Army defectors ambushed dozens of Syrian troops, and regime forces gunned down civilians during one of the bloodiest days of the 8-month-old uprising, which appeared Tuesday to be spiraling out of President Bashar Assad’s control.
Up to 90 people were killed in a gruesome wave of violence Monday, activists said. The extent of the bloodshed only came to light Tuesday, in part because corpses lying in the streets did not reach the morgue until daylight.
As the bloodshed spiked, Assad’s former allies were turning on him in rapid succession. Turkey, Jordan and the 22-member Arab League all signaled they were fed up with Assad’s response to the uprising and were ready to pressure him to go.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that he no longer has confidence in the government led by Assad.
“No regime can survive by killing or jailing,” Erdogan said. “No one can build a future over the blood of the oppressed.”
