Syria 'arrests scores' in Damascus suburb

Soldiers reportedly storm Saqba, making several arrests overnight, while tanks and armoured vehicles deploy near Homs.

Hundreds of Syrian soldiers have stormed a suburb of the capital, Damascus, and made arrests, according to local residents and democracy activists. A resident told the Reuters news agency about the raid which was said to have happened around 1am local time on Thursday. "They cut off communications before they came in," the resident said. "There is no resistance. The demonstrations in Saqba have been peaceful. Scores of people have been arrested." Al Jazeera was unable to verify independently the accounts of the crackdown. In another Damascus suburb, Douma, many men were taken from their houses by security forces making rounds from one house to another, a resident told Al Jazeera, adding that children as young as 14 years old were arrested. The raids and arrests came as tanks and armoured vehicles deployed around Rastan, a town near Homs, Syria's third largest city. Last Friday security forces shot dead at least 17 demonstrators in Rastan, residents and rights campaigners said, after 50 local members of the governing Baath Party resigned. Army units have also set up checkpoints in the coastal city of Baniyas. Activists say at least 1,000 people have been arrested across the country since Saturday, indicating that Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, is widening the use of the military to crush anti-government demonstrations. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera urged Syrian authorities to release Dorothy Parvaz, one of the Qatar-based channel's journalists, who has been detained since she flew in to Damascus last week. Parvaz, who holds American, Canadian and Iranian citizenship, was "detained upon arrival in Damascus six days ago [on Friday]. She has had no contact with the outside world since", Al Jazeera said. Deraa operation 'to end soon' On Thursday, AFP news agency quoted General Riad Haddad, director of the military's political department, as saying that troops were to pull back from the southern city of Deraa "in the next few hours".  "The army has completed its mission in Deraa and is to begin withdrawing its troops in the next few hours," he said. "This will be done in phases and life will return to normal in this town." Assad had earlier pledged to end the military operation "very soon" in the flashpoint city, where the army deployed tanks and snipers more than a week ago to crush dissent. "The mission of the army units that entered Deraa on the 25th of last month will end very soon," he was quoted as saying by the private Al Watan newspaper. Syrian state television quoted an unnamed military official on Wednesday as saying the army was still "pursuing some armed terrorists" and was overseeing the end of its Deraa operation. The city is under military siege, with electricity and telephone services cut, and activists say there is shortage of water and supplies. About 50 people have been reported killed over the past 10 days. Activists say more than 500 civilians have been killed since protests erupted in March. In a phone call on Wednesday, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, appealed to Assad to end the crackdown, to allow a UN aid team into worst-hit towns and to co-operate with a UN Human Rights Council investigation into the violence, Martin Nesirky, a spokesman, said. "The secretary-general reiterated his calls for an immediate end to violence against and mass arrests of peaceful demonstrators," he said. Ban told Assad there had to be "full and early implementation of all the reform measures" promised by his government ", and also emphasised the importance of engaging a genuine inclusive dialogue and a comprehensive reform process". ?

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies