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.