Syrian tank assaults reportedly kill 30 as Turkey joins world reproach

[Jefferson23]

Turkish FM meets with Assad, says his fate will be similar to that of Gadhafi if he does not stop 'butchering his people'; Syria forces kill five civilians as army moves into town near Turkish border.


Syrian forces killed at least 30 civilians in tank assaults on Tuesday and moved into a town near the Turkish border, activists and witnesses said, even as Turkey's foreign minister pressed President Bashar Assad to halt assaults on protests against his rule.

The Syrian National Organization for Human Rights said 30 civilians were killed by tank assaults in the countryside around the city of Hama and in a town near Turkey.

The Organization, headed by dissident Ammar Qurabi, said in a statement that 26 people were killed and dozens wounded when troops backed by tanks and armored vehicles overran Soran and other villages north of Hama, the focus of a 10-day assault to crush street protests against Assad's autocratic rule.

Four people were also killed in Binnish, around 30 km (19 miles) from the border with Turkey, in a similar attack on the town that has witnessed an escalation in protests demanding the removal of Assad during the fasting month of Ramadan, the organization said.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/syrian-tank-assaults-reportedly-kill-30-as-turkey-joins-world-reproach-1.377824