Tanks Deploy In East, Syrians Flee Assault On North

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

AMMAN 

(Reuters) - Thousands of Syrians fled the historic town of Maarat al-Numaan to escape tank forces thrusting into the country's north in a widening military campaign to crush protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

In the tribal east, where all of Syria's 380,000 barrels per day of oil is produced, tanks and armoured vehicles deployed in the city of Deir al-Zor and around Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq, a week after tens of thousands of people took to the streets demanding an end to Assad's autocratic rule.