Assad troops fight army deserters for second day

Tanks pounded a Syrian town that has become a refuge for army deserters for a second day yesterday, residents said

It is the first major battle with deserters since a revolt against president Bashar al-Assad began six months ago.

At least 1,000 deserters and armed villagers have been fighting tank and helicopter-backed forces trying to regain control of Rastan, a town of 40,000 people in central Syria.

“They have got a foothold in the southern part of Rastan, but the Free Syrian Army is fighting back and has destroyed three armoured vehicles,” said one resident by satellite phone.

“Buildings have caught fire in several neighbourhoods from tank fire,” he said from the town, about 100 miles north of Damascus on the Orontes River and the northern road to Aleppo.

Syrian authorities have not commented but blame “foreign meddling” for the turmoil in the nation of 20 million.

It was impossible to verify which side has the upper hand in Rastan – Syria has barred most international media – but one western diplomat said it was “highly possible” that defectors were holding their ground.

After months of mostly peaceful anti-Assad protests, army deserters unwilling to shoot at demonstrators have formed themselves into rebel units mostly in the agricultural heartland around the city of Homs.

The area is a recruiting ground for Sunni conscripts from an army dominated by officers belonging to Assad’s Alawite sect.

“The [army] defections are occurring in the regions where the killings are most severe. For every Syrian the regime kills, it is creating ten opponents,” one activist said. “The problem is that the defectors have nowhere to go. There is no safe haven or outside backing for them,” he said.