was injured," another witness told AFP.
The army kept a stranglehold on the coastal town of Banias, 280 kilometers north of Damascus, where residents said they faced a bread shortage.
"Security forces and the army continue to assault Banias and we know what they are preparing for us," said Anas al-Shuhri, one of the leaders of anti-regime protesters.
"There is a shortage of bread in the city, electricity is cut and the majority of phone lines are too," he added.
Several residents of the coastal town, northwest of Damascus, confirmed al-Shuhri's testimony, particularly the bread shortage.
Abdul Basset, an electrician, told AFP the situation was "extremely bad".
"The army was redeployed outside the city and the security forces and shabbiha (regime agents) conducted a number of arrests. The town is dead, shops are closed," he said.
"Banias is surrounded by tanks, no one can get in or out. It is like a prison," said Yasser, a shopkeeper.
"We cannot get bread anymore in Banias. Bread supplies were brought from (the city of) Tartus but that is not enough. The petrol stations are also closed," he added.
Yasser said: "Security forces were responsible for killing soldiers in Banias because they had refused to attack the city," an account which differed sharply from the official version of events.
Preacher Sheikh Mohammed said: "Several families evacuated women and children (to the outskirts of the town), because we are in the Ras al-Nabee neighborhood which was targeted by gunfire from al-Quz neighborhood.
"The bakers of the town do not have enough bread," he added.
The army has encircled Banias since Sunday, when regime agents opened fired on residents, particularly those in mosques, killing four people and wounding 17, according to witnesses.
The official Sana news agency had said nine soldiers, including two officers were killed on Sunday when their patrol was ambushed outside the coastal town.
Meanwhile, a Facebook group called for fresh protests in Syria on Tuesday to show "loyalty with the martyrs, wounded and prisoners" after a bloody weekend crackdown on anti-regime demonstrators.
"Today, March 12, is the day of loyalty towards the martyrs, wounded and prisoners, who are the heroes of the free youth revolution," said the organizers on Facebook page the Syrian Revolution 2011, which has played a key role in mobilizing recent protests.
Later Tuesday, the group reported "mass" rallies in the Damascus suburb of al-Kaswa and the Latakia Governorate city of Jableh, noting that "around 10,000 protesters rallied in the Aleppo Governornate city of Koubani."
For its part, opposition mouthpiece Sham News Network reported that "thousands of protesters" rallied in the southern city of Daraa and the nearby areas of al-Hrak and Jassem.
Faced with unrelenting protests and a rising death toll, Syrian authorities have adopted a sharper tone in recent days, blaming the violence on "troublemakers" trying to sow discord.
The interior ministry on April 9 warned he would deal harshly with "armed groups" who "shoot indiscriminately" on "both demonstrators and security forces".
State media on Tuesday slammed "those sowing trouble, disorder and discord when Syria has already begun to address the problems and pave the road for change and reform".
The semi-official al-Watan newspaper said youth groups had appealed to the president, as commander in chief of the army, "to call on the army's reserves to pursue and arrest those who dare point their weapons on citizens and soldiers".
Syrian students on Monday staged a rally, rare for Damascus, to express solidarity with protesters who were killed in a bloody weekend crackdown that left at least 30 civilians dead.
Protests erupted in Syria on March 15 calling for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who has been in power since 2000, to introduce sweeping political reforms.
Source: Agence France Presse
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