Syrian forces storm suburb, ambassador in Hama

Overnight, about 300 security personnel entered the suburb, where there have been daily protests demanding political freedoms, and started firing from machineguns mounted on trucks and making house to house arrests, they said.

Syrian human rights organisation Sawasiah said in a statement that security forces also raided the main hospital in Harasta, a tactic used in similar assaults on cities and towns elsewhere in Syria, and abducted three injured protesters "whose lives are now in extreme danger."

Some of the biggest protests against Assad's rule have been staged after Muslim prayers on Fridays.

The U.S. ambassador to Syria toured the city of Hama on Thursday to show solidarity with residents facing a security crackdown after weeks of anti-government protests there.

Syria condemned ambassador Robert Ford's visit, which it said went ahead without approval from Damascus, as an attempt to incite escalation in the city where more protests are planned on Friday.

The U.S. State Department said the U.S. embassy had informed the Syrian government that an embassy team -- without naming Ford -- was travelling to Hama, which residents say is still ringed with tanks, and said Ford hoped to stay until Friday.

"The fundamental intention ... was to make absolutely clear with his physical presence that we stand with those Syrians who are expressing their right to speak for change," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said.

"We are greatly concerned about the situation in Hama," Nuland told a news briefing in Washington.

The city was the scene of a 1982 massacre which came to symbolise the ruthless rule of the late President Hafez al-Assad and has staged some of the biggest protests in 14 weeks of demonstrations against his son Bashar.

Residents blocked streets with burning tyres on Thursday, trying to keep out busloads of security forces, and dozens of families fled to a nearby town, an activist and a resident said.

Rami Abdelrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two men were found dead on a bridge leading out of Hama towards the industrial city of Homs.

Tanks were deployed around the outskirts of Hama this week after tens of thousands of people rallied in a central square last Friday demanding Assad's departure, the culmination of a month of growing protests in the city.

Protesters were exploiting an apparent security vacuum in the city after Assad's forces pulled back following the killing of at least 60 protesters on June 3.

Assad sacked the Hama provincial governor on Saturday. Security forces swept in on Monday and activists say at least 26 people have been killed in a wave of arrests and shootings, but the tanks have stayed outside the city. Residents say water and electricity supplies have been cut.

U.S. STEPS UP EFFORTS

Ford's trip marked a sharp increase in U.S. efforts to dissuade Assad from taking further military action to quash protests against his rule.

Activists say Bashar's forces have killed at least 1,300 civilians in the unrest. Authorities say 500 police and soldiers have been killed by "armed groups" whom they also blame for most of the civilian deaths.

Syria has barred most independent media from operating inside the country, making it difficult to verify accounts from activists and authorities.

It has also largely shut out the United Nations. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Damascus on Thursday to give U.N. aid workers immediate access to evaluate the needs of civilians caught up in the crackdown and to allow a team of U.N. human rights investigators to carry out their mission in Syria.

Syria's al-Watan newspaper said a parliamentary election due in August would be postponed to allow parliament to pass new laws on the media and political parties, part of a package of reforms Assad has pledged in response to the unrest.

The president raised the possibility of delaying the election in a speech last month in which he set out plans for a national dialogue with the opposition. Opposition figures say they will not talk while killings and arrests continue.