Syrians kill 20 in tank assault
Source: Agencies |
August 8, 2011, Monday
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SYRIAN troops killed 20 people in a tank assault on the eastern city of Deir al-Zor yesterday, according to an activist group, despite a direct UN appeal to President Bashar al-Assad to stop using military force against civilians.
The assault on Deir al-Zor, capital of an oil-producing province, began a week after the president sent the army to seize control of Hama, focal point of nearly five months of protest against his rule.
Facing international condemnation, Assad defended the military campaign against what Damascus portrays as an armed insurrection.
State news agency Sana quoted Assad as saying: "Dealing with outlaws and convicts who stage highway robbery and seal off cities and terrorize the population is a national duty."
The Syrian Revolution Coordinating Union, a grassroots activists' group, said most casualties in yesterday's attack on Deir al-Zor were in al-Joura district in the west of the city.
The military assault on Deir al-Zor, about 400 kilometers north-east of Damascus, was launched a day after UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon told Assad he was alarmed by the escalating violence and demanded he rein in the army.
The UN press office said: "In a phone conversation with President Assad … the secretary general expressed his strong concern and that of the international community at the mounting violence and death toll in Syria over the past days."
Ban "urged the president to stop the use of military force against civilians immediately," it added.
In a separate assault on the Houla plain, north of the central city of Homs, Syrian forces killed at least seven villagers, activists said.
Syrian authorities say gunmen have killed 500 police and soldiers since March. Reinforcing the message that Syria faces an armed revolt backed by outside forces, state television broadcast footage yesterday of 250 shotguns, plus explosives and ammunition it said were seized at the border with Lebanon.
Rights groups say Syrian security forces have killed at least 1,600 civilians since the start of the protests.
The assault on Deir al-Zor, capital of an oil-producing province, began a week after the president sent the army to seize control of Hama, focal point of nearly five months of protest against his rule.
Facing international condemnation, Assad defended the military campaign against what Damascus portrays as an armed insurrection.
State news agency Sana quoted Assad as saying: "Dealing with outlaws and convicts who stage highway robbery and seal off cities and terrorize the population is a national duty."
The Syrian Revolution Coordinating Union, a grassroots activists' group, said most casualties in yesterday's attack on Deir al-Zor were in al-Joura district in the west of the city.
The military assault on Deir al-Zor, about 400 kilometers north-east of Damascus, was launched a day after UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon told Assad he was alarmed by the escalating violence and demanded he rein in the army.
The UN press office said: "In a phone conversation with President Assad … the secretary general expressed his strong concern and that of the international community at the mounting violence and death toll in Syria over the past days."
Ban "urged the president to stop the use of military force against civilians immediately," it added.
In a separate assault on the Houla plain, north of the central city of Homs, Syrian forces killed at least seven villagers, activists said.
Syrian authorities say gunmen have killed 500 police and soldiers since March. Reinforcing the message that Syria faces an armed revolt backed by outside forces, state television broadcast footage yesterday of 250 shotguns, plus explosives and ammunition it said were seized at the border with Lebanon.
Rights groups say Syrian security forces have killed at least 1,600 civilians since the start of the protests.
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