IRON FIST

Syrian Crackdown Intensifies

Gov't forces make door-to-door arrests.

Friday's violent government crackdown in Syria continued through the weekend and grew fiercer still on Monday. Human-rights groups and activists said military forces went door-to-door in the Damascus suburbs and at least a dozen cities along the Mediterranean coast and unlawfully arrested protesters. It seems President Bashar al-Assad has never been more intent on squashing regime protesters—who began demonstrating in mid-March—though he has said the crackdown is more a fight with militant Islamists than Syrian citizens demanding reform. Al-Assad was quoted in a pro-government newspaper on Monday saying that "the current crisis in Syria will be overcome and that the process of administrative, political and media reforms are continuing." But the crackdown on Monday contradicts his statement. “They tried to rebuild the wall of fear and they failed,” said Wissam Tarif, executive director of a Syrian human-rights group. “So next, they will move to completely cut communications all over the country.”