Syrian tanks shelled the city of Hama after nightly Ramadan prayers on Tuesday, residents said, on the third day of an armoured assault to crush some of the largest street protests against President Bashar al-Assad in a five-month uprising.
The shelling concentrated on the eastern Rubaii and al-Hamidiya neighbourhoods, the Aleppo road in the north and the eastern Baath district, two residents said. A crowd which tried to rally in the central Alamein neighbourhood after prayers marking the end of the daytime fast came under rifle fire by Assad’s forces.
There were no immediate reports of casualties. Rights campaigners earlier said five civilians were killed on Tuesday as tanks thrust further into the central Syrian city of 700,000.
