Troops and tanks swept into a restive town near Damascus yesterday in an assault aimed at crushing opposition to President Bashar al-Assad, whose struggle for survival has dragged Syria into an increasingly bloody war.

THE Israeli army yesterday killed a leader of the military wing of Hamas in a stepped-up offensive against the Islamic militant group behind the killing of four soldiers in a tank gutted by a land mine.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres today raised hopes of restoring peace in the Middle East by suggesting a meeting with PLO leader Yasser Arafat was ‘‘on the horizon’’.