14 killed as Syrian army storms new towns

Syrian forces killed at least 14 people on Thursday, with the army storming two more towns in pursuit of anti-regime protesters, defying Western calls for an end to violence after a "chilling" UN Security Council briefing. The killings occurred soon after columns of tanks entered the town of Qusayr in the central province of Homs early on Thursday, sending residents fleeing into the fields, rights activist there said.
"The security forces opened fire on residents who tried to flee to the Al-Basateen district, killing at least five" one activist told AFP in Nicosia, adding later that the death toll rose to eleven. Another activist said dozens of people had been wounded, adding that the army "has closed entrances to the town," while security forces made around "one hundred arrests", the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
Three other people were shot dead by security forces in the eastern oil hub of Deir Ezzor's Al-Matar neighbourhood and several houses were torched, the Britain-based rights group said. Tanks, troop carriers and buses transporting security force members also sped into the town of Saraqeb in the north-western Idlib province bordering Turkey soon after dawn Thursday, the Observatory reported.
"Shooting was heard soon afterwards," it said, adding that security were "raiding homes and making arrests, rounding up more than 100 people, including 35 children." "Army troops are smashing the doors of shops owned by activists in search of them, and they have cut off electricity in the town," where anti-regime protests have been held nightly, said the Observatory. On Wednesday, security forces shot dead 18 people in the Baba Amro neighbourhood of the city of Homs with more than 100 wounded "some in critical condition," the group said.
It said residents were fleeing for safety while heavy machine-gun fire rattled Baba Amro well into Thursday morning. The group also reported that security forces arrested 27 activists Wednesday in the town of Salamiyeh and nearby villages, in the province of Deir Ezzor, including prominent dissident and protest organiser Hassan Zahra. The latest assaults come after UN Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco briefed the Security Council Wednesday about events in Syria in the week since the council called for an "immediate" halt to the violence. Taranco, who spoke behind closed doors, was quoted as saying there had been no letup in the deaths of protesters while UN officials had met Syrian diplomats to try to get accurate information.