Over 360 killed in Syria uprisings in first half of Ramadan

Smoke billowing from the Ramleh area of southern Latakia Syrian special task services killed more than 360 people in popular uprisings during the first half of the holy Islamic month of Ramadan, Syrian media sources reported on Wednesday citing combined data from local rights organizations.
Hundreds of Syrian security services raided homes in the port city of Latakia on Wednesday, pressing their crackdown on dissent in defiance of rising condemnation abroad, activists said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, contacted from Nicosia, said more than 700 members of the security services took part in the operation in the southern district of Ramel, arresting people on lists. "Heavy gunfire continued in most opposition neighbourhoods" overnight, the Britain-based group said. In Jabal al-Zawya, a village in Idlib province near the border with Turkey, security forces shot dead a man standing on his balcony, it said.
It said security forces out in Damascus carried out dawn raids in Rukn Eddin district, where electricity was cut off, and arrested dozens of activists. Dozens of others were arrested overnight on the outskirts of the capital.
Syrian state media says that military and security forces have withdrawn from the city of Deir ez-Zor and key areas in Latakia following operations which anti-government activists say have left dozens dead, however witnesses say that troops have not withdrawn. Convoys of army vehicles were seen leaving Deir ez-Zor after the military cleared the area of "armed terrorist gangs," SANA, the state-run news agency, reported. Footage showed pictures of crowds chanting and cheering as the soldiers left.
But on Wednesday, Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish Foreign Minister said Syrian troops were still in the city. "We stress the necessity that the army withdraws and ends the military campaign. I can confirm that Deir ez-Zor is still witnessing problems and the army is in Deir ez-Zor and other towns," he said, speaking at a news conference in Istanbul with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh.
Witnesses on the ground also disputed the government's announcements, Al Jazeera's Nisreen el-Shamayleh said on Wednesday, reporting from Ramtha, on the Syria-Jordan border. "[They said] a lot of the tanks have been moved to other suburbs on the outskirts of Deir ez-Zor, but did not exit completely ... They basically provide these accounts that challenge these statements from the Syrian government." Activists also told Al Jazeera that gunfire was heard near Freedom Square after Ramadan prayers on Tuesday night, where two people were reported to be killed.
Meanwhile, Syria's interior ministry said security forces had completed their operation in the al-Ramel al-Janoubi neighbourhood of the coastal city of Latakia, which had been subjected to a four-day assault that activists say has left at least 36 people dead.
Brigadier General Mohammad Hassan al-Ali said al-Ramel al-Janoubi, which houses a Palestinian refugee camp, "is recovering and the citizens are practicing their normal life that was spoiled by the acts of the terrorist groups," SANA reported.
However, "activists told us that on Tuesday night and early on Wednesday morning, specifically at 8am local time on Wednesday, heavy gunfire was heard across neighbourhoods in Latakia and that two Palestinians were killed on Tuesday night," Shamayleh reported. However, "activists told us that on Tuesday night and early on Wednesday morning, specifically at 8am local time on Wednesday, heavy gunfire was heard across neighbourhoods in Latakia and that two Palestinians were killed on Tuesday night," Shamayleh reported.
Since Sunday, 36 civilians have been killed in Latakia in a military offensive during which gunboats went into action for the first time since the start of pro-democracy revolts in mid-March, according to activists. The official news agency SANA has denied any maritime operation and on Tuesday quoted a military official saying security forces were "hunting armed men" in Latakia districts "who opened fire on residents."
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees reported that more than half of the 10,000 refugees of Ramel camp in southern Latakia had fled under fire. A security official cited by Syria's official state news agency said security forces backed by an army unit had completed a mission in Latakia’s Al Raml neighborhood against “armed terrorist groups who have terrorized the citizens.”
A Latakia resident, a university student who did not want to be named, said tank machinegun fire could still be heard in the neighborhood and that tanks and armored vehicles moved deeper into the city, including the main Port Said street. “We can only hear the tank fire. Anyone who goes near Al Raml Al Filistini risks being arrested or shot,” he said, according to Reuters. The United Nations agency which cares for Palestinian refugees said on Monday four had been killed and 17 wounded. Syrian forces killed a 16-year-old boy when they fired on a protest in the eastern city of Deir Al Zor, residents said, hours after the authorities said the army was pulling out.
Nibras Al Sayyah was hit by bullets fired by military intelligence personnel to disperse hundreds of people who marched at night after Ramadan prayers, the residents said. Witnesses said most tanks and troop carriers had pulled out of Deir Al Zor, which they attacked on August 7, and moved to the outskirts. Many troops remained in the city and were storming houses looking for wanted dissidents, they said. “The regime seems intent on breaking the bones of the uprising across the country this week, but the people are not backing down. Demonstrations in Deir Al Zor are regaining momentum,” one activist in the city said.
The assault on Latakia has drawn sharp Arab and international condemnation.On Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague stepped up the pressure and warned that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was "fast losing the last shreds of his legitimacy." And US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Arab heavyweight Saudi Arabia and Syria's neighbour Turkey to push Assad to step down. But the head of Russia's arms export agency, cited by the Interfax news agency, said Wednesday Moscow was continuing to supply weapons to its traditional ally Damascus. "While no sanctions are announced, while there are no orders or directions from the government, we are obliged to fulfil our contractual obligations, which we are now doing," Rosoboronexport chief Anatoly Isaikin said. On Wednesday, Switzerland widened sanctions against the Assad regine, adding 12 more individuals to a list of key players under financial embargo and travel restriction, the AFP reported.
However, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem accused countries he did not identify of "putting pressure on Syria to stop the violence but ignoring that terrorist armed groups are behind this violence," SANA reported. An AFP journalist on a government tour of the eastern oil hub of Deir Ezzor said dozens of army vehicles left the city Tuesday after a 10-day operation, which activists said killed more than 30 people. "The army conducted a quick and sensible operation in Deir Ezzor in order to restore stability and calm at the request of residents," who complained of "armed groups," an officer told reporters. Hours later the Syrian Observatory reported that one person was killed when security forces opened fired to disperse an anti-regime protest in Deir Ezzor where "hundreds of people" marched in Takaya Street.
Syrian diplomats are intimidating expatriates who speak out against the regime, and reporting back home where dissidents’ relatives are then threatened and arrested, according to Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, as the Syrian troops continued their violent crackdown on protesters.
The Obama administration told the Journal it had “credible” evidence that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad is using the reports from its embassies abroad to target relatives of those living overseas, particularly Syrian-Americans who have joined peaceful US protests.
The daily, citing interviews with six Syrian-Americans, said embassy staffers were tracking and photographing protesters, and that Syrian diplomats including the ambassador to Washington have gone to Arab Diaspora communities to brand dissidents as “traitors.” “They want to intimidate us wherever we are,” Philadelphia-based Syrian-American scientist Hazem Hallak told the daily.
Mr. Hallak said his brother Sakher was tortured and killed in May by Syrian intelligence after he returned from a conference in the United States. Mr. Hallak said agents in the Syrian city of Allepo sought to obtain a list of activists and US officials that Sakher had allegedly met during his US stay, and that Syrian agents tracked his brother in the United States. He said his brother was not involved in anti-regime activities. The Journal, citing three people interviewed by the FBI in recent weeks, also said the Federal Bureau of Investigation was probing allegations that Syrian Ambassador Imad Mustapha and embassy staff have threatened Syrian-Americans. The US State Department publicly rebuked Mr. Mustapha last month after reports that embassy staff were “conducting video and photographic surveillance of people participating in peaceful demonstrations in the United States.” On Tuesday in an interview with the Journal, Mr. Mustapha dismissed the allegations by Syrian-Americans and US officials as “slander and sheer lies,” and that “the Embassy of Syria challenges the State Department to provide a single shred of evidence that the embassy has harassed or conducted surveillance on anyone.” The paper cited several incidents of intimidation by Syrian officials against dissidents in the United States, as well as in Europe and Latin America.
Rights groups say the crackdown has killed 1,827 civilians since mid-March, while 416 security forces have also died.