Syrian forces backed by tanks and helicopters stormed into the central town of Rastan today to crush army deserters who are fighting back after months of mostly peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad, residents said.
Dozens of armoured vehicles entered the town of 40,000, which lies on the highway to Turkey near the city of Homs, after tanks and helicopters pounded it with heavy machineguns through the hours of darkness.
"Tanks closed in on Rastan overnight and the sound of machineguns and explosions has been non-stop. They finally entered this morning," said one resident.
Hundreds of soldiers who have refused orders to fire on protesters have formed the Khaled Bin al-Walid battalion, named after the Arab conqueror of Syria, in Rastan. The force, led by Capt Abdelrahman Sheikh, has some tanks. Col Riad al-Assad, the most senior military defector, is active in the area.
The rebel soldiers have attacked army buses and roadblocks manned by troops and pro-Assad militiamen, known "shabbiha". These have multiplied in recent days as security forces try to disrupt protests and hunt down activists in the Rastan area.
The region around Homs and the adjoining province of Idlib on the border with Turkey have emerged as hotspots of armed resistance, although the bulk of the armed forces, commanded by officers from Dr Assad's Alawite minority, has remained loyal.
The United Nations says more than 2,700 Syrians, including 100 children, have been killed in a six-month-old revolt against 41 years of Assad family rule in a mostly Sunni nation of 20 million. The government blames the violence on armed gangs, who it says have killed 700 members of the security forces.
Reuters