Assad sends more soldiers to crush Syria uprising

AMMAN, (Reuters) – Syrian army units backed by tanks  have tightened the siege of two defiant urban centres, in a sign  that President Bashar al-Assad is widening the use of the  military to crush demonstrations against his autocratic rule.

Tanks and armoured vehicles deployed around Rastan town on  Wednesday and army units set up checkpoints in Sunni districts  in Banias, days after a loyalist army division led by Assad’s  brother Maher crushed protests in the southern city of Deraa  with shellfire and machineguns. The demonstrations in Syria, inspired by pro-democracy  prisings elsewhere in the Arab world, began with demands for  political freedom and an end to corruption. Assad’s response —  repression and an offer of limited reform — led to wider  demands for his removal.

Before the army stormed Deraa, the cradle of the Syrian  uprising, Assad had relied mainly on security forces and secret  police to confront the mass demonstrations.