Syrian tanks shell Hama ahead of UN meeting
Syrian tanks shelled the city of Hama after a day in which 100 people died, activists said, as President Bashar al-Assad praised his troops before a UN Security Council meeting. The Security Council members gathered for closed consultations on Monday, following demands from European powers to condemn Assad's deadly crackdown on opposition protests. Syrian forces on Sunday killed around 140 people across the country, including more than 100 in Hama, scene of an Islamist revolt in 1982 that was crushed at the cost of an estimated 20,000 lives. Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, called Sunday "one of the deadliest days" since the anti-regime protests broke out in mid-March, and said seven more people were killed on Monday in Syria. "Ten tanks are shelling Dawar Bilal indiscriminately," a activist told AFP in Nicosia by phone as the booms of explosions were heard in the background. He was referring to a residential area on the outskirts of Hama. The head of the Syrian League for the Defence of Human Rights, Abdel Karim Rihawi, told AFP that "intense shooting" was heard across Hama late Monday, the first night of the Muslim dawn-to-dusk fasting month of Ramadan. The official SANA news agency said troops were locked in clashes with "saboteurs" in the city. "The army is pursuing its mission in Hama and is removing barricades erected by groups of saboteurs at the entrances of the city," SANA said. Assad on Monday marked Army Day by showering his troops with praise even as international condemnation swelled ahead of the UN meeting on the crisis. The army had "proved its loyalty to its people, country and creed," Assad said. "Its efforts and sacrifices will be admired. These sacrifices succeeded in foiling the enemies of the country and ending sedition, preserving Syria."
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