AMMAN, Jordan – Syrian tanks stormed the city of Hama at dawn on Sunday, killing at least 24 civilians, residents said, after besieging it for nearly a month to crush some of the biggest demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad's rule.
A doctor, who did not want to be further identified for fear of arrest, told Reuters that the city's Badr, al-Horani and Hikmeh hospitals had received 19, three and two dead bodies respectively.
There were scores of wounded people and a shortage of blood for transfusions, he said by telephone from the city, which has a population of around 700,000.
"Tanks are attacking from four directions. They are firing their heavy machineguns randomly and overrunning makeshift road blocks erected by the inhabitants," the doctor said, the sound of machinegun fire crackling in the background.
"The casualties are higher. There are bodies uncollected in the streets," said another resident, adding that army snipers had climbed onto the roofs of the state-owned electricity company and the main prison.
Tank shells were falling at the rate of four a minute in and around northern Hama, residents said, and electricity and water supplies to the main neighborhoods had been cut – a tactic used regularly by the military when storming towns to crush protests.
Assad is trying to end an uprising against his 11-year rule that broke out in March, inspired by 'Arab Spring' revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, and has spread across the country.
Syrian authorities have expelled most independent journalists, making it difficult to verify reports of fighting.
Hama was the scene of a massacre in 1982 when Assad's father, the late president Hafez al-Assad, sent his troops to crush an Islamist-led uprising, razing whole neighborhoods and killing up to 30,000 people in the bloodiest episode of Syria's modern history.
The US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, visited the city earlier this month in a gesture of international support for what he described as peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, once one of Assad's main allies, said in May "we do not want to see another Hama massacre," and warned the 45-year-old president that it would be hard to contain the consequences if it were repeated.
The Syrian leadership blames "armed terrorist groups" for most killings during the revolt, saying that more than 500 soldiers and security personnel have been killed.
An activist group, Avaaz, said in a report last week that Syrian security forces had killed 1634 people in the course of their crackdown, while at least 2918 had disappeared. A further 26,000 had been arrested, many of whom were beaten and tortured, and 12,617 remained in detention, it said.
ASSAULT IN EAST
In the east of the country, Syrian forces began a major assault two days ago in a tribal oil-producing province on the border with Iraq's Sunni heartland.
An activists' group said at least five civilians were killed in the eastern provincial capital of Deir al-Zor on Saturday, the second day of a tank- and helicopter-backed attack on the city.
The group, the Syrian Revolution Coordination Union, said 57 soldiers in Deir al-Zor, including two lieutenants and a captain, had defected to the demonstrators. It said residents had formed local committees and erected makeshift barriers to try to halt the advance of tanks and armored vehicles inside the city.
"More tank columns are heading to Deir al-Zor. By using heavy weapons, security forces are waging war against their own people," the group said in a statement.
The official state news agency said: "Armed groups in Deir al-Zor cut off roads, terrorized citizens and attacked police."
It added: "An exchange of fire occurred. The police forces confronted these armed groups and are still chasing them…The inhabitants of Deir al-Zor have expressed their rejection of these actions which are bad for the homeland."
