Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad shot dead six people on Tuesday in the Syrian city of Hama, activists said, and France called for the United Nations to stand up against the latest "ferocious armed repression." Tanks were still surrounding Hama, days after it witnessed some of the biggest protests against Assad's rule since a 14-week uprising erupted in March.
The attacks focused on two districts north of the Orontes River, which splits the city of 650,000 people in half. Residents said the dead included two brothers, Baha and Khaled al-Nahar, who were killed at a roundabout. Some residents of Hama, scene of a bloody crackdown by Assad's father nearly 30 years ago, had sought to halt any military advance, blocking roads between neighbourhoods with garbage containers, burning tyres, wood and metal.
Tuesday's raid by security forces and gunmen loyal to Assad followed the killings of at least three people when troops and security police entered Hama at dawn on Monday. "Yet again, the Syrian regime has chosen repression and the use of armed forces against its population, which only wants the right to exercise its fundamental rights," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said the world could not stand "inactive and powerless" in the face of the violence. "We are hoping that the Security Council adopt a clear and firm position and we call on all the members of the Security Council to take responsibility in light of this dramatic situation with a Syrian population subjected day after day to an unacceptable, ferocious and implacable armed repression."
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