Army snipers target Syrians trying to bury their dead

RESIDENTS of the southern Syrian city of Daraa were forced to brave sniper fire yesterday to pull the bullet-riddled bodies of the dead from the streets and hide them from security forces, a day after a brutal government crackdown on the popular revolt against President Bashar Assad.

As heavy gunfire reverberated through Daraa, a Syrian human rights group said authorities detained dozens of people across the country, mainly in several Damascus suburbs, but including the town of Douma and in the northern coastal city of Jableh.

A relentless crackdown since mid-March has killed more than 400 people across Syria, with 120 dead over the weekend, rights groups said. That has only emboldened protesters who started their revolt with calls for modest reforms but are now increasingly demanding Mr Assad's downfall.

The Syrian army, backed by tanks and snipers, killed at least 22 people in a raid launched before dawn on Monday on Daraa, where the uprising began more than a month ago. Security forces also conducted raids in the towns of Douma and Jableh.

The assault on Daraa appeared to be part of new strategy of crippling, pre-emptive action against any opposition to President Assad, rather than reacting to demonstrations.

It took more than a day for residents of Daraa to start pulling many of the bodies off the streets of the town, with roof-top snipers and army forces firing on people who dared to leave their homes.

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One man, Zaher Ahmad Ayyash, was killed as he tried to retrieve the bodies of two brothers, said one resident, who asked to be identified only as "Abdullah".

The corpses were hidden away after they were retrieved from the streets, Abdullah said, suggesting that residents might face reprisal if troops discovered they had taken the bodies.

"We can't bury the dead in the cemetery because it's occupied by Syrian soldiers," said Abdullah. "We are waiting to find another place to bury them."

Snipers also targeted water tanks on roof tops in Daraa - the last source of clean water for many residents of the parched region of 300,000 people, Abdullah said. Even as the military crackdown intensified, Abdullah said there was quiet, defiant resistance. Palestinian refugees - generally the toughest of all Syrian residents - smuggled flour, water, bread and canned food into town.

Earlier in the day, another resident said Syrian special forces were in the streets of the impoverished city, and tanks had opened fire in the city.

Scenes similar to those in Daraa took place in Jableh, with residents hiding their dead from Friday's assault and then furtively burying them in private plots of farmland - some as late as Tuesday - out of fear that the families of those killed might be arrested, a resident said.Also as in Daraa, gunmen had shot holes in water storage tanks on roof tops in a form of punishment, he added.

Syria has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted access to the country's trouble spots since the uprising began, making it almost impossible to verify the dramatic events shaking one of the most authoritarian, anti-Western regimes in the Arab world.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain was working with other members of the UN Security Council "to send a strong signal to the Syrian authorities that the eyes of the international community are on Syria."

Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Mr Assad and urged him to show "restraint."