Child among 18 killed as Syrian army shells homes

The Syrian army shelled residential areas and unleashed security forces yesterday in an intensified push to crush the uprising against president Bashar Assad, killing an eight-year-old boy and at least 17 others, a human rights group said.

The lethal shelling evoked bitter memories of the regime's legacy of brutally suppressing dissent under Mr Assad's father, Hafez. In 1982, Hafez Assad crushed a Sunni uprising by shelling the town of Hama, killing up to 25,000 people, Amnesty International estimates.

Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria, said 13 people were killed yesterday in tank shelling on al-Haraa village outside Daraa, the city where the uprising began in mid-March. Five others were killed in the city of Homs - most of them in shelling, he said. Several were killed by gunfire.

More than 770 people have been killed in the current crackdown and thousands have been detained, with about 9,000 still in custody, Mr Qurabi said.

Residents reported heavy tank fire and gunfire yesterday in at least three residential suburbs of Homs, which has seen some of the largest anti-government demonstrations during the seven-week uprising.

"There were loud explosions and gunfire from automatic rifles throughout the night and until this morning," a resident said. "The area is totally besieged. We are being shelled."

Few details were leaking out of the Daraa area and calls were not getting through. The government has been cutting off phone and electric services to try to isolate restive areas.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged Syria to allow an international aid assessment team to enter Daraa. He said he was disappointed the assessment team "has not yet been given the access it needs".

Mr Ban added he had been assured by Mr Assad that the team would be allowed into the city.

Residents have reported shelling in recent weeks, but the four-hour siege in Homs was the most intense and signalled the government was stepping up efforts to intimidate the population.

The massacre at Hama by the president's father was seared into the minds of Syrians. After it, Hafez Assad ruled for the next two decades until his death.