Fourteen people were killed in gunfire in two Syrian towns on Thursday, an activist group said, in clashes between troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and gunmen believed to be army defectors. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said six soldiers and two army deserters were killed in fighting in the southern town of Haara, as well as one civilian.
In the northern province of Idlib, where Assad’s forces have carried out raids to arrest activists, army deserters and gunmen, five civilians were killed after troops backed by armoured vehicles rolled into the town of Binish firing machine guns, the group said. The United Nations says 2,900 people have been killed in Assad’s crackdown on protests which broke out in southern province of Deraa more than six months ago and spread across the country. Most of the violence in recent days has occurred in Idlib, Deraa and the city of Homs, where activists have reported clashes and gunfire since Sunday.
