Hundreds of arrests as Syria sends troops and tanks to crush uprising

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

President Bashar Assad has dispatched troops and tanks to crush the seven-week uprising, which has posed the most serious challenge to his family's 40-year rule.

The widening crackdown suggests the Assad 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.

Yesterday's arrests, which targeted protest organiserss, were focused in four areas: the central city of Homs, the coastal city of Banias, 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.

Meanwhile, there were reports of army snipers being deployed on rooftops in the city of Homs.

Scores of women demonstrated in Banias, demanding the release of hundreds of detained men being held at the city's football stadium, Mr Abdul-Rahman said.

He added that security officers had promised the women that all men over the age of 40 would be freed soon.

In an indication that the regime shows no sign of folding, Mr Assad was quoted as saying "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 newspaper Al-Watan, which is close to the government, said Mr Assad made the comments while receiving a local delegation on Sunday.

Mr Abdul-Rahman said more than 250 people had been arrested in Banias, which was home to one of Syria's two oil refineries. Special forces, backed by tanks, entered the city at the week.

Among those arrested was a leading organiser of the demonstrations, along with his father and three brothers.

Security forces also detained Firas Khaddam, the nephew of former vice-president Abdul-Halim Khaddam, who has been living in exile since 2005 and called for the overthrow of the regime, Mr Abdul-Rahman said.

Meanwhile, the Al Baath newspaper of Syria's ruling Baath party said "cautious calm" has been restored to Banias. It said the showdown in the city "will end within a few hours".

Al-Watan said Banias was under the full control of the Syrian army after "fierce" battles with "armed terrorist" groups using heavy weapons and mortar rounds.Syrian officials and state-run media have tried to portray Banias as a hotbed of Islamic extremists to justify the crackdown.

The state news agency SANA said the army and security forces were pursuing fugitives in Banias and arrested a large number of them and confiscated their weapons.

There has been no independent confirmation that protesters have armed themselves or opened fire on security forces.

A resident who fled Banias two days ago said that among those detained were mosque imams and members of leading families in the city.

Yesterday's raids come a day after troops, backed by tanks, moved into different areas in the country, including the central city of Homs, Syria's largest, and three villages near Daraa.

The unrest gripping Syria was triggered by the arrest of teenagers caught writinging anti-government graffiti on walls in the southern city of Daraa.