At least five civilians were killed overnight as tanks attacked districts in the Syrian city of Homs during a crackdown on a growing campaign of civil disobedience against President Bashar al-Assad, residents said on Friday.

Homs, a city of 165 km (100 miles) north of Damascus, is the latest focus of a military campaign to crush four months or demonstrations against Assad’s autocratic rule.

The killings brought to 38 the number of civilians killed in intensified assaults on main residential districts of the city this week, residents and activists said.

Reuters