The US State Department has described as ‘barbaric’ Syria's reported use of tanks, arbitrary arrests as well as cuts in power and communications in the city of Deraa, where anti-government protests erupted six weeks ago.
‘These are, quite frankly, barbaric measures and they amount to the collective punishment of innocent civilians,’ State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, describing the humanitarian situation in Deraa as ‘quite grave’.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose family has ruled the country for 41 years, last week Assad sent tanks and soldiers into the southern city of Deraa, where the uprising broke out on 18 March.
Syrian rights groups say more than 560 civilians have been killed by security forces since the start of the unrest.
‘We are very disturbed about recent reports, credible reports, of a Syrian military operation in Deraa that includes the use of tanks,’ Mr Toner told reporters at his daily briefing.
Mr Toner said the United States had also seen reports of Syria carrying out ‘a widespread campaign of arbitrary arrests that target young men in Deraa’ and that the government had cut off electricity, communications and other public services.
