Syria says city is sealed off for arms searches

Press, 13 February 1982, Page 8

Syria says city is sealed off for arms searches

NZPA-Reuter Damascus Thousands of Syrian troops battled insurgents in the central city of Hama yesterday for the nintlr day, Western diplomats said. Their reports of fighting, first made on Wednesday, were again denied by the Government and called “expressions of dreams.” The United States Ambassador (Mr Robert Paganelli) was summoned to a meeting with the Deputy Foreign Minister (Mr Nasir Qaddour} yesterday to receive a strong protest over the State Department’s statement on Wednesday that Hama had been “sealed off by Syrian authorities” as a result of “serious disturbances.” The Syrian Information Minister (Mr Ahmed Iskander Ahmed) acknowledged at a meeting with American and Syrian reporters that Hama, which is 192 km north of Damascus, was cut off from the rest of the country. But the reason, he said, was that a “search campaign” was being conducted

by the ruling Baath Socialist Party and Syrian security forces “for weapons of the gang.”' By “gang.” he apparently meant the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, a guerrilla organisation that has been waging a terrorist campaign against the 12-year-old Government of President Hafez Assad. The Brotherhood would like to topple the Government, which is dominated by Syria’s minority Alawite Muslim sect, and replace it with a Sunnidominated Government. About 65 per cent of Syrians are Sunni Muslims. Mr Ahmed, who dismissed the diplomats' reports as “dreams,” said the official Government statement on Hama developments that was issued on Thursday was “very accurate and clear.” “What happened in the city of Hama,” that statement said, “was merely a search campaign for arms and hideouts of the hireling Muslim Brothers gangs. The security forces and party cadres, fully

supported by the citizens of Hama, were able to confiscate several hundreds of weapons and arrest a number of wanted and fugitive criminals.” Accounts by diplomats continued to, picture a genk eral uprising by the mainly Sunni Muslim population of Hama since February 2. The fighting, they said, appeared to be confined to . the area of Hama, a traditionally anti-Government centre. There were no reports ,jn Damascus of trouble elsew'here. Western- diplomats in Damascus said that according to their information the Hama fighting was still going on yesterday, with 6000 to 8000 troops encircling the city of 200,000 inhabitants and pounding it with artillery and tank-gun fire. Attacks by Air Force planes have also been reported. Much of the Hadhir neighbourhood of Hama, where insurgents were said to have barricaded themselves, was reported to have been

levelled by the bombardment. Casualties were believed to be heavy, but accurate figures were impossible to obtain. At least 360 wounded soldiers have reportedly been taken to a military base near Damascus, and some diplomats said the number killed was in the hundreds. The Government’s denials that any revolt was under way were the first public mention in Syria of something out of the ordinary going on in Hama. Mr Ahmed said that Syria was the target of an American “information campaign” because of “its decisive role” in the Arab world. He also repeated an offer made in the Government statement that a State Department spokesman, Dean Fischer spend a holiday in Hama. “Syria is more quiet and stable and secure than a number of American cities,” Mri Ahmed said. When reporters said they would like to take such a trip to Hama, he replied that

such a tour, of course, was possible, but not just now. There have been other uprisings in the past at Hama. One was put down by troops in March, 1980, and more than 200 people were said to have been killed: There were also violent incidents there in April. The current fighting came after reports of an attempted coup against the Assad Government early last month by members of the Air Force. The present Hama uprising was said to have begun on February 2 after security forces tried to raid a hideout of heavily armed antiGovernment guerrillas. The raiding party was believed to have been wiped out, and, according to the reports circulating among diplomats, the fighting swiftly spread. By nightfall, diplomats said, calls for a general uprising were broadcast through loudspeakers in the minarets of the city’s mosques at evening prayers.