Up to 50 believed dead after Syrian tanks storm city

SYRIAN tanks stormed a city in the east of the country yesterday, crushing makeshift barricades, opening fire and seizing the central square, residents said, in a fresh crackdown that activists claimed killed dozens of civilians.

The assault on the provincial capital Deir al-Zor comes a week after tanks stormed the city of Hama, where activists say scores have been killed in an ongoing siege to crush five months of protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

“Early this morning columns of army tanks and bulldozers, under cover of heavy rounds of gunfire, stormed into the western and northern entrances of the city and dismantled barricades set up by residents,” a Deir al-Zor resident said.

“A dozen tanks are taking position in the main square in Jubaila market in the northern sector of Deir al-Zor,” the resident, who gave his name as Abu Bakr, said by telephone.

The government denied the Deir al-Zor assault had taken place. The official state news agency said “not a single tank has entered Deir al-Zor” and reports of tanks in the city were “the work of provocateur satellite channels”. Syria has barred most journalists, making it hard to confirm events.

The Syrian Revolution Coordinating Committee said 50 people had been killed in Deir al-Zor yesterday and at least 13 had been killed in a separate, tank-led assault on villages near the city of Homs.