Syrian forces hit Hama again, U.S. senators seek sanctions

AMMAN, (Reuters) – Syrian forces kept up attacks on  Hama for a third day, residents said, while U.S. senators called  on the Obama administration to impose tough new sanctions on  Syria’s energy sector.

Washington also sought to put muscle behind its demand that  President Bashar al-Assad halt his lethal crackdown on unarmed  protesters.

Human rights campaigners said the assaults by Assad’s forces  across Syria on Monday and Tuesday had killed at least 27  civilians, including 13 in Hama, where troops and tanks began an  operation to regain control on Sunday.

That brought the total to about 137 dead throughout Syria in  the past three days, 93 of them in Hama, according to witnesses,  residents and rights campaigners.

The plight of Hama — where thousands were killed in 1982  when security forces crushed an anti-government uprising — has  prompted many Syrians to stage solidarity marches since the  start of Ramadan.

But Assad’s tough response suggests he will resist calls for  democratic change that have swept Syria for the past five  months, and much of the Arab world this year.

“The United States should impose crippling sanctions in  response to the murder of civilians by troops under the orders  of President Assad,” U.S. Senator Mark Kirk, a Republican, said  in introducing legislation in Washington to target firms that  invest in Syria’s energy sector, purchase its oil or sell  gasoline. Kirk was joined in sponsoring the bill by Democratic Senator  Kirsten Gillibrand and independent Senator Joseph Lieberman, who  said it was time to push for “a democratic transition that  reflects the will of the Syrian people.”

While the United States weighed its next steps to respond to  Assad’s escalating suppression of protests, U.S. Secretary of  State Hillary Clinton met with representatives of Syria’s  fledgling opposition who said the battered pro-democracy  movement badly needed stronger U.S. support.

“We really need to see President Obama addressing the  courage of the Syrian people,” said Mohammad Alabdalla, one of  the U.S.-based activists who met Clinton.

“We want to hear it loudly and clearly that Assad has to  step down.”

Obama and Clinton have said Assad has lost legitimacy, but  have stopped short of directly calling on him to leave office as  they did Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.

The U.N. Security Council negotiated for a second day yesterday over a Western-backed draft resolution condemning Syria,  before adjourning until Wednesday.

Diplomats said significant differences remained over the  text and it had not been decided whether the end result should  be a resolution or a less weighty council statement.

Russia and some other countries are pushing for what they  say is a more balanced text that would blame both Syrian  authorities and the opposition for the violence, but Western  nations say the two sides cannot be equated.