Syrian tanks pound city, Saudi king condemns violence

Syrian tanks pounded the city of Deir al-Zor in the country's Sunni tribal heartland for a second day on Monday and the escalating violence in the country prompted a strong condemnation of President Bashar al-Assad by the Saudi king.

King Abdullah, an absolute ruler like Assad, broke Arab silence and demanded an end to the bloodshed on Monday, saying he was recalling his country's ambassador from Damascus.

"What is happening in Syria is not acceptable for Saudi Arabia," he said in a written statement read out on Al Arabiya satellite television.

"Syria should think wisely before it's too late and issue and enact reforms that are not merely promises but actual reforms," he said. "Either it chooses wisdom on its own or it will be pulled down into the depths of turmoil and loss."

The statement came as Syrian tanks and troops poured into the eastern Sunni city of Deir al-Zor in a further escalation of the five-month uprising against Assad's rule.

"Armoured vehicles are shelling the al-Hawiqa district heavily with their 76mm guns. Private hospitals are closed and people are afraid to send the wounded to state facilities because they are infested with secret police," Mohammad, a resident, told Reuters by phone.

He said at least 65 people had been killed since tanks and armoured vehicles stormed the provincial capital, 400 km (250 miles) northeast of Damascus, on Sunday, crushing makeshift barricades and opening fire.

The assault on the city, in an oil-producing province bordering Iraq, came a week after tanks stormed Hama, where residents of the city say scores have been killed in an ongoing siege to crush the uprising against minority Alawite rule.

With deafening Arab silence and an international response that has not gone beyond verbal condemnation and sanctions on Syria's ruling hierarchy, Assad had faced few obstacles in extending the military campaign on cities and towns into the fasting month of Ramadan until the Saudi king intervened.

Relations between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Syria's minority Alawite ruling hierarchy have been tense since the assassination of Rafik al-Hariri,a Western backed Lebanese Sunni statesman who also had Saudi nationality, in 2005.

Riyadh backs Hariri's son Saad while Assad, along with Iran's clerical rulers, support the armed Shi'ite guerrilla group Hezbollah.

A United Nations investigation implicated Syrian security officials in the killing of Hariri and an international tribunal indicted members of Hezbollah. Damascus and the Shi'ite group denied involvement.

During months of demonstrations in Deir al-Zor, protesters tore up pictures of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and of Iran's president, witnesses and activists said, venting Sunni disquiet at Assad's policy aligning with Shi'ite players.

AUTHORITIES DENY CITY ATTACKED

The authorities denied the Deir al-Zor assault had taken place. The official state news agency said "not a single tank has entered Deir al-Zor" and reports of tanks in the city were "the work of provocateur satellite channels".

Syria has barred most journalists, making it hard to confirm events.

The Syrian Revolution Coordinating Committee said 50 people had been killed in Deir al-Zor on Sunday and at least 13 had been killed in a separate, tank-led assault on villages in the central Houla Plain, near the city of Homs.

"The numbers of casualties are escalating by the hour," activist Suhair al-Atassi, a member of the Coordinating Union, said by phone from Damascus.

Another activist said: "The Deir al-Zor assault could be the turning point where the repression will backfire and people will start taking up arms against the regime. Assad cannot repress a whole nation like this, and expect people to watch as thousands get killed or disappear."

In the past, authorities allowed local tribes in Deir al-Zor to arm as a counterweight to a Kurdish population concentrated further northeast.

But ties between Assad's government and the Sunni Muslim province deteriorated after years of water shortages, corruption and mismanagement of resources devastated agriculture and led to the internal displacement of up to a million people.

Assad, who repeatedly has described the uprising as a foreign conspiracy to divide Syria, defended the army's campaign. He was quoted by the official national news agency on Sunday as saying his force were fulfilling a national duty by "dealing with outlaws and convicts who stage highway robbery and seal off cities and terrorise the population".

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who had forged close ties with Assad but has been sharply critical of the crackdown, said Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu would visit Damascus on Tuesday.

"Our message will be decisively delivered," he said, drawing a rebuke from an Assad adviser, who described the Turkish statement as being unbalanced.

Syrian authorities say armed saboteurs are responsible for most civilian killings and have provoked violence by attacking and killing 500 security personnel. Rights groups and Western states say Assad's forces have killed almost 2,000 civilians.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told Assad by phone on Saturday he was alarmed by the escalating violence and demanded he rein in the army.

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