Syrian Forces Attack Northern Town As Residents Flee

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

AMMAN

(Reuters) - Tanks and helicopters stormed the northwest Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour on Sunday, residents said, and state television said troops had taken full control and chased out remnants of "armed terrorist organisations."

More than 5,000 Syrian refugees have crossed the border and a U.N. refugee spokesman said the Red Crescent was preparing a fourth camp with room for 2,500 more. Witnesses said some 10,000 Syrians were sheltering near the border.

The assault on Jisr al-Shughour, on a key road junction, is the latest action by armed forces to crush demands for political freedom and an end to oppression that pose an unprecedented challenge to President Bashar al-Assad's 11-year rule.

The main Syrian activist group organising protests said the crackdown had killed 1,300 civilians since February. Rights groups had previously put the toll at around 1,100.

Residents said most of Jisr al-Shughour's 50,000 people had fled toward the Turkish border about 20 km (12 miles) away, and tanks and helicopters had been shelling and machine-gunning the town.

Syria has banned most foreign correspondents, making it difficult to verify accounts of events.

It says the protests are part of a violent conspiracy backed by foreign powers to sow sectarian strife.

"Units of the Syrian Arab Army have taken total control of Jisr al-Shughour and are chasing remnants of the armed terrorist gangs in the woods and mountains," the Syrian news agency said.

It said one soldier and two armed men had been killed in clashes around the town, and that that army units had defused explosives planted on bridges and roads.

"HEADS AMPUTATED"

The agency said the forces had uncovered mass graves containing the bodies of 10 security men killed and buried by armed groups in Jisr al-Shughour.

"Most of them had had their heads and arms amputated with machetes," it said.

Asked if there were clashes in the town, Mustapha, a 39-year-old mason who said he had fled to near the Turkish border early on Sunday, told Reuters by phone:

"What clashes? The army is shelling the town from tanks. Everyone has been fleeing.

"Even if we did have guns, what are they going to do in front of artillery? Syria is a tightly controlled dictatorship and all of a sudden the regime says Jisr al-Shughour is armed to the teeth. They are lying. They are punishing us for wanting freedom."

The government said last week that "armed gangs" had killed more than 120 security personnel in the town after large demonstrations there. Refugees and rights groups said the dead were civilians killed by security forces or soldiers who had been shot for refusing to fire on civilians.

"When the massacre happened in Jisr al-Shughour the army split, or they started fighting each other and blamed it on us," a woman refugee, who refused to give her name, told the Turkish news channel NTV on Saturday.

MOST RESIDENTS GONE

A senior Western diplomat in Damascus told Reuters: "The official version is improbable. Most people had left Jisr al-Shughour after seeing the regime's scorched-earth policy, shelling and the heavy use of armor in the valley ...

"The refugee exodus into Turkey is continuing and the numbers are higher than those officially counted so far."

Residents said the army unit attacking Jisr al-Shughour was commanded by Assad's brother Maher and employing the tactics used in other centres to crush protests.

The United States accused the Syrian government of creating a "humanitarian crisis" and urged it to halt its offensive and allow immediate access by the International Committee for the Red Cross to help refugees, detainees and the wounded.

Turkey has provided camps for refugees and sent the wounded to hospitals, but restricted access to the refugees, saying this is to protect their privacy.

In footage shot for Reuters by a Turkish youth on the Syrian side of the border, a few kilometres into Syria from Guvecci, exhausted and distressed looking Syrians waited in a cluster of tents and under makeshift shelters.

The West and the United Nations have criticised Syria for not allowing international access to the wounded, the imprisoned and the refugees, but Russia and China have not backed any Security Council action to rein in Syria's rulers.

(Additional reporting by Alexandra Hudson in Guvecci, Turkey; Editing by Kevin Liffey)