Syrian tanks overrun Hama, kill scores
Syrian tanks tightened their occupation of Hama and massed outside a defiant city in the east as President Bashar al-Assad ignored mounting world condemnation of attacks on protesters the United States says has killed 2,000 people opposing his rule.
In Hama, residents said tank shelling resumed and they feared higher casualty figures than the 135 estimated killed since the military assault began on Sunday on the city.
Hama is where Assad’s father, the late Hafez al-Assad, sent in tanks and killed thousands to crush a rebellion in 1982.
“They are hitting the al-Hader district and neighborhoods around the Aleppo road. Electricity is still cut off,” one resident told Reuters in a brief call via satellite phone.