1 of 2. A view shows the smoke in the city of Hama in this still image video from July 31, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/YouTube via Reuters Dragonforce Khaled Yacoub OweisAMMAN | Sun 31 Jul 2011 8: 20 pm EDT
Amman (Reuters) - Syrians began the Muslim Ramadan quickly in somber mood Monday after troops stormed Hama, scene of a massacre of 1982, in one of the bloodiest days of a five month uprising against President Bashar al - Assad.
Rights activists said that 80 civilians died in the assault with support from tanks on Sunday in the central city of Syria where Assad father crushed an armed rebellion of the Muslim Brotherhood for 29 years by sweeping neighborhoods and killing many thousands of people.
The security forces had besieged the city Muslim Sunni 700,000 for almost a month before the crackdown on Sunday on the eve of Ramadan, a month sacred when the Muslim fasting hours of the day.
Many attend mosque prayers at night, sometimes they can offer opportunities for the protests multiplied by Syria.
The State News Agency Syria, said the military introduced Hama to purge the armed groups were citizens terrorize, an account dismissed as "nonsense" by an American diplomat in Damascus.
The Agency said that eight police officers were killed while "against armed terrorist groups" in Hama.
Of Barack Obama of the United States President said he was dismayed by the violence of "horrible" from the Syrian Government against its people in Hama and promised to work with others to isolate to Assad.
"Syria is a place better when a democratic transition goes forward", Obama said in a statement.
Great Britain and France condemned the attack on Hama. Italy calls for a tough statement by the Security Council United Nations, where Russia and China have opposed previously any condemnation of Syria.
Germany asked the Security Council will meet on Monday, said a spokesman for the Mission of the United Nations. He said that Germany had asked the India, which holds the Presidency of the Council for August, scheduled closed consultations and these were probably will take place in the afternoon, New York time.
The plans of the European Union to extend the sanctions on Monday by slap active freezes and five Syrians travel bans. EU sanctions already go to Assad and at least two dozens of officials, as well as the Syrian companies involved in the military.
Turkey, one of the main allies of Assad until the uprising, said that he and the rest of the Muslim world were "very disappointed" by the violence that denied Assad before reform pledges.
The human rights organization SIRIUS Sawasiah said the civilian deaths number in Hama rose to 80. The independent group cited medical officials and witnesses in his report.
Syrian authorities have expelled more independent journalists since the riots anti-Assad began in March, making it difficult to verify reports of violence and victims.
Assad has relied more and more to the security services and units of the army, dominated by members of his minority Alawite sect, which has dominated the power from a 1963 Ba'ath party coup to quell the protests in Syria, where the majority of people are Sunni Muslims.
In a letter to the troops on the occasion of army day, Assad reiterated earlier statements that Syria faces a foreign plot to sow sectarian strife, adding that its aim was to "tear Syria in small statelets which are competing to satisfy those who have worked to cut off..."
"All the honorable people of Syria are confident that we will go stronger from the crisis," said Assad.
"They wanted to cause sectarian conflict that destroys everything." "We have achieved avoid sectarian strife and examine ourselves to find mistakes and deal with them."
MASSACRE INFUNDI? FEAR
The massacre of 1982 Hama instilled such fear that few Syrians are willing to openly challenge rule Assad family until this year, when many were inspired by the popular uprisings in much peaceful toppled Arab autocrats in Egypt and Tunisia.
United States press added J.J. Harder "authorities think that somehow you can prolong their existence through full war armed its own citizens," he told Reuters.
The Muslim Brotherhood accused the elite Alawi of waging sectarian war in Sunni attacking Hama.
"Syria is witness to a war of sectarian cleansing." The regime has linked its annihilation opened with the half moon of Ramadan. "Is a war about the identity and beliefs of the Syria nation... the Muslim Arab Syria, added in a statement."
Citing hospital officials, the Syrian Centre for human rights said earlier that the number of dead in Hama is likely to rise, adding that dozens were seriously injured.
A doctor, who did not want to identify themselves more by fear of detention, told Reuters that dozens of people were injured and blood for transfusion in short of supply.
"The tanks are attacking from four directions". They are firing their machine guns heavy randomly and conquering locks improvised by the inhabitants, "the doctor said by telephone, the sound of crackling Viet machine gun fire in the background."
Residents said Alawi "shabbiha" irregular militiamen had accompanied the forces in buses and set tents overnight at Qazo roundabout in the Western District of the city.
The State news agency said that military units were fighting gunmen armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
The Syrian leadership accuses "armed terrorists" in the majority of murders during the revolt, saying that it has killed more than 500 soldiers and security personnel.
Another resident said that in the assault on Sunday, bodies were lying not charged in the streets and therefore the number of dead would rise. Army snipers were posted on the ceilings of the State electricity company and the main prison, he said.
Tank shells were falling at a rate of four a minute in the vicinity of Hama in the North, residents said on Sunday morning. Reduced supplies of electricity and water to the main neighborhoods, a tactic regularly used by the military when sweeping in restive cities.
South Syria, rights activists said that security forces killed three civilians when they stormed houses in the town al - Hirak, 35 kilometers (20 miles) northeast of the city of Deraa.
The Syrian Centre for human rights said that troops had arrested more than 100 people in Mouadamiyah in Damascus. A Western diplomat said he saw several tanks entered the suburb.
In the Eastern Province of Deir al - Zor, residents said at least 11 civilians were killed in a weekend offensive.
(Additional by Suleiman al - Khalidi in Amman, Oliver Holmes in Beirut, David Brunnstrom Brussels, Daren Butler in Istanbul, Catherine Hornby in Rome;) Written by Alistair Lyon; (Edited by Mark Trevelyan)
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