That was Hama. Actually, it wasn't that medieval. As I understand it, he told the inhabitants to leave and that anyone remaining in the city after a given deadline would be considered a potential hostile. Then he demolished big chunks of the city where the rebel strongholds were located, using artillery. Pretty much what happened in WWII, except he also tortured and killed a lot of the male inhabitants captured after he sent his troops in to mop up, on the reasonable assumption that many of them were Muslim Brotherhood supporters or fighters. The Wikipedia entry has a pretty good account of the incident, including a quote from Patrick Seale, the foremost British historian specializing in the history of what is now Syria down through the ages.
Thanks for the info.