Syrian troops storm Hama to break anti-Assad strike

By Dominic Evans

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian troops swept into the city of Hama to break a three-day strike by opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, killing at least 10 people but running into resistance from armed insurgents who destroyed two armoured vehicles, activists said.

Outside Hama, army deserters attacked a convoy of military jeeps, killing eight soldiers, they said, adding to a death toll of at least 30 people across the country on Wednesday.

The assault in Hama was the first armoured incursion there since a tank offensive in August crushed huge protests in the city. Activists said troops fired machineguns and ransacked and burnt shops which had closed to observe a mass, open-ended "Strike for Dignity" called by the opposition.

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have died in Assad's crackdown on protests that erupted in the southern city of Deraa in March, inspired by Arab uprisings elsewhere.

"This cannot go on," United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in New York. "In the name of humanity, it is time for the international community to act."

Assad, 46, whose family from the minority Alawite sect has held power in majority Sunni Muslim Syria for four decades, is facing the most serious challenge to his 11-year rule.

The demonstrations started with peaceful calls for reform but burgeoned into demands for Assad's overthrow. A growing armed insurgency has since raised the spectre of civil war.

The Syrian government says more than 1,100 members of the army, police and security services have been killed. State media reported military funerals on Wednesday for seven soldiers and police killed by "armed terrorist groups."