Several Dead as Clashes and Shelling Shake Syria
Violence killed at least seven people in Syria on Thursday morning after one of the bloodiest days of the 15-month revolt left nearly 150 dead, a human rights watchdog said.
Four people were killed in the Damascus suburb of Douma when troops surrounded the town, meeting fierce resistance from rebel fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Clashes also broke out between the army and rebels in the suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, scene of a deadly June 14 suicide bombing which damaged a revered Shiite shrine, the Britain-based watchdog said.
In Deir Ezzor in the east, a child killed in shelling was one of two people who died amid fierce fighting between rebels and troops backed by helicopters in several neighborhoods of the city.
Three rebel fighters were killed in clashes with troops and militiamen in the central province of Homs, and a fourth was killed in northwestern province of Idlib, the Observatory said.
South of Damascus, one civilian was killed and dozens wounded in shelling by government forces of the town of Harak, it added.
The deaths came after at least 149 people, 77 of them civilians, were killed in violence on Wednesday, making it one of the bloodiest days of the uprising, the Observatory said.
The bloodshed sparked overnight demonstrations in a string of cities, including the capital Damascus and the second-largest city Aleppo, the Local Coordination Committees, which organize protests on the ground, said.
In one video uploaded to Youtube, which the LCC said was filmed in the Rukneddin district of Damascus, dozens of protesters are seen raising the flag of the revolution and shouting: "Come come, oh freedom!"
In another clip, which the LCC said was filmed in the southern city of Daraa, dozens of demonstrators are seen chanting: "It is better to die than live without dignity!"
Source: Agence France Presse
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