Tanks block access to western Syrian city, activist says - 26th Sept 2011

The sound of heavy weapons and machine gun fire echoed through the night in the restive city of Al-Rastan after a large number of tanks moved in to block key roads and areas of town, an opposition activist said Monday.

"Several tanks have been in place since May at each of the entrances of the city, but Sunday a great number of tanks began blocking the agriculture parts of the town and the surrounding villages and even took positions inside Rastan," said the activist, a member of the opposition Local Coordinating Committees who could not be identified because of security concerns.

Elsewhere in Syria, security forces captured and killed two activists in Qosair, a town in Homs province, according to the Local Coordinating Committees, the activist group that has been organizing anti-government protests.

Students also continued their protests against the rule of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, chanting, "No teaching, no learning until the fall of the regime" in Homs, Daraa and Damascus provinces.

In Al-Rastan, more than 50 tanks were in and around the city in the northwestern part of Homs province, said the activist, whose claims could not be independently verified. Read More