Syrian troops detain hundreds in new raids

Beirut: Syrian security forces arrested hundreds of activists and anti-government protesters in house-to-house raids across the country Monday, part of an escalating government crackdown aimed at stamping out the nationwide revolt engulfing the country.

President Bashar Al Assad has dispatched army troops and tanks to crush the seven-week uprising that has posed the most serious challenge to his family's 40-year rule. The widening crackdown suggests that Al Assad's regime is determined to crush the uprising by force and intimidation, despite rapidly escalating international outrage and a death toll that has topped 630 civilians since the unrest began, according to rights groups.

Monday's arrests, which zeroed in on the protests' organisers and participants, were focused in four areas — the central city of Homs, the coastal city of Baniyas, some suburbs of the capital Damascus and villages around the southern flashpoint city of Daraa, said Rami Abdul Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. He said gunfire could be heard in the Damascus suburb of Maadamiyeh.

No sign

By early afternoon, scores of women were demonstrating in Baniyas, demanding the release of hundreds of detained men who were being held at the city's soccer stadium, Abdul Rahman said. He added that security officers had promised the women that all men over the age of 40 would be soon freed.

In an indication that the regime shows no sign of folding, Al Assad was quoted as saying in comments published Monday that "the current crisis in Syria will be overcome and that the process of administrative, political and media reforms are continuing."

The report, in the private daily Al Watan, which is close to the government, did not elaborate but said Al Assad made the comments while receiving a local delegation on Sunday.

Abdul Rahman said that more than 250 people had been arrested in Baniyas. Special forces backed by tanks entered the city on Saturday.

Among those arrested was a leading organiser of the demonstrations, along with his father and three brothers. Security forces also detained Firas Khaddam, nephew of former Vice-President Abdul Halim Khaddam, who has been living in exile since he left Syria in 2005 and called for the overthrow of the regime, Abdul Rahman said.

Meanwhile, the Al Baath newspaper of Syria's ruling Baath party said "cautious calm" has been restored to Baniyas.