Syrians began the Muslim Ramadan fast in sombre mood today after troops stormed Hama, the scene of a 1982 massacre, in one of the bloodiest days of a five-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Rights activists said 80 civilians were killed in yesterday's tank-backed assault on the central Syrian city where Mr Assad's father crushed an armed Muslim Brotherhood revolt 29 years ago by razing neighbourhoods and killing many thousands of people.
Tanks shelled a northeastern district of Hama today, killing at least four civilians, two residents said.
"No one can leave the town because the troops and shabbiha (pro-Assad militia) are shooting at random with machineguns," a resident, who gave his name as Raed, told Reuters.
The European Union extended sanctions against Mr Assad's government today, imposing asset freezes and travel bans on five more people associated with a bloody crackdown on dissent.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton warned there could be more sanctions unless the Syrian leadership changed course.
She welcomed a planned emergency UN Security Council session on Syria, saying it was time the world body took "a clear stand on the need to end the violence".
Formal approval of new sanctions, drawn up last week, came after the 27-nation bloc accused Syria of an indiscriminate "massacre" of civilians in Hama.
Human Rights Watch, criticised countries including Russia, China, South Africa, India and Brazil for blocking United Nations sanctions.
Russia and China have previously opposed any condemnation of Syria in the council, where they hold veto powers. But Moscow signalled a change of tone on Monday.
"Moscow is seriously concerned by information about numerous casualties," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "The use of force against civilians and representatives of state structures is unacceptable and must cease."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined an international outcry over the violence.
"Chancellor Merkel condemns in the strongest of terms the Syrian government's action against its own civilian population," government spokesman Christoph Steegmans said.
"(She) explicitly urges President Assad to halt the violence against his own people immediately," he added.
Security forces, dominated by Mr Assad's minority Alawite sect, had besieged the Sunni Muslim city of 700,000 for nearly a month before yesterday's crackdown on the eve of Ramadan, a holy month when Muslims fast in daylight hours.
Many people flock to mosque prayers at night, occasions which protesters may use to launch more frequent protests.
In a letter to the military, Mr Assad reiterated that Syria was facing a foreign conspiracy to sow sectarian strife designed to "tear Syria into small statelets that compete to satisfy those who worked to slice them up."
"All of Syria's honourable people are sure that we will emerge stronger from the crisis," Assad said.
"They wanted to wreak sectarian strife that destroys everything. We managed to prevent sectarian strife and examine ourselves to find out the errors and treat them."
The 1982 Hama massacre instilled such fear that few Syrians were ready to challenge Assad family rule openly until this year, when many were inspired by the largely peaceful popular uprisings that toppled Arab autocrats in Egypt and Tunisia.
The Muslim Brotherhood accused the Alawite elite of waging sectarian warfare on Sunnis by attacking Hama.
Reuters