THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The notoriously murderous brother of President Bashar al-Assad has led thousands of Syrian troops towards a mission to wreak vengeance on a rebellious northern town.
More than 100 residents of Jisr al-Shughur fled across the border to Turkey, while others sought sanctuary in the churches and mosques of nearby villages.
They escaped after receiving telephoned warnings that Maher al-Assad, the most feared man in Syria, was on his way at the head of a huge column of armour and troops.
Witnesses in the surrounding Idlib province said the convoy comprised "hundreds" of tanks and "thousands" of soldiers, who kicked up huge plumes of dust as they sped past, in a dramatic escalation of the government crackdown.
The advance came amid fears that a British attempt to persuade the UN Security Council merely to condemn the Syrian regime's violence would be blocked by Russia during talks in New York on Wednesday night.
Human rights activists appealed for urgent international pressure on the regime, warning that unless Maher al-Assad was halted, his well-known "thirst for blood" would lead to a massacre. (+ map) » | Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent, and Jon Swaine in New York | Wednesday, June 08, 2011
