Syrian troops yesterday pushed an assault on a central rebel bastion, with dozens reportedly killed across the country, as the EU slapped fresh sanctions on Damascus due to the “appalling violence”.
Russia, meanwhile, said it was “absolutely clear” that Al-Qaeda and its associates were behind Thursday’s twin bomb attacks in Damascus that killed 55 people, vowing to continue to supply the regime with “defensive” arms.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three troop carriers were destroyed in clashes that began at dawn on the outskirts of Rastan, a rebel-held city located in restive Homs province that UN observers toured last month. At least 23 soldiers were killed in the Rastan clashes.
Four rebel fighters, among them a lieutenant who defected, also died in the clashes, and random regime gunfire reportedly left two civilians dead in the nearby city of Homs.
Regime forces launched an offensive on Rastan at the weekend, encountering heavy resistance from rebels seeking the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The Observatory said Syrian troops shelled the city on Sunday, and that the bombardment resumed following yesterday’s deadly clashes.
“The regime forces in the course of two hours fired 300 rockets at Rastan before launching their assault,” Sami Kurdi, a spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army, told AFP from Rastan. He said the army had met fierce resistance from armed rebels as it advanced on the city at dawn, with deserters and residents “ready to do anything” to stop the troops from entering the town.
The Observatory reported deadly violence elsewhere yesterday, with three civilians killed by regime forces’ gunfire in southern Daraa province, including a child and a Palestinian refugee.
And in Quraya in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, a 15-year-old boy was killed by machine-gun fire as regime forces raided the town, the Observatory said, bringing the number of people reportedly killed yesterday to at least 33 .
On the diplomatic front, EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels yesterday slapped a 15th round of sanctions on Syria.
The new EU sanctions, to take effect today, mean 129 people and 43 firms or utilities are now targeted by an assets freeze and travel ban.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said “as long as the repression continues, we will continue to put pressure on those responsiblefor it.”
Lady Ashton said the bloc at the weekend delivered a fleet of 25 armoured vehicles to help Mr Annan’s observer mission, deployed under his peace plan which the EU sees as the only posible way to avoid all-out civil war in Syria.