AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian forces killed at least 11 civilians and wounded scores Sunday, a prominent human rights campaigner said, in a widening military push into central Syria to quell protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
Tanks, supported by troops, fired heavy machineguns in the towns of Talbiseh and Rastan and several villages near the city of Homs, residents said.
They are the latest population centres to come under army assault since a military crackdown to crush dissent against Assad’s autocratic rule began at the end of last month in southern Syria, the cradle of the 10-week uprising.
The killings occurred in and around the towns of Talbiseh and Rastan in rural Homs, human rights lawyer Razan Zaitouna said by telephone from Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain, said earlier it had the names of eight civilians killed.
“Soldiers are now all over Talbiseh. They are
Read More from the Article Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110529/wl_nm/us_syria
