At least 105 killed in Syria as deadline looms

BEIRUT: At least 105 Syrians were killed on Monday in violence across Syria, a day before a UN planned peace plan is scheduled to start taking effect, a monitoring group said.

The toll included 23 members of the security forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and eight rebel fighters, while the rest were civilians, according to figures provided by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

At least 35 Syrian civilians, including women and children, were killed in shelling that targeted the village of Latamna, in the country's central Hama province, the Observatory said.

Among the dead, 15 were under the age of 18 and eight were women, said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Observatory, describing the bombardment as a "new massacre by the Syrian regime."

The neighbouring village of Kfar Zeita was struck by army helicopters as regime forces clashed with rebels on the ground, the centre said.

In the province of Aleppo, 27 civilians were killed in shelling of the town of Tal Rifaat, where heavy clashes ensued between regime troops and rebels, the centre said.

Also in Aleppo province, rebel fighters besieged a checkpoint at the village of Salamah, on the border with Turkey, killing six members of the security and customs services, said the Observatory.

At least eight rebels who were wounded in the fighting fled across the frontier, said the Britain-based monitoring group.

Nine policemen were killed in clashes the neighbourhood of Sukari, in the northern city of Aleppo, the Observatory said.

But SANA state news agency gave a different version of the incident and a much higher toll.

It said 10 policemen and a civilians were killed and 11 others wounded, along with two civilians, when security forces came under fire at a demonstration in Sukari, in the northern city of Aleppo.

Police had gone to the area to provide protection for the rally, it added.

Four others were killed in attacks targeting patrols in the northern city, the Observatory said.

Six civilians were killed in the central city of Homs, and a woman was shot dead in Dabaa village, near the border town of Qusayr, while four others were killed in an explosion in the village of Bibila, outside Damascus, the Observatory said.

Eight rebel fighters were killed in the northern province of Idlib, it said.

The Observatory also reported that four soldiers were killed when an explosion struck a bus carrying troops near the village of Kawkab outside Damascus, while security forces launched a campaign of arrests in the capital's neighbourhood of Kfar Sousa.

In the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, regime forces stormed the village of Muhsen, while clashes took place in the neighbouring village of Al-Bou Amr, and gunfire was heard in the city of Deir Ezzor itself, the group said.

In Daraa, a civilian was shot dead in an ambush near the village of Saida, the Observatory said.

Almost 180 people, mostly civilians, were killed in weekend violence, ahead of the UN deadline of Tuesday for regime forces to cease fire, as agreed with special envoy Kofi Annan.

Under a peace deal brokered by the former UN chief, the Syrian army was scheduled to withdraw from protest cities on Tuesday, with a complete end to fighting set for 48 hours later.

But the truce appears in jeopardy after Damascus said it would only carry its side of the bargain if rebels first handed over written guarantees to stop fighting, a demanded rejected by rebel army chief Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad. (AFP)