Tank troops storm into Syrian hotbed of dissent

Troops firing from machine guns mounted on tanks have stormed a rebellious town in central Syria.

The tanks and armoured vehicles entered Rastan early yesterday and dozens of troops have been deployed on the town’s streets.

Rastan, on the road to Turkey, near the central Syrian city of Homs, has emerged as a hotbed of dissent against Syrian president Bashar Assad’s autocratic regime, and alleged army deserters have clashed there with the military and security forces.

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Activists reported the attacks in Rastan, saying there were several casualties.

The offensive began overnight and continued through the morning, leaving at least 20 people wounded, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The United Nations estimates more than 2,700 civilians have been killed in the government’s crackdown on the uprising that began in mid-March, inspired by the Arab revolutions that have toppled autocratic rulers in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

The crackdown has prompted the international community, including the United States and European nations, to impose stiff sanctions on the regime.

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Assad insists the unrest is being driven by terrorists and Islamic extremists acting out a foreign conspiracy to fracture Syria.

Ignoring the mounting death toll from his government’s bloody crackdown, Syria’s foreign minister Walid al-Moallem told the United Nations yesterday that external critics were to blame for the violence and for causing delays in Assad’s plans for democratic reforms.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly, he sought to paint the Assad regime as having been on the brink of wide-ranging democratic reforms when foreign-inspired religious radicals and armed groups forced the regime to put down the rebellion to hold the country together.

Mr al-Moallem said reforms “had to take a back seat to other priorities. Our overriding priority was facing the external pressures which were at times tantamount to blatant conspiracies”.

He said internal desires for reform “have been manipulated to future objectives which are alien to the interests and express desires of the Syrian people”.

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