Syrian troops with tanks stormed Friday a northwestern town amid intense shelling, according to activists.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees said the troops entered Saraqeb from the north and were pushing forward. The Observatory said at least one civilian was killed in the attack.
The troops were accompanied by pro-government gunmen and plainclothes security agents who arrived in buses and started making raids and arresting people. Calls to the city could not get through.
Saraqeb, in the northern province of Idlib that borders Turkey, has been held by army defectors for months.
The attack comes 11 days after troops retook Idlib city, the provincial capital, which had been under rebel control for months. Assad's forces have made a series of offensives over the last month, and in the past couple of weeks have targeted rebel-held areas in Idlib province and in the central city of Homs. |