Syria pressed on with a crackdown on anti-regiment dissent Sunday, dispatching troop reinforcements to the flashpoint province of Homs and security forces near Damascus, activists said. "Military reinforcements were sent to Rastan, deploying around the building housing military security, and others to Qusseir," a town on the border with Lebanon, they said.
The Syrian army had strengthened its presence in Qusseir on Saturday and previous days after many civilians tried to flee the area to escape the violence.
The deployments come a day after activists reported that security forces had killed 12 civilians in Qusseir, in the central province of Homs, and one more in Hama, further north. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which carried the toll said that the 12 civilians were killed in Qusseir during raids for people wanted by the authorities.
The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva has said the death toll from the crackdown on dissent since March 15 has risen to more than 2,700.
Also on Sunday, security forces were also dispatched in large numbers to the restive suburb of Douma, north-east of Damascus, activists said.
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