Defectors flee Rastan as Syrian army tanks occupy the city...

Today, after six days of fighting, the Syrian army retook control of Rastan, a city located 160 kilometers north of Damascus, the Syrian capital, where hundreds of defectors from the armed forces had taken refuge.
On Friday, the Syrian high command had dispatched 250 tanks to the city in order to crush the defectors’ resistance.
In fact, the defectors, members of the Khaled bin Al-Walid Battalion (named after the first Arab conqueror of Syria)  chose to leave the city after enduring heavy machine gun fire and shelling, facilitating the deployment of Syrian troops in Rastan.
Because of major reinforcements and the weapons used in Rastan by Assad’s gangs, we have decided to withdraw in order to better wage the struggle for liberty, the defectors declared in a statement, according to Al Jazeera.
The Syrian army has taken complete control of Rastan, and 50 tanks left on Sunday. Many houses have been destroyed there and the humanitarian situation is very bad. We have information that dozens of civilians were killed and buried in the gardens of houses as the army shelled the town, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Great Britain, said.
Obtaining precise information from witnesses in Rastan was difficult, the regime having cut all phone and cell phone services in the city…
On Sunday, however, protests were planned throughout Syria, particularly in university towns.
Today is the day of the universities uprising. Everyone knows the fear universities inspire in the regime, a post on The Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page said.
(the photograph above of a tank in the city of Rastan was found here)