Syrian security forces launched one of the deadliest attacks against civilians Friday in the small village of Tremseh, killing more than 220 women, children and men, according to reports from opposition members.
Members of the Syrian Expatriates Organization said they are “outraged and deeply saddened by the massacre.”
President Bashar al-Assad’s army used “heavy artillery, including helicopter gunships and tanks” in the assault, and then sent in loyal militia to execute civilians, the opposition group said.
“More than eighty people were killed when artillery shells landed on the mosque and school where residents were seeking shelter,” said Abu Ghazi, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Council of Hama in a statement to the Syrian organization. “Eyewitnesses then saw thirty large trucks filled with soldiers and miltiamen entering the village, along with tanks. No one was spared. Tremseh is a small village of only 7,000 people. More than 220 people were killed in the massacre.”
Ghazi said about 30 to 40 soldiers with the opposition army were in the village when the assault occurred.
“They tried to make safe-passage routes for residents to flee, but they were short on ammunition, and most of them were killed,” he said.
Sara A. Carter is The Washington Examiner’s national security correspondent. She can be reached at [email protected].
