Citizens’ videos capture Syrian uprising

Massive protests calling for freedom and regime change have spread across Syria since first erupting in the southern governorate of Deraa on March 15. The movement has gained momentum in spite a persistent and brutal military crackdown.

Syrian security forces and pro-government armed men have continued their repressive measures despite the abolition of the 48-year-old emergency law and a pledge by Bashar al-Assad, the president, to implement major reforms.

More than 1,300 civilians have been killed and many more wounded throughout the country. At least 10,000 people, including many women and children, have also been imprisoned – and in many cases tortured – for protesting.

The Syrian government has blamed an “armed resurrection” by Salafi militant groups for the deaths of civilians, but raw video footage reveals a whole different story.

Syria has been subjected to emergency law since 1963 – the year Hafez al-Assad, the father of the current president, took power after leading a military coup.

International organisations have described the human rights status in Syria as being one of the worst in the world, with security forces having a long history of harassing and imprisoning rights activists and critics of the government. Protesters are also calling for the release of thousands of political prisoners and dissidents.

Demonstrators have also lashed out at rampant corruption in the Syrian government. Among the many officials accused of being “thieves” – Rami Makhlouf, the first cousin of Bashar al-Assad and arguably the most powerful economic figure and businessman in Syria, reportedly controls as much as 60 per cent of the country’s economy through an intricate web of holding companies.

Syria has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted access to troubled areas since the uprising began, making it almost impossible to get independent assessments. 

Defying restrictions and risking detainment, many ordinary Syrian citizens have taken it upon themselves to record and post videos of the protests online.
 
Here are some of the videos either displayed or linked to highlighted words. Check back later for updates.

Since I could not fit all the videos in one page, I created separate pages for older videos:

— PAGE TWO —

— PAGE THREE —

A compilation of videos showing protesters tear down posters and destroy statues of Bashar al-Assad and Hafez al-Assad across Syria since demonstrations first erupted in March.

A newly defected lieutenant colonel of the Syrian army says he has joined the uprising and condemns the Syrian government for ordering the “mass killings of women, children and elders across Syria”.

A defected Syrian soldier accuses the army of deliberately ordering the murders of civilians protesting. Al Jazeera has verified the veracity of this video’s source.

June 9

Security forces beat handcuffed protesters in Homs. A troop accuses the demonstrators of conspiring with Israel,  which has been a common occurence during the uprising.

Video shows a group of handcuffed protesters are beaten and tortured by troops in Deraa.

June 8

A huge convoy of tanks heads for Homs.

June 7

Video shows a young boy tortured by Syrian authorities.

June 6

A young boy is allegedly shot dead by security forces the town of Jisr al-Shaghour.

June 4

Video shows security forces apparently fabricating evidence of an insurrection by placing ammunitions on dead civilians in Deraa.

They shout obscenities and call those killed “dead pigs and dogs”.

June 2

School students protest in Homs after they took final exams.

June 1

Syrian opposition leaders and members attending a conference in Antalya Turkey stand up and swear an oath that they will support the uprising in Syria “until the people become free”.

May 31

Women demonstrate in Kafranbel in solidarity with the besieged Homs town of al-Rastan, where security forces killed 41 people, including a four-year-old girl on Tuesday. The protesters hold up a sign addressed to the US that says: “You lived September 11 one time, but we live it every day.

May 30

A defected security officer in Hama joins the revolution.

May 29

Security forces and Shabiha thugs fired live bullets on a bus containing 13 students from Rawafed school in Talbiseh, Homs, injuring all of them including four critically injured.  10-year-old boy Hajar Khatib was killed. Ambulances were initially not allowed to assist the injured children, with security forces firing on one of the ambulances, killing paramedic Abdo Bukjeh.

Video shows a young girl reportedly hospitalised following the attack.

Video of another injured young girl.

Video of a wounded young boy.

—-

Video below shows protesters burn a flag of Iran amid increasing reports of Tehran’s backing and support for the Syrian military’s crackdown on demonstrations.

According to the Washington Post, citing unnamed US officials, the influx of Iranian manpower, including advisors and trainers, was adding a steady stream of aid from Tehran.

That aid includes not only weapons and riot gear but also sophisticated surveillance equipment that is helping Syrian authorities track down dissidents.

May 28

Hundreds of protesters in Deraa are defying an ongoing military siege of the city to call for toppling the regime and to express outrage at the torture and killing of 13-year-old Hamza al-Khateeb, according to a local activist speaking to Al Jazeera

The mutilated body of 13-year-old Hamza al-Khateeb was returned to his family on May 24.

According to activists who spoke with his relatives, Hamza had been arrested on April 29 by secret police during a protest in Jiza, a town near Daraa city.

His corpse bears the scars of what appears to be brutal torture: lacerations, bruises and burns to his feet, elbows, face and knees by beatings and abuse, that, according to commentary on a video released by his family, is consistent with the use of electric shock devices and whipping with a cable; his eyes are swollen and black, there are identical bullet wounds where he was shot through each arm, with the bullet tearing into his flank.

There is a deep, dark burn mark on his chest, his neck has been broken and his penis cut off.

Hamza’s father, Ali al-Khateeb, has been arrested in the last half hour, said an activist in the region who spoke to Hamza’s mother.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, the activist said Hamza’s mother had told him that the secret police had demanded Hamza’s father tell state media that his son was killed by armed Salafists, Sunni Muslim extremists which the regime claims are driving the uprising.

Video below shows Hamza’s mutilated body.

May 27 -Friday for the Guardians of the Homeland

Demonstrations broke out across the country on what activists have dubbed “day for the Guardians of the Homeland” by pro-democracy advocates in an effort to reach out to the army to join their 10-week uprising.1.

Security forces open fire on protesters in the Damascus district of Qitnah.

Video shows protesters hit by bullets in same Qitnah protest.

Security forces fire directly at those recording the video.

Video purportedly shows some 60 thousand protesting in Al Assey square in Hama.

Hundreds of demonstrators march in the town of Arbeen outside of the capital Damascus. They chant: “Muslims and Christians want freedom”.

May 26

In Deraa, a building guard killed by security forces. An eyewitness from the neighborhood told Avaaz activists how regime security services killed him before setting fire to the shop, with the man’s body inside. Local residents said the body was not able to be recovered until ten days after the fire.

A doctor in Deraa shows the bodies of victims of last Friday’s demonstrations, including a 10 year-old boy. Warning: Images may be too disturbing for viewers.

Video reportedly shows a mentally handicapped 18-year-old boy who was tortured before being killed by Syrian authorities and returned to his family in Izraa, Deraa.

Murshed Aba Zaid, an 18-year-old, was shot in the face by security forces outside his home in Izraa, 30km north of Daraa, in the first week of May, but underwent successful surgery, according to testimony given on the video. This was  corroborated by testimonies from two family members who spoke to Insan, a Syrian human rights group.

But the secret police broke into Izraa hospital and arrested Murshed, according to the same sources. His body was returned to his family on Tuesday.

Like 13-year-old Hamza al-Khateeb, Murshed’s neck was also broken, as was his nose, according to those who examined him, while his face, neck and flank show black burn marks and lacerations, as do the soles of his feet, consistent with being tortured with electric shock devices. A gaping gunshot wound is visible in his side.

“Watch it clearly Arabs and Muslims,” says the voice on the video. “We are not asking Europe or America for help. We want you, brothers of our land, Muslims, with merciful souls to be terrified for us and support us. They are killing us, we are starving, we are under a siege.”

Video below shows Murshed’s body.

May 25

Video shows a massacre in Deraa.

May 24

Security forces set fire to motorcycles owned by civilians in Deraa amid a military siege of the city.

May 23

Video shows women and children protesting in the Damascus suburb of Moadmiyyah.

Video below students from a Baath University – run by the Syrian regime – in Homs reportedly staged a protest on Monday in solidarity against the government’s violent crackdown on demonstrators across the country.

Citizen video below claims to show the students holding up placards calling for freedom, before some tear apart their university identity cards in front of the camera. At the end, they chant: “No education  until the government is toppled”.

May 22

Video reportedly shows a man who was killed by security forces in Deraa for trying to smuggle food into the besieged city is called a “pig” by a soldier.

Security forces severely beat a protester.

May 20

Scores of people have been killed as security forces tried to crush ant-government protests across the country on Friday.

Homs

Secret police killed at least nine people including Aiham al-Ahmad, an 11-year-old boy, and Ahmad Bakr, a 16-year-old, in an armed crackdown on protestors today, according to three separate eye witnesses who spoke to al-Jazeera.

“The four secret police officers opened fire on the protesters with machine guns,” said the eyewitnesses.

In a separate incident, three residents were killed when secret police attempted to storm the hospital in Homs’ al-Wa’r neighbourhood, according to a third eyewitness. Locals responded by forming a human chain around the hospital trying to prevent the secret police arresting wounded protestors inside, as they have done in past such attacks. 

The eyewitness said some locals had shot at the secret police using personal handguns, the first such armed clashes between security and citizens in Homs al-Jazeera has been able to verify since the uprising in Syria began over two months ago.

Video below shows security forces open fire on mourners carrying out a funeral in Homs.

Another video shows bodies of those killed during the funeral.

A third video of funeral shows cars abandoned and some on fire in the street after troops attacked.

At the same funeral, civilians were shot at while trying to cross the street.

Thousands of protesters march in Homs.

Protesters in Baba Amr district in Homs include Christians and Muslims holding up crosses and crescents in a show of solidarity after security forces attacked civilian areas there.  

Video shows protesters in Homs chant: Homs wants freedom for Muslims and Christians.

A demonstration during Friday prayers in al-Rastan, Homs.

Damascus

In the Old City of Damascus, pro-regime thugs with iron bars have attacked a group of 500 to 700 worshippers as they left the Dahabiyye Mosque in Bab Sriejeh after Friday prayers, an eyewitness told al-Jazeera.

In Midan, a conservative Sunni neighbourhood of Damascus, a demonstration by Abu Ayoub al-Ansari Mosque had barely begun before security forces fired tear gas on around 1,000 protesters, an eyewitness told al-Jazeera.

Security forces opened fire on protesters in Berze, a suburb north-east of Damascus, this afternoon, killing four protesters and wounding tens, an eyewitness told al-Jazeera.

After the killing, security forces began detaining people, he said. “So people are afraid to go home for fear of being arrested.”

Protesters hold up a giant flag in the Qitna district in Damascus.  

A large demonstration in the Hajar al-Aswad in Golan.

Syrian Kurds

In Qamishli around 3,000 protesters took to the streets calling for toppling the regime, a call that was echoed across the north. In Amouda, some 6,000 protesters demonstrated, in Deir Basiyye around 2,000 and in Ain al-Arab around 2,000, he said. There were also protests in Ras al-Ain.

Around 500 protestors, some chanting “Azadia,” the Kurdish word for freedom, were attacked and dispersed by dozens of secret police and pro-regime thugs in Rukin Adeen, a suburb to the north-east of the capital.

Security forces clashed with protesters in the central city of Hama today, with security forces firing tear gas at protesters who answered back with stones, an eyewitness told al-Jazeera.

A massive group of Kurdish protesters take to the streets in Qamishli.

Assyrian Christians

In response to the first widespread participation of Assyrian Christians in the democratic uprising, Syrian security has raided the headquarters of the Assyrian Democratic Association in Qamishli and arrested 12 of its members, according to two activists who spoke to al-Jazeera.

“The new thing this Friday was the large participation of Christian Assyrians. There were hundreds of Assyrians with us and now the security men are arresting leaders from the Democratic Assyrian Organization,” said a Kurdish leader in Qamishli.

“The regime is so afraid to see that Muslim Arabs and Kurds and Christians are demonstrating together against the regime. This the best answer to the regime who says that Salafists and radical Islamists are behind the demonstrations. Syrians want freedom.”

Edlib

Video circulating among activists is said to show a massacre of people taking place in Idlib. Fifteen protestors were killed in Maaret al-Naaman, south of Idlib.

Hama

Thousands of protesters, mainly Sunni Muslims but including Christians from the Al Qalaa Christian neighbourhood, marched through Hama calling for toppling the regime and an end to the siege of Deraa.

“When security fired tear gas, at first the protesters fled, but then we gathered again and answered back with stones,” he said. “The security fled and we set some tyres on fire to stop them coming back.”

A massive march in Hama.

May 19

A vigil in the Homs town of al Rastan for those killed by security forces.

Video shows protesters in the town of Kanaker call on troops to support their cause before security forces open fire on them.

May 18

A tank runs over the bodies of residents in Deraa.

Syrian plainclothed officers chase away student protesters in the University of Aleppo.

Video shows protesters march through a strike-ridden market area in Homs.

Protesters call for the collapse of the regime in Meedan district of Damascus.

A massive march in the town of Al Rastan in Homs.

May 17

Video shows a large sit-in demonstration in the army besieged town of Daeel.

A group of women protest in the Damascus suburb of Darayyah.

Video shows a general strike in the military besieged protest hub of Baniyas, amid reports of strikes across the country.

On March 15, video shows demonstators crossed from the Golan Hights in Syria to Majdal shams in Palestine, the barbed wire in the middle separates the two countries.

May 16

Videoshows a group of women and children in Homs protest for the release of their husbands and fathers imprisoned for demonstrating.

Video claims to show the bodies of protesters killed by security forces in a freezer in Homs, as the army bars people from carrying out proper burials across the country. 

Video allegedly shows Baathist party members fleeing Jis Al Shaghour after angry protesters set fire to their local branch.

Video claims to show one of the many civilian homes raided by troops in Bab Amr district of Homs. 

Another house raided in the district.

Video shows a large group of demonstrators in Deraa chant in support of all the towns and cities besieged by the army across the country.

Dated April 25, video shows residents in Deraa make a passionate plea for help from God as the army besieged the city.

Demonstrators march in broad daylight in the city Aleppo.

May 15

Speaking in an interview with Al Jazeera, Ammar al-Qirbi, head of the national organization for human rights in Syria, said Deraa residents had discovered. during a 2-hour break of lifting the curfew imposed on the town, a mass grave containing tens of bodies, among them children and women.

Another interviewee has also told Al Jazeera that another mass grave was discovered near Deraa burial ground, adding that Syrian security elements had rapidly snatched the bodies, transporting them to an unknown destination.

According to Avaaz activists, four of the bodies are the children of Abdul Razak Hussein Abazed:
•    Samir Abdul Razak Hussein Abazed
•    Samer Abdul Razak Hussein Abazed
•    Mohammed Abdul Razak Hussein Abazed
•    Sulaiman Abdul Razak Hussein Abazed

Activists also say members of the Abu Zayd family, including a father and his four sons, were among those in the grave.

There was also a body of a woman with a little girl believed to be her daughter.

The Syrian interior ministry has denied that a mass grave existed in Deraa.

Video shows the bodies of those allegedly massacred being exhumed.

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3: Close-up of two bodies found in the grave.

May 14

At least 27 civilians have been killed as the military besieges the town of Talkalakh, which borders Lebanon, a day after a mass demonstration there.

Witnesses said some of those killed were among a large group of residents attempting to cross into Lebanon to flee the violence.

 

May 13 – Friday protests

A number of civilians have been killed or injured as demonstrators braved heavy military presence across Syria, despite reported presidential orders to not fire on protesters.

Some held Friday demonstrations in honour of Syrian women imprisoned for protesting.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, has said his country is concerned about the situation in Syria, and the influx of refugees to the Syrian-Turkish border to escape the deteriorating security situation.

Growing Kurdish support

Thousands of Kurds and Arabs have joined protests calling for freedom across the Kurdish-majority north-east of Syria, according to three eye witnesses who spoke to Al Jazeera.

Demonstrators chanting “Syria for all its sons”, “Long live independent, free Syria”, and  “Syrian people are one”, have taken to streets in Qamishli, Amouda, Ras al-Ain, Derbassieh in Hassake governorate, while hundreds have also turned out in Ain Arab, on the eastern edge of Aleppo governorate.

Organisers estimated 3,500 mainly Kurds protested in Amouda and up to 4,000 marched in Qamishli, including Arabs and members of Syria’s ancient Assyrian sect.

Debate has been raging among Syria’s Kurdish leaders over how much to rally their communities behind the protest movement.

“The Kurds are now expanding their participation in demonstrations calling for freedom in the country, along with other fellow Syrians. The army’s intervention is condemned,” Ismail Hami, secretary general of the Kurdish Yakiti Party, told Al Jazeera.

Demonstration in al-Qamishli.

March in Amouda, protesters chant “the Syrian media are liars” and call for freedom.

Damascus

Thousands of security personnel have successfully crushed a protest in the Damascus district of Midan, which two weeks ago saw the largest anti-regime protests in the capital since the uprising began.

An eyewitness who has protested in Midan over the past several weeks described to Al Jazeera how a combination of riot police, secret police and paid thugs have been used to swamp Midan and the surrounding area, making protest there virtually impossible.

“Around the mosque I must have seen about 3,000 different security men. On the checkpoints they carry guns, but most carry sticks. The journey is usually ten minutes, but today it took an hour and a half. There were also dozens of buses full of armed security.

It started inside the Hassan mosque with people chanting, ‘There is no God but God’, but this time the secret police came into the courtyard of the mosque itself and started threatening people, and arrested a few.

Video shows the demonstration in Hasan mosque.

Demonstration in the Damascus suburb of Barzeh calls for the collapse of the regime.

A protest in Darayyah district.

Demonstration in district of al-Saqba, which is under military control.

In Dumayr, a small town 30km east of Damascus, several hundred protestors braved a massive secret police presence to call for an end to the siege on the near-by district of Duma, which the military has kept ringed by checkpoints and cut off from Damascus and surrounding areas for over three weeks.

Homs

Homs is under full military lockdown with the army controlling all roads into the city and tanks and secret police deployed to every major square, according to an eyewitness who spoke to Al Jazeera.

Young people are being routinely stopped and questioned with many arrested, he said, while telephone communications are limited, but not fully cut.

The flashpoint areas of Bab Sebah, Bab Dreib, Bab Amr and Bab Tadmoor, where security forces opened fire on protestors in previous weeks, have hundreds of plain clothes security around them, he said.

Massive demonstration in Homs.

Troops firing at protesters trying to cross a street in the city.

Protest in the district of Bab Amr, where the military just shelled civilian areas. 

A Bus exploded as a result of the army’s attacks in Bab Amr.

Hama

Thousands of protestors have marched through the central road in Hama calling for an end to the siege of Banias, Homs and Deraa, according to two eyewitnesses.

An eyewitness who spoke to Al Jazeera said armed secret police were all around the main protest but had not yet moved against it, with demonstrators calling for freedom and chanting “No to sectarianism”.

Demonstrators chant “whoever kills his people is a traitor” in the city.

Massive march.

Edlib

Huge march with cars and motorbikes in the streets of Kafernabel.

A march in the centre of Edlib.

Jassim

About 150 women and girls march in the street in the village just outside Jassim.

Al Raqqah

Demonstration in Al Raqqah.

Al Zahra

Video shows protesters running away from gas canisters fired by police.

May 12

Building shelled by the army in the Bab Amr district in Homs.

Video shows a large demonstration in Aleppo.

Video shows pro government armed men backed by troops opening fire in the city of Hama.

May 11

Black fumesbillow over the Damascus district of al Mouadamiyyah as the army shelled civilian areas.

Columns of smoke over the Bab Amr district in Homs as the Syrian military shelled civilian areas.

Video shows a protester writes the word “freedom” on the wall with real blood in the Damascus district of al Mouadamiyyah.

Dated April 27, video shows mother and shot shot dead by the army in Deraa while they were riding their motorcycle to a hospital. Security forces continued to open fire as residents tried to retrieve the bodies.

May 10

Abu Baker mosque in Deraa was destroyed by the army as it continued its siege despite claiming to have withdrawn troops from the city.

Videoclaims to show a government sniper shooting on a rooftop in Deraa.

Big demonstration inside the University of Aleppo’s campus. Scores of students were arrested for demonstrating.

May 9

“>Video shows tanks preparing to shell areas inside Homs.

Tanks were also sent to crush protests in Hama.

Armed gunmen prepare to attack protesters in Latakia.

Tanks in the city of Jassim.

Video shows police arrest protesters in Arnous Square in central Damascus.

May 8

Army convoy for Syrian troops enters Homs.

Army shelling civilian areas in Homs.

A massive march in the city fo Jassim.

A statement from elders in Deraa, condemning the military occupation of the city. It contradicts government claims that the people of Deraa requested military help to subdue “armed gangs causing problems” in the city.

May 7

Syrian troops stormed Baniyas with tanks overnight, reportedly attacking Sunni districts but not Alawite neighbourhoods, while protesters formed a human shield around the city. 6 residents, including four women, were reportedly killed in Baniyas by security forces.

All communications – including mobile networks, landlines, and the internet – in Homs and Baniyas were shut down.

Protests continued in Hama, where snipers were spotted on rooftops.

A large anti-government demonstrationby Kurds in northern Aleppo.

Women in Baniyas grieve about their husbands being kidnapped or killed by government troops.

Women were killed after troops opened fire on a demonstration staged by women in the streets of Baniyas.

A brutal execution of an unarmed protester in the middle of a street in Homs.

May 6 – Day of defiance

Thousands of Syrians demonstrated on what activists have called a “day of defiance” across the country. At least 30 civilians are killed by security forces: 15 in Homs, 6 in Hama, 4 in Deir azor, 2 in Jableh, 1 in Lattakia and 1 in an unspecificed location.

Damascus: 3,000 protesters demonstrated in the besieged Saqba suburb despite over 350 arrests made on the previous night. In Midan District in downtown Damascus, protesters streaming out of the Hassan Mosque were attacked by 2,000 plainclothed security officers.

Qamishly: 5,000 people took part in demonstration that raised slogans in support of the people of Deraa and national unity.

Deir azor: 5,000 protesters, men and women, took part in a demonstration followed by a sit-in at the Osman Mosque. The protest started small until security forces opened fire and killed four young activists, which infuriated local residents, and encouraged more people to join the protest.

Homs: Over 10,000 people took part in protests, despite hoards of tanks and security barricades throughout  the main squares and intersections. The protests ended when security forces began shooting at the crowds, leaving over 16 dead.

A similar scenario played out in Hama. But in Homs, the story got complicated by reports of defections in the army and skirmishes between army officers and security forces, leading to a brief of exchange of artillery fire.

Banyas: the city was stormed overnight and most of its Sunni neighborhoods were besieged. There are sporadic reports of killings and lootings by security officers, but details have been hard to get.

Riad Seif, former head of the Damascus Declaration Council and now opposition figure, was arrested during prayer at Al-Hassan Mosque in Damascus, over the protests.

A young boy killed in Homs.

A massive demonstration in Jassim in which protesters chant “he who kills his own people is a traitor”.

The army opens fire on protesters in Homs.

May 5

Number of detainees and missing exceed 8,000, according to Insan, a leading Syrian human rights group.

Cities and towns in Syria under military siege include: Deraa, Baniyas, Talibiseh (in Homs) al-Kiswah, and the Damascus districts of Mouaddamiyyah, Darayyah, Douma, Harasta.

Syrian soldiers stormed the Damascus suburb of Saqba around 1am local time on Thursday and made many arrests, according to local residents and democracy activists.

“They cut off communications before they came in,” a resident told reporters. “There is no resistance. The demonstrations in Saqba have been peaceful. Scores of people have been arrested.”

—–

Video claims to shows columns of tanks and troops being transported to Baniyas – one of the numerous cities under siege.

May 4

150 students demonstrate against the government outside the University of Damascus.

Demonstrators march through the streets of Hama, calling state-run media “liars”.

A sit-in demonstration at the department of dentistry in the University of Aleppo.

May 3

The International Committee of the Red Cross urged Syria to lift restrictions on access to casualties in the besieged city of Deraa.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Amnesty International said it had received “first-hand reports of torture” from those caught up in the crackdown.

“Detainees who were recently released told the organization of beatings and harsh conditions in detention, raising fears for the safety of hundreds of others being held, including at least 499 people who were arrested on Sunday in house-to-house raids in the southern town of Deraa,” the organisation said.

“These disturbing new accounts of detainees being tortured further underscore the need for President Bashar al-Assad to put an end to his security forces’ violent onslaught against his own people,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

 —————–

Hundreds in the village of Hara in Deraa protest against the military allegedly murdering civilians.

Children in Deraa protesting of the military’s deadly crackdown that has claimed hundreds of civilian lives in the city.

The burial of three people killed by security forces in the city of Jableh. Residents buried them in a local field because the army barred them from having funerals at graveyards.

Clear video of Syrian security forces shooting live rounds at protesters in the Barzeh district of Damascus.

Protesters celebrate over defected troops in Homs.

Demonstrators in Baniyas protest in solidarity with Deraa, which remains under siege for the eighth day. The military has blocked food and water supplies from entering the city and preventing medical care from hundreds of wounded civilians attacked by security forces.

May 1

The death toll of civilians killed since protests began on March 15 has passed 1000.

About 7,000 Syrians have been arrested during the six-week popular uprising, according to Insan, a leading Syrian human rights organisation.

Security forces have arrested a wide cross section of Syrian society, including political and human rights activists, members of families engaged in protests, including minors, as well as university and high schools students and community leaders.

Anyone caught with a mobile phone taking videos or pictures risks arrest, as well as anyone suspected to be uploading videos to the internet.

Insan said it was aware of 14 foreign nationals, including three Egyptians, seven Lebanese, three Europeans and one Algerian. “Most of them are journalists with or without work permits or journalist visas.”

Video shows army surrounding hospital in Darayyah, near Damascus, to prevent wounded protesters from being treated.

April 30

Video shows members of the Baath Party in Al Rastan resign in protest over government brutality. They are among hundreds of Baath Party members that have left their posts in protest.

The father of a killed protester tells the story of how he was detained after arriving in a hospital in Hama where he took his son to be treated for a gunshot wound to the head.

“I was put in jail from 4 pm till 1 pm the next day. At around 11 am they took me and four others who were really young into a room where they surrounded us with many different kinds of weapons. Then they started to video tape us with all these weapons and we found out that they will air this on the Syrian state TV and label us as an armed group who are destroying Deraa. So i beg you if you see me on TV I swear to God that I am just a civilian who happened to be there,” he said.

At the end of the clip people chant : “The Syrian media is a big lie”.

—-

Security forces open fire on peaceful protesters in Homs.

April 29

Hundreds of Syrians – mostly women and children – have fled across the border into Lebanon due to the military crackdown on protesters.

Bodies of those killed by security forces is stored in a freezer truck in Deraa, because the military operation has disabled them from being buried properly.

April 28

More than 200 members of Syria’s ruling Baath party have resigned over the violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

The UN Security Council failed to condemn the Syrian government for its actions against protesters. 

Meanwhile, security forces continued their siege on Deraa, Baniyas, and the Damascus districts of Douma and Moadamya.

Tanks and armoured personnel carriers have also surrounded Madaya, a small town in the mountain – 40km northwest of Damascus, in the early hours of Thurday morning and checkpoints have been set up at all entrances into the city, according to an eyewitness.  All mobile, landline and electricity was cut during much of the day. 

Madaya residents report tens of arrests and some injuries during dawn raids on homes, but this has yet to be verified.

Madaya has seen only limited anti-regime protests over the past five weeks. 

“We are terrified here and don’t understand why this is happening”, said an eyewitness in Madaya.

“There were no plans for protests today and neither had any protests been held in the city in the past two days.”

April 27

As the Syrian government ramps up its military crackdown on protesters in Deraa – sending an extra hoard of 30 tanks to the city and troops as reinforcements  – witnesses continue to leak accounts of a worsening situation.

Mosque minarets have called for help and appealed to the army to stop shooting at and killing civilians. A witness has provided Al Jazeera with the names of 35 people killed today and yesterday, stressing that much larger numbers of those killed are lying on the street but they could not retrieve them because of the severity of shooting.

There are also more reports of soldiers being shot by fellow Syrian security forces for refusing to fire at civilians. 

Electricity, water and telecommunications remained cut in Deraa for a third day and the army continues to fire at houses and water tanks.

An eyewitness said that even schools have not been spared from bombings.

Moreover, there is no way to rescue the injured and the ambulances are not allowed to enter the city or to transfer the wounded to hospitals, and there is a significant shortage in blood at hospitals.

People from nearby Palestinian refugee camps have reportedly managed to smuggle water, bread and preserved food into Deraa to help the people. 

Deraa

Video shows Syrian troops siding with the people of Deraa, lending credibility to claims of defections and a mutiny in army divisions.

Syrian troops were shot by fellow soldiers for refusing to fire at civilians in Deraa.

Video shows the Syrian regime sending tanks as reinforcements from Damascus to Deraa.

April 26 – Crackdown on protests continues

Security forces have continued their violent crackdown on protesters across the country.

The current cities and districts under siege include:

The cities of Deraa, Jableh, Baniyas, Homs and Hama and the Damascus districts of Douma and Moadamya.

In Douma, Moadamya and Jableh all businesses and shops are closed. People are afraid they will run out of food supplies.

Confirming information in Deraa has become extremely difficult after what appears to be the deliberate disruption of mobile phone signals across large parts of the city and the cutting of landlines and internet access.

Deraa witnesses have said that army is using live bullets and mortars to kill civilians and some there are reports that a house collapsed on one family as a result of the attack.

As was the case in cities across Syria, Deraa locals have also said those wounded by the military were being treated in mosques as snipers on rooftops were preventing the injured from being taken to hospitals. The residents are calling on the Red Cross to help them because they have a severe shortage of medicine and medical equipment.

Another massive demonstration against the regime took place late this afternoon in Banyias, the oil refining port on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, even as residents reported a military build-up, including up to 40 tanks, around the city in preparation for a possible attack.
 
An estimated 10,000 protesters in the city chanted “with our soul and blood we sacrifice for Deraa” and “the people want to topple the regime”.
 
“Forces wearing black and carrying AK-47s deployed today in the hills. Armoured personnel carriers passed by the highway adjacent to Banias at night,” Anas al-Shaghri, a protest leader in Baniyas said.

“We are expecting an attack any moment. We will receive them at the gates with our bare chests,” Shaghri said.

In Latakia, a massive group marched down the street in Al-Ramli area to protest against the widespread killings.

A pro-government campaign has begun to discredit and disable a leading Syrian human rights organisation which has been instrumental in reporting the abuses of Syrian security forces in the armed crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
 
Wissam Tarif, director of the Insan human rights organization, told Al Jazeera today that his website has been left hacked into and more than 2,000 spam messages left on it, effectively crippling the site.
 
Tarif said his Facebook and Twitter accounts had also been hacked into and hundreds of threatening and abusive messages left.

Deraa

Video shows protesters in Deraa chanting repetitively “the army is with us” and “we’re not scared”. This could possibly lend support to claims of mutiny within the Syrian army. There have been reports of clashes between Syrian military divisions in the province.

Homs

A group of pro-government armed men roam the streets of Homs and shoot around arbitrarily.

A message from the city of Baniyas

April 25 – A day of siege

An unconfirmed number of people have been killed as around 4,000 or 5,000 Syrian troops backed by tanks raided the southern province of Deraa and the Damascus suburb of Douma on Monday. According to reports, at least 25 people have been killed in Deraa alone, while around 500 pro-democracy activists have also been arrested across the country.

News agencies have said the Syrian troops had also destroyed water tanks in Deraa homes, cut electricity a supply and communications lines.

And in Jableh, security forces continued a siege that began yesterday. At least 13 people were killed in the city. Many residents have complained that they are lacking in food supplies because of the military blockade.

According to witnesses, there has been indiscriminate bombardments on civilian houses and snipers shooting from buildings’ rooftops across the country.

Five security officers  (two captains and 3 lieutenants) and nine soldiers have reportedly split from the army in disagreement over the assaults.  

Syria has also closed all border crossings on its southern frontier with Jordan.

Sawasiya, a Syrian human rights organization, has said that among those detained for dissent is Syrian writer Mansour al-Ali in Homs. 

They had also reportedly cracked down on the home of Zakariya al-Aqqad, a Syrian physician, following an interview with him by Al Jazeera over the events in Jibleh.

Sawasiya has praised the UN Security Council over its decision to probe what the rights organisation branded as a “mass murder in Syria”.

Tommy Vietor, the US National Security Council spokesman, has reportedly announced that there is an ongoing discussion over options against the Syrian regime.

“The brutal violence used by the government of Syria against its people is completely deplorable and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms. The United States is pursuing a range of possible policy options, including targeted sanctions, to respond to the crackdown and make clear that this behavior is unacceptable. The Syrian people’s call for freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and the ability to freely choose their leaders must be heard,” Vietor said on Monday.

Deraa

Tank fires artillery rounds at civilian homes.

Video allegedly shows Syrian military snipers and tank stealthily attacking the neighborhood of al-Karak.

More soldiers and tanks attacking the city.

Tank rolls through the streets of Deraa.

Huge columns of smoke over the city as loud gunfire is heard.

Video shows protesters stage massive march in the city.

Tank fires water cannons at a crowd of peaceful protesters.

Damascus

In Barzeh district, a young girl was shot in the eye, allegedly by a sniper. 

Video allegedly shows a bus for Iran’s security forces in Douma district. There have been reports that Iran has deployed a a platoon of troops to help quell protests in Syria.

 

— PAGE TWO —

 
— PAGE THREE —