National Post

Tanks drive into the Jabal Al-Zawya area of Idlib, Syria on August 1, 2011 in this still image taken from video posted on a social media website. (Reuters)

Like father, like son as Syrian tanks roll into Hama
By sending tanks to crush dissent in the city of Hama, where memories of a 1982 bloodbath that killed 20,000 people are still vivid, embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has chosen a path of no return.

Threatening to repeat the massacre of Hama is a signal from the government to a growing legion of critics abroad it will not bow to calls for change that have swept across the Arab world, and to its people that it is prepared to wade through blood to stay in power.

Mr. Assad’s crackdown has triggered a torrent of international condemnation, perhaps best summed up by UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon Tuesday: “I believe that he lost all sense of humanity.”