Assad Praises Troops as Calls for U.N. Meeting on Syria Mount

Calls mounted for an emergency U.N. meeting on Syria Monday after troops killed nearly 141 people in one of the deadliest days so far and the regime praised the army for "foiling" the country's enemies.

Rights activists said Sunday's death toll included at least 100 when the army stormed the flashpoint protest city of Hama, scene of a 1982 Islamist revolt that was put down by deadly force, killing an estimated 20,000 people.

"It is one of the deadliest days" since the protests erupted on March 15, said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Overall, the death toll from Sunday's nationwide crackdown now stands at 139, including two more people who were shot dead in Hama and another person who was gunned down in Damascus, said the Observatory.

"Two people were killed by militias loyal to the regime in the village of Maar Daftin near Hama, and a third in Kessoua, near Damascus," the rights group said.

President Bashar Assad, in a speech marking the 66th anniversary of the army's formation, said the military "proved its loyalty to its people, country and creed," state news agency SANA cited the embattled leader as saying.

"Its efforts and sacrifices will be admired," he was quoted as saying, adding that "these sacrifices succeeded in foiling the enemies of the country and ending sedition, preserving Syria."

Assad called the armed forces a "model of commitment to the nation's causes and a defender of its rights," and blamed the unrest on conspirators who wished to cause sedition.

Britain on Monday called for "stronger international pressure" on Syria, but ruled out military intervention.

"We want to see stronger international pressure all round, and of course to be effective that can't just be pressure from Western nations," Foreign Secretary William Hague told BBC radio.

"That includes from Arab nations, it includes from Turkey that has been very active in trying to persuade President Assad to reform instead of embarking on these appalling actions."

Hague stressed there was no prospect of achieving a U.N. mandate for military intervention such as in Libya.

"It's not a remote possibility, even if we were in favor of that, which we're not," he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama and European leaders condemned the pre-Ramadan crackdown as Germany and Italy called for an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

A meeting could be held later on Monday, but such a move could reopen bitter divisions within the Security Council, which has not yet been able to agree even on a statement on Assad's crackdown against opponents.

Britain, France, Germany, Portugal and the United States have been pressing for weeks for some kind of condemnation of the violence.

But Russia, China, South Africa, India and Brazil -- which are angry at the NATO bombing campaign in Libya -- have refused to support the move. Russia and China have threatened to veto any formal resolution against Assad.

Obama said he was "appalled by the Syrian government's use of violence and brutality against its own people" and paid tribute to the "courageous" demonstrators who have taken to the streets.

"In the days ahead, the United States will continue to increase our pressure on the Syrian regime, and work with others around the world to isolate the Assad government and stand with the Syrian people," he said.

JJ Harder, press attache at the U.S. embassy in Damascus, told the BBC: "There is one big armed gang in Syria, and it's named the Syrian government."

Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the action by Assad, who has been refusing to take the U.N. chief's calls for several weeks, his spokesman said.

Syria's neighbor Turkey said it was "deeply saddened and disappointed... by the current developments on the eve of holy month of Ramadan."

Abdel Karim Rihawi, who heads the Syrian League for the Defense of Human Rights, said: "One hundred civilians were killed on Sunday in Hama by gunfire from security forces who accompanied the army as it stormed the city."

The head of the National Organization for Human Rights, Ammar Qorabi, put the Hama death toll at 95, while Abdel Rahman said at least 47 people were killed there.

"The number of those wounded is huge and hospitals cannot cope, particularly because we lack the adequate equipment," Abdel Rahman added, quoting a Hama hospital official.

He said the Hama crackdown came after more than 500,000 people rallied on Friday following Muslim prayers during which a cleric told worshippers "the regime must go."

Activists also reported at least 19 deaths in Deir al-Zour, Syria's main gas- and oil-production hub in the east which has become a rallying point for protests along with Hama.

Abdel Rahman meanwhile told Agence France Presse protesters set ablaze 24 army troop carriers in the Masrib region west of Deir al-Zour.

SANA charged gunmen shot dead two security forces in Hama and that a colonel and two soldiers were "martyred" in Deir al-Zour.

In 1982, an estimated 20,000 people were killed in Hama when the army put down an Islamist revolt against the rule of Assad's late father, Hafez.

At least 1,583 civilians and 369 members of the army and security forces have been killed since mid-March in Syria, according to the Observatory.