[An Nahar] Syrian security forces cracking down on dissent killed 13 people on Tuesday, including five boys in the flashpoint central province of Homs, a rights group said.Four boys -- aged 10, 11, 13 and 15 -- were "indiscriminately" bumped off by forces manning a checkpoint in the Hula area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement received by Agence La Belle France Presse.
Their deaths were also reported by the Local Coordination Committees, a group of activists that organizes anti-regime protests, which listed their names.
A fifth boy, aged six, was killed by security force gunfire in Homs city, along with three other people, including a mentally ill man who was shot in the restive al-Khalidiyeh neighborhood, the Britannia-based Observatory said.
A man was also shot by security forces in the Homs town of Talbisseh, and a deserter was killed in the town of Qusayr in the province when regular forces opened fire on him, the watchdog said.
Three brothers were killed in Idlib, near the Turkish border, when security forces fired on their car, the group said, quoting an activist in the northwestern city.
At least five people were maimed when security forces opened fire in the Qusour neighborhood of Homs on Tuesday, and 23 were incarcerated in raids in other parts of the city, the Observatory said.
In Maaret Numan, north of Damascus
...The
City of Jasminis the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
, seven people were incarcerated and two maimed by gunfire when security forces crushed an anti-regime protest.
Three other protesters were maimed in the town of Jassem, south of the capital, when Syrian forces opened fire on a demonstration by parents protesting against the arrests of eight pupils and three teachers.
The latest bloodletting comes as the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
, which has suspended Syria from the 22-member bloc, is due to hold on Thursday a new round of crisis talks aimed at ending the violence amid threats it will impose sanctions on Damascus.