Dubai: Thousands of children and the elderly fled Hama on Wednesday as Syrian security forces continued their siege on the restive city for the fourth day.
The exodus was triggered by fears of critical food shortages following news that trucks carrying supplies were blocked from entering Hamidiya, Karama and other residential districts in the city, residents said.
Speaking to Gulf News from Damascus, Alia Al Asheq, 75, explained how she escaped Hama with her daughter. The three-hour journey took them 12 hours to complete.
Hama has been under constant bombardment from Tuesday, according to the Hama Coordination Committee for the Peaceful Syrian Revolution.
Telecom services have been cut. Chants of ‘Allahu Akbar’ were heard from the loudspeakers of mosques throughout the night as helicopters carrying snipers fired at mosques to stop prayers. Tanks occupied the main Al Assi Square.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council yesterday condemned Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s deadly crackdown on protests and called for those responsible for violence to be held “accountable.”
A Council presidential statement “condemns the widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities.”
The United States on Wednesday said it had no interest in seeing Al Assad survive simply to preserve regional “stability,” hardening its line on what it termed a “grotesque” crackdown on dissent.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said that Washington did not view Al Assad as “indispensible,” saying he was completely “incapable and unwilling” to respond to the grievances of his own people. “The US has nothing invested in Assad remaining in power. We do not want to see him to remain in Syria for stability’s sake and rather we view him as the cause for instability in Syria,” Carney said.
Carney said the administration was looking for new leverage against Assad. “We are looking at ways to increase the pressure, the images coming out of Syria, of the Syrian government’s brutality against its own people, have been grotesque and appalling and they demonstrate the true character of the regime.”
