AMMAN: Syrian tanks shelled a hill region in the northwestern province of Idlib, residents and activists said, in a military assault to suppress protests in rural areas that have already driven thousands of refugees to Turkey. The overnight assault was launched a day after the authorities announced they would invite opponents to talks on July 10 to set a framework for a dialogue promised by President Bashar Al-Assad, who has faced criticism from Western governments over the military campaign to crush a three-month uprising against his rule. Opposition leaders have dismissed the offer, saying it is not credible while mass killings and arrests continue. “I can hear heavy explosions 20 km to the north, around the villages of Rama and Orum Al-Joz. My relatives there say the shelling is random,” said a resident of Kin Safra village in Jabal Al-Zawya region, west of the highway linking the cities of Hama and Aleppo. Another resident said 30 tanks were transported Monday from the village of Bdama on the Turkish border, where troops broke into houses and burnt crops, to Jabal Al-Zawya. Rights campaigners say troops, security forces and gunmen loyal to Assad have killed over 1,300 civilians since the uprising for political freedom erupted in the southern Hauran Plain in March, including over 150 people killed in a scorched earth campaign against towns and villages in Idlib.
