Syrian tanks shelled the city of Hama, scene of a 1982 massacre, for the second day on Monday, killing at least four civilians, residents said, in an assault to try to crush protests against President Bashar al-Assad.
The killings in the city’s residential Hamidiyah district brought to 84 the number of civilians reported killed in a tank-backed crackdown on the central Syrian city, where Assad’s father crushed an armed Muslim Brotherhood revolt 29 years ago by razing neighbourhoods and killing many thousands of people. “No one can leave the town because the troops and shabbiha (pro-Assad militia) are shooting at random with machineguns,” a resident, who gave his name as Raed, told Reuters by telephone. Residents said among those killed on Monday was Khaled Adel al-Sheikh Mossa, whose house was hit in early morning shelling. A roof of another house collapsed and a pharmacy was destroyed.
The latest violence coincided with the start of the Muslim Ramadan fast, with Syria in sombre mood after troops stormed Hama and intensified an assault on the eastern tribal province of Deir al-Zor, which borders Iraq’s Sunni Muslim heartland. Residents said at least 29 civilians had been killed in a weekend tank assault on Deir al-Zor, the provincial capital. “The shelling is concentrating on northern quarters. The tanks are pushing toward the centre,” a witness told Reuters.
Syrian authorities have expelled most independent journalists since the anti-Assad protests began in March, making it hard to verify activists’ reports or official statements.
