Amman: A Syrian mother of six who opened the door to a secret service sleuth in the border town of Daraa just had time to scream "Israelis are more merciful than you" before he shot her dead, relatives said on Thursday.
Neighbours were then chilled by the hysterical cries of her 10-year-old daughter Sameeha after the killing on Wednesday.
Tanks rolled into Daraa, the cradle of protests against President Bashar Al Assad, on Monday. Residents say at least 50 bodies have been picked up, mainly from the town's old quarter, since then.
Dozens more corpses still rot in the streets.
22 corpses in refrigerator
Sameeha's mother, 42, known as Um Omar, was buried in her own backyard — Muslim tradition barred putting her body among 22 male corpses kept in a refrigerator truck awaiting burial.
"They have no fear of God. As Um Omar said before she died, if we had Israelis besieging Daraa, they would be more merciful," said her cousin Ebrahim, 52, from the Masalmah tribe.
"They are not sparing anyone, men, women or children," said a resident from the Mahameed clan. "They are heartless," he added.
Few risk going to the local state hospital, now occupied by troops. Residents say hundreds of people wounded during six weeks of protests have been taken into custody from the hospital. Secret police are said to be whisking bodies out of the morgue to prevent funerals that might spark further unrest.
Roving tanks
Residents talk of a growing humanitarian crisis amid the army siege. The streets remain empty, with thousands of security forces, snipers and special troops manning Russian-made tanks in every neighbourhood.
Syria has expelled most foreign correspondents, making it difficult to verify the situation on the ground.
Syrian and international rights groups have condemned the authorities for cutting electricity, water and telephone services since Monday. Essential supplies, such as baby milk are running low.
Relatives turned back by bullets
Witness accounts describe desperate relatives from nearby villages being turned back by bullets from troops at checkpoints sealing off Daraa from its surroundings in the Hauran plain.
In Daraa, the old quarter near the Omari Mosque has taken the brunt of tank shelling that echoes a 1982 attack on the city of Hama, where Al Assad's father crushed an armed Islamist revolt.
"They have emptied pharmacy shelves so that people do not find anything to treat their wounded. They are lions against us, but lambs towards the Israelis," said Abu Yousuf Al Asemee, a resident of Mahatta district as gunfire crackled nearby.
