Reuters/Amman
Syria said yesterday army units have begun to leave Deraa, the heart of an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, but residents described a city still under siege.Soldiers also raided homes across the country as President Bashar al-Assad grappled with the most serious challenge of his 11-year authoritarian rule.Assad ordered the army to enter Deraa 10 days ago. The city is the place where demonstrations calling for more freedoms and later for his overthrow started in March.Activists and residents said soldiers backed by tanks had shelled and machinegunned the city’s old quarter and rounded up people in mass arrests.State news agency SANA quoted an official military source as saying the army had completed its mission, arresting elements of “terrorist” groups and restoring security, peace and stability.Two witnesses who were heading out of Deraa said that around 30 tanks on armoured carriers had left the city heading north, but that army units backed with armour remained deployed at several entrances.Residents in Deraa’s Mahatta area said at least six tanks were deployed near government installations and public squares and snipers were poised atop a building near Tishrin Square.They also said security forces had allowed people to move freely until 2pm (1100 GMT) when a curfew was imposed.“There are security barriers every 100m. The security forces have not left yet. They are still spread everywhere in the Balad,” a resident who called himself Abu Jasem said.A resident of a nearby village, Abu Jamal, said troops had started rounding up detainees in areas surrounding Deraa.Pictures of the 45-year-old president have reappeared on business and shop windows, resident said. Infuriated by the crackdown, enraged protesters in Deraa had hauled down a statue of Assad’s father, Hafez, on March 24.Rights groups say at least 560 civilians have been killed since the protests erupted in Deraa on March 18, before spreading to other centres. Officials, who blame armed groups for the violence, give a much lower death toll and say half those killed have been security forces.United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he had urged Assad in a phone call to take decisive reform measures “before it was too late”.“I raised also the possible violation of human rights, and that human rights should be fully protected of those people, peaceful demonstrators,” Ban said. Elsewhere, residents said hundreds of soldiers had made arrests in the Damascus suburb of Saqba, where thousands had demanded Assad’s overthrow last week.Wissam Tarif, executive director of the Insan human rights group, said at least 260 people had been detained in Saqba. He earlier said more than 800 people had been rounded up in Deraa since the army moved in.In a sign that Assad was further widening the use of the military to crush demonstrations, tanks and armoured vehicles deployed around the town of Rastan, and army units set up checkpoints in Sunni districts in Banias.Armed troops also deployed in the Damascus suburb of Erbin and in the town of Tel, north of the capital, where security forces arrested at least 80 men, women and children, the human rights organisation Sawasiah said. A student activist said security forces dispersed a demonstration at the University of Aleppo yesterday.Before the army division led by Assad’s brother Maher stormed Deraa, Assad had relied mainly on other security forces and secret police to confront the demonstrations.