UP TO 200 people, most of them civilians, were massacred yesterday by the Syrian military, according to the opposition.
In assertions that could not be independently verified, they claimed that Tremseh, a village in Hama province, was attacked by tanks firing shells and also strafed by helicopter gunships.
Following this, they said, pro-government Shabiha militia entered the village on foot and carried out execution-style mopping-up killings.
According to the opposition Local Co-ordination Committees, at least 189 people were killed across the country yesterday, including 22 in Homs. Later claims put the figure up to 287 dead. The opposition Syrian Revolution Leadership Council of Hama said that most of those killed in Tremseh were civilians.
As it has done consistently during the conflict, Syrian state television blamed what it called “armed terrorist groups” for the killings, accusing them of having shot “indiscriminately at the people of al-Tremseh village in Hama suburbs”.
It claimed that “after calls from the people of the village, the security forces clashed with the terrorist groups, arresting a number of them and confiscated their weapons.” – (Agencies)