Machine gun fire and shelling was heard across the city of one million people, they told Reuters. Protests, which began in Deraa on March 18, erupted on Friday across Hauran, a strategic agricultural area bordering Jordan to the south and the Golan Heights to the west.At least eight tanks moved into the town of Tafas around 6 a.m. (0300 GMT). Residents said they heard gunfire and that army and forces broke into houses to arrest youths after occupying the center of the town of 30,000 people.Tanks also encircled the adjoining town of Dael near the main highway to Jordan as the army intensified its presence across the Hauran region having partly pulled out of Deraa this week and re-deployed in nearby rural towns, witnesses said."We knew they will not forgive us for our solidarity with Deraa. They are also targeting Tafas because it is harboring lots of the youth who escaped the attack on Deraa," one of the residents said. Tens of thousands of villagers from Hauran converged on Tafas on Friday and chanted slogans demanding Assad's overthrow.Prevented from entering Deraa, still encircled by tanks after nearly two weeks, they staged one of the largest demonstrations in Hauran despite the heavy security presence in the plain, witnesses said.In Banias on the Mediterranean coast, where rights campaigners said Syrian forces shot dead six civilians in an attack on Sunni districts on Saturday, mass arrests continued.A Western diplomat has said 7,000 people had been arrested since mid-March. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 200 more people have been arrested in Banias by soldiers in raids on houses in the city, including a 10-year-old child.The attack on Banias this weekend raised sectarian tensions.The United States, reacting to the death of 27 protesters on Friday, threatened to take new steps against Syria's Alawite rulers. Washington imposed more targeted sanctions on Syrian officials that excluded Assad.The European Union later imposed similar sanctions.A human rights group says security forces have killed at least 800 civilians in the seven-week uprising.
Syria tanks enter southern town, Homs neighborhoods
Tanks, troops also storm residential neighborhoods in Homs, Tafas, Dael; mass arrests continue in Banias as soldiers raid homes.
Machine gun fire and shelling was heard across the city of one million people, they told Reuters. Protests, which began in Deraa on March 18, erupted on Friday across Hauran, a strategic agricultural area bordering Jordan to the south and the Golan Heights to the west.At least eight tanks moved into the town of Tafas around 6 a.m. (0300 GMT). Residents said they heard gunfire and that army and forces broke into houses to arrest youths after occupying the center of the town of 30,000 people.Tanks also encircled the adjoining town of Dael near the main highway to Jordan as the army intensified its presence across the Hauran region having partly pulled out of Deraa this week and re-deployed in nearby rural towns, witnesses said."We knew they will not forgive us for our solidarity with Deraa. They are also targeting Tafas because it is harboring lots of the youth who escaped the attack on Deraa," one of the residents said. Tens of thousands of villagers from Hauran converged on Tafas on Friday and chanted slogans demanding Assad's overthrow.Prevented from entering Deraa, still encircled by tanks after nearly two weeks, they staged one of the largest demonstrations in Hauran despite the heavy security presence in the plain, witnesses said.In Banias on the Mediterranean coast, where rights campaigners said Syrian forces shot dead six civilians in an attack on Sunni districts on Saturday, mass arrests continued.A Western diplomat has said 7,000 people had been arrested since mid-March. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 200 more people have been arrested in Banias by soldiers in raids on houses in the city, including a 10-year-old child.The attack on Banias this weekend raised sectarian tensions.The United States, reacting to the death of 27 protesters on Friday, threatened to take new steps against Syria's Alawite rulers. Washington imposed more targeted sanctions on Syrian officials that excluded Assad.The European Union later imposed similar sanctions.A human rights group says security forces have killed at least 800 civilians in the seven-week uprising.