It is a measure of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s desperation that he was prepared to defile Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, with a bloody assault on Hama, a city that embodies resistance to his despotic regime. After shelling the city of 800,000 for three days, tanks, armoured cars and troops stormed it on Wednesday as terrified residents fled barrages of gunfire.

Chillingly, democracy activist Saleh Hamawi declared “it’s 1982 all over again.” He was referring to an infamous massacre in Hama by former president Hafez Assad, who killed 10,000 or more. Earlier, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon lamented that the regime had “lost all sense of humanity.”

Read the complete story(Some news sites require registration)