Syria Deploys Troops as Rights Group Urges U.N. Action, Says 400 Killed

Syria bolstered its troops Tuesday in the flashpoint town of Daraa as a rights group appealed for U.N. intervention in a bloody crackdown it said has killed 400 people since mid-March.

As the Daraa crackdown raged into a second day, Britain said it was working with its partners to send a "strong signal" to Damascus while France and Italy denounced the "unacceptable" situation in Syria.

Washington ordered non-essential embassy staff to leave Syria, which has been shaken by six weeks of protests against President Bashar al-Assad's autocratic rule.

And U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay was invited to visit Damascus, a spokesman said, urging authorities to probe the killing of protesters.

Security forces firing live rounds and tear gas have killed at least 400 people since March 15, activists say, including 25 on Monday alone in Daraa, while scores have been arrested.

"Syrian security forces fired on unarmed protesters killing 400 people at least since the revolution was launched in March," the Syrian Human Rights Organization (Swasiah) said in a statement.

"This barbaric behavior is aimed at keeping the regime in place at the expense of civilians who are killed ... The (U.N.) Security Council must convene rapidly to stop the bloodshed," it said.

Activist Abdullah Abazeid told Agence France Presse by telephone from Daraa that "new army troops and security reinforcements have entered" Daraa on Tuesday.

Troops were firing on residents and a mosque and had laid siege to the home of top Muslim cleric, Mufti Rizk Abdul Rahman Abazeid, who quit last week in protest at the crackdown.

"The bullets continue against the people, but we are resisting," he said, adding shooting continued well into the afternoon.

On Monday, 3,000-5,000 Syrian troops backed by tanks and snipers rolled into the southern town, residents and Abazeid said.

Further north in the protest hub of Banias, thousands took to the streets chanting "freedom, freedom," amid reports an assault was imminent.

"We warn the corrupt security services against attacking our city Banias" like they did in Daraa, Sheikh Anas Ayroot, a protest leader, told the demonstrators.

A rights activist, who declined to be identified, spoke of reports suggesting that forces had deployed on hills around Banias in preparation for an attack.

Also on Tuesday, authorities referred to military court prominent dissident Mahmoud Issa for owning a satellite phone, a week after his arrest and an interview he gave to Al-Jazeera television.

"Mahmoud Issa will be tried by a military court for owning a Thuraya phone and a high-tech computer," said Rami Abdul Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Issa was twice jailed in Syria for a total of 11 years.

He said activist Qassem Azzawi was arrested on Tuesday for taking part in an anti-regime protest last week, and that 43 people were rounded up since Monday in raids across the country while 11 others were freed on Tuesday.

Activists on Monday said at least 25 people were killed in day one of the Daraa assault and Abazeid said the bodies of 22 people had been retrieved.

Amnesty International said tanks shelled civilian buildings in Daraa. "The Syrian government's brutal reaction to its people's demand for change has reached a new and outrageous low."

The operation in Daraa came four days after Assad scrapped nearly five decades of draconian emergency rule and abolished the repressive state security court to pacify as he faced growing dissent and calls for reform.

The Syrian army said troops entered Daraa "in response to calls for help" from citizens to rid them of "extremist terrorist groups" behind a spate of killings and sabotage.

A huge crackdown also targeted Monday the northern Damascus suburb of Douma and nearby al-Maadamiyeh, activists and residents said.

By Tuesday afternoon, Douma had become a "ghost town and the presence of security forces decreased," one resident told AFP by telephone.

Security forces arrested three doctors from Douma's Hamdan hospital and forced patients to leave, even those in intensive care, witnesses said.

The United States ordered the evacuation of non-essential embassy staff from Damascus, where the first U.S. ambassador in six years took his post just three months ago.

On Monday a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council said Washington was considering imposing "targeted sanctions" against Damascus.

Britain, Italy and France meanwhile denounced the "violent repression" as British Foreign Secretary William Hague said London was working with the United Nations and European Union to send a "strong signal" to Damascus.

France called for "strong measures", a foreign ministry spokeswoman said, as President Nicolas Sarkozy branded the situation "unacceptable."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has close ties with Assad, called him on Tuesday to press for reform, an aide said.

Diplomats say Britain, France, Germany and Portugal are seeking U.N. condemnation of the killing of demonstrators and a call for an independent investigation.

Meanwhile Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N.'s Pillay, said she had been invited to Damascus: "We look forward to being able to visit and independently assess the situation on the ground," he said.