Syrian armed forces President Bashar al-Assad continue to fight rebels in Hama Deir al-Zour 2203122

a
 

Defense News - Syria

 
 
Thursday, March 22, 2012, 11:40 AM
 
Syrian armed forces of President Bashar al-Assad continue to fight the rebels in Hama - Deir al-Zour.

The Syrian armed forces of President Bashar al-Assad continue to fight the rebels in the east and pounded the central city of Hama. In the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, opposition fighters were forced to flee yesterday in the face of a fierce army assault, Al Jazeera television said, citing a statement from the Deir al-Zour Revolution Committees Union. “The Free Syrian Army pulled out to avoid a civilian massacre,” the group said.

     
The Syrian armed forces of President Bashar al-Assad continue to fight the rebels in the east and pounded the central city of Hama. In the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, opposition fighters were forced to flee yesterday in the face of a fierce army assault, Al Jazeera television said, citing a statement from the Deir al-Zour Revolution Committees Union. “The Free Syrian Army pulled out to avoid a civilian massacre,” the group said.
Syrian army soldiers look through a hole in a building as they search for Syrian rebels in a suburb of Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday, March 20, 2012.

     

Syrian troops have seized the key urban opposition strongholds of Homs and Idlib this month, forcing fighters from the lightly armed Free Syrian Army to retreat into the countryside. Annan’s first visit to Syria earlier this month ended without a deal as Assad’s forces intensified attacks on rebel strongholds to try and extinguish the uprising, pushing the death toll from a year of fighting above 8,000 people.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said a number of law- enforcement officers were killed yesterday in a suicide bomb attack in the countryside in the southern province of Daraa.

At least 42 people, including two children and two women, were killed across the country March 20, 2012, the opposition Local Coordination Committees in Syria said in an e-mail. Troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad bombarded several neighborhoods of Hama, pushing residents to leave for safer areas, it said.