Syria: 140 dead in most violet attacks yet

Syrian soldiers killed nearly 140 people yesterday in one of the deadliest bouts of violence since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began four months ago,  AFP reports.

The army shelled Hama, Syria's fourth-largest city, killing at least 113 people there, bringing the death toll of protestors up to 1,950, according to Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Damascus- based Arab Organization for Human Rights, and Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, Bloomberg News reports.

The violence occurred  just before the start of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and prayer, AFP reports.

The regime “has been very frightened by Ramadan’s onset,” Joshua Landis, a Syria specialist who directs the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, said in a telephone interview, AFP reports.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is “deeply concerned” by the reports of killings in Syria, his office said in a statement yesterday.

The U.S., France, Turkey and the U.K. joined Ban in condemning the violence.

The uprising is expected to intensify during Ramadan.

“The unfolding crackdown is going to fuel people’s anger more, there is no doubt about it,” Landis said. “Clearly the regime believes they have got to use more force and they have to get on top of this before it expands into more towns and gets beyond the capabilities of the security forces to be in all places at all times.”

U.S. President Barack Obama said he was “appalled” by the Syrian government’s “use of violence and brutality against its own people, Al Jazeera reports.

He said the reports out of Hama “demonstrate the true character of the Syrian regime,” adding that Assad has “shown he is completely incapable and unwilling to respond to the legitimate grievances of the Syrian people.”

Syria will be a “better place when a democratic transition goes forward,” Obama said in a statement issued by the White House.

“In the days ahead, the United States will continue to increase our pressure on the Syrian regime, and work with others around the world to isolate the Assad government.”

U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was “appalled” by the assault. “Assad is mistaken if he believes that oppression and military force will end the crisis,” he said.