Syrian troops killed at least 38 people in a tank assault on the eastern city of Deir Al-Zor on Sunday, activists said, despite a direct UN appeal to President Bashar Al Assad to stop using military force against civilians.

The assault on Deir Al-Zor, capital of an oil-producing province, began one week after Assad sent the army to seize control of Hama, focal point of nearly five months of protest against his autocratic rule.

In a separate tank-led attack on villages in the Houla plain north of the central city of Homs, security forces killed at least 13 people, activists said.

"The numbers of casualties are escalating by the hour," activist Suhair al-Atassi, a member of the Syrian Revolution Coordinating Committee, said by telephone from Damascus.
Assad defended the army campaign against what Damascus says is an armed insurrection.

"Dealing with outlaws and convicts who stage highway robbery and seal off cities and terrorise the population is a national duty," state news agency SANA quoted him as telling Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour.

Syria has barred most independent media since the start of the uprising against Assad, making it hard to verify accounts from residents, activists and authorities.

An Assad adviser said neighbouring Turkey, which condemned the attack on Hama as an atrocity, should not meddle in Syrian affairs and warned Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu he would get a frosty reception when he visits Damascus on Tuesday.

Under heavy gunfire 

"Early this morning columns of army tanks and bulldozers, under cover of heavy rounds of gunfire, stormed into the western and northern entrances of the city and dismantled barricades set up by residents," a Deir Al-Zor resident said.

Another resident said tanks and armoured personnel carriers had deployed in the centre of town. "Shells are now hitting al-Joura district," he said, the sound of machinegun and tank fire echoing in the background. "No one dares go out in the street near the main square.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told Al-Assad he was alarmed by the escalating violence and demanded he rein in the army.

Ban "urged the president to stop the use of military force against civilians immediately", the UN's media office said.

Turkish message

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who forged close ties with Assad but has been sharply critical of the crackdown, said his foreign minister, Davutoglu, would visit Damascus on Tuesday. "Our message will be decisively delivered," he said.

Assad's adviser Bouthaina Shaaban hit back on Sunday, criticising Ankara for failing to condemn "the savage murders of civilians and military men by armed terrorist groups".

Arab League expresses ‘growing concern’

The Arab League, in a response to the escalating bloodshed in Syria, joined the international wave of criticism on Sunday, calling on authorities to stop acts of violence against protesters, the Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby issued a statement expressing "growing concern and strong distress over the deteriorating security conditions in Syria due to escalating violence and military operations in Hama and Deir Al-Zor and other areas of Syria", QNA said.

Elaraby's statement was one of the strongest made by an Arab leader since the start of the Syrian uprising, as most governments had stayed silent apparently fearing the power of the protests would move to other Arab states.

Elaraby, who took office in May, started his new job by visiting Syria but declined to give details of a meeting with Assad.

In his statement that was also carried out by the Egyptian news agency MENA, Elaraby said: "There is still a chance for the reforms that were announced by President Bashar Al-Assad to be accomplished", and called on the Syrian authorities to "stop all acts of violence" immediately.

He also called on the Syrian political powers and government to engage in serious talks, adding that the Arab League was ready to help to get Syria out of its crisis.

Elaraby's predecessor Amr Moussa said only that he was worried about the clashes in Syria and signalled division in the 22-member body over how to proceed.

Gulf Arab states broke months of silence on Saturday to express concern about over the violence in Syria. Syrian authorities say gunmen have killed 500 police and soldiers since March. – Reuters