BEIRUT — The Syrian military dispatched tanks into the heart of the protest flash point of Hama on Wednesday, defying mounting international condemnation in an effort to definitively crush the 4-month-old nationwide uprising against the rule of President Bashar Assad.
Terrified residents cowered indoors as shells crashed into residential areas and snipers were deployed on rooftops to shoot at anything that moved. Hospitals were said to be overflowing with injured people, and there were reports of bodies lying uncollected in the streets because ambulances were unable to reach them.
The assault, launched at dawn, capped a three-day offensive against the city that has claimed at least 100 lives.
It was difficult to establish exactly what was happening because land-line and cellphone communications, along with electricity and water supplies, were cut.
In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney called the brutality “grotesque” and reiterated that the Obama administration is “looking at ways to increase the pressure” on the Syrian government.
The Washington Post
