Syria defies sanctions by deploying more troops

Syrian troops backed by tanks moved into a border village yesterday, despite Washington imposing sanctions on president Bashar al-Assad.

Looking across the border from the Lebanese village of Boqaya, Syrian soldiers could be seen digging in along a stream in Arida village and entering homes. Lebanese soldiers fanned out on their side of the frontier.

Earlier, sporadic gunfire and shelling were heard from the village. Arida is near the mostly Sunni Muslim town of Tel Kelakh, where one activist says Syrian troops have killed at least 27 civilians since Saturday.

Yesterday, a resident said that armoured personnel carriers and buses filled with soldiers had begun pulling out of Tel Kelakh around noon, heading north.

"The army is largely gone. There are no security police on the streets, but they are still in and around their HQ away from the centre of Tel Kelakh and they are still occupying the main hospital," the witness said.

Syrian security forces have used tanks, gunfire and mass arrests in an attempt to crush a two-month-old revolt against four decades of authoritarian rule by the Assad family. Bashar al-Assad has ruled for 11 years.

Western powers have imposed sanctions on leading regime figures. Washington's decision to target Assad personally raises the question of whether the West will seek his overthrow, to end a conflict that has cost the lives of an estimated 700 civilians. "The sanctions will not affect Syria's independent will," an official in Damascus said.