Syrian security forces stormed the northern Damascus suburb of Harasta, injuring two people, residents and a human rights group said on Friday, ahead of further protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
Overnight, about 300 security personnel entered the suburb, where there have been daily protests demanding political freedoms, and started firing from machineguns mounted on trucks and making house to house arrests, they said. Syrian human rights organisation Sawasiah said in a statement that security forces also raided the main hospital in Harasta, a tactic used in similar assaults on cities and towns elsewhere in Syria, and abducted three injured protesters “whose lives are now in extreme danger.”
Some of the biggest protests against Assad’s rule have been staged after Muslim prayers on Fridays. The U.S. ambassador to Syria toured the city of Hama on Thursday to show solidarity with residents facing a security crackdown after weeks of anti-government protests there.
Syria condemned ambassador Robert Ford’s visit, which it said went ahead without approval from Damascus, as an attempt to incite escalation in the city where more protests are planned on Friday.
The U.S. State Department said the U.S. embassy had informed the Syrian government that an embassy team — without naming Ford — was travelling to Hama, which residents say is still ringed with tanks, and said Ford hoped to stay until Friday. “The fundamental intention … was to make absolutely clear with his physical presence that we stand with those Syrians who are expressing their right to speak for change,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said.
