Syrian Tanks Invade Rebellious City of Hama and Disturb Muslims Observing Ramadan
Syrian tanks made their way into the center of Hama on Wednesday, a city that has been hostile to President Bashar Assad during their protests against the government.
According to the Los Angeles Times, phones, internet access and some electricity and water lines were cut off by authorities in the city. Witnesses reached by satellite phone spoke of scenes of chaos throughout Hama as the tanks took their positions in the city’s center.
“The tanks rolled into Hama at 5 a.m.,” said Salah, a 30-year-old Hama Web developer communicating by telephone to the L.A. Times. “They got to the city center and residential neighborhoods. We noticed we had lost internet and phone connections. We heard heavy artillery all around us, bearing down on the streets.”
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The activists also told the Times that food was not being allowed into the city and protesters who attempted to flee were cut off by tanks and soldiers. The invading forces were reportedly especially hard on Muslims gathering in mosques for public prayer during Ramadan.
“As we perform our nightly prayers during Ramadan, the regime is working to scatter us, prevent us from going to mosques,” said Rabih, a Syrian opposition activist in Hama.
Hafez Assad, the current president’s father, had a similar uprising against him in 1982 leading him to kill about 30,000 people and flatten huge sections of the city to quash the protests.
According to the Times, the younger Assad employing similar methods shows that he, along with his brother and close members of his ruling Alawite Shiite minority sect, see the current uprising as a threat that must be done away with regardless of human or political costs.
