Syrian tanks firing shells and machineguns stormed the city of Hama, killing more than 100 civilians, rights activists said, in one of the bloodiest days in a five-month-old popular revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.
The assault on Hama, scene of a 1982 massacre when Assad's father crushed an Islamist uprising, began at dawn on the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan after security forces laid siege to the city for almost a month.
Hama residents told Reuters by telephone that tanks and snipers fired into unarmed residential areas where people had set up makeshift roadblocks to try and stop their advance.
The Syrian state news agency said the military entered Hama to purge armed groups ‘shooting intensively to terrorise citizens’.
A US embassy official in Damascus dismissed this official account as ‘nonsense’.
US President Barack Obama said he was appalled by the Syrian government's use of violence against its people in Hama and promised to work with others to isolate Assad.
‘The reports out of Hama are horrifying and demonstrate the true character of the Syrian regime,’ Mr Obama said in a statement.
‘Syria will be a better place when a democratic transition goes forward. 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.’
Britain and France condemned the Hama assault too. Italy urged a tough statement on Syria by the UN Security Council.
European Union governments planned to extend sanctions against Assad's government on Monday by slapping asset freezes and travel bans on five more people.
The EU has already imposed sanctions on Assad and at least two dozen officials and targeted military-linked companies in Syria.
The Syrian human rights organisation Sawasiah said the civilian death toll in Hama had risen to 80. The independent group cited medical officials and witnesses in its report.
Syrian authorities have expelled most independent journalists since the unrest began in March, making it difficult to verify reports of violence and casualties.
Massacre
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, 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 that ‘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 1,634 people in the course of their crackdown, while at least 2,918 had disappeared. Another 26,000 had been arrested, many of whom were beaten and tortured, and 12,617 remained in detention, it said.
