Syria warned to implement peace plan

Bashar al-Assad has been warned to implement a UN-backed peace plan to end more than a year of violence in Syria, amid growing scepticism at the lack of international resolve to tackle the bloodiest crisis of the Arab spring.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, issued the threat at a conference of the Friends of the Syrian people in Istanbul on Sunday, but there was little evidence of coherent international action if he does not comply.

Syria announced last week that it had accepted a six-point plan being promoted by the former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, though Assad then demanded that the "armed terrorist groups" he says are supported by an Arab-western "conspiracy" disarm first. According to the UN, 9,000 people have been killed in Syria over the last year.

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Syrian town braces for military assault

Jisr al-Shughur residents flee to Turkish border, a day after government vowed retaliation for "deadly ambush".

Syria: 13 soldiers killed

Thirteen soldiers were killed in the central Syrian city of Homs today (9th May) in what authorities said was an ambush set by an "armed terrorist group."

Al-Jazeera TV reported they were killed in Homs, the third largest Syrian city, after troops backed by tanks were deployed there to quell anti-government protests.

Ten Syrian workers, on their way back from Lebanon to Damascus, were killed and three others wounded in an ambush by armed groups.

The assailants opened fire on them from a close distance on the Damascus-Homs highway.

Protests and ensuing violence in Syria have left more than 100 soldiers and security agents dead across the country, while protesters say hundreds of civilians have been killed.

Syria: leave home and risk being shot

Concern is mounting for tens of thousands of Syrians trapped in a military siege imposed on their towns as party of bloody crackdown on protests.

Troops and tanks remain the town of Deraa in the south and Douma, near the capital Damascus.

Snipers are said to be shooting civilians if they leave their homes.

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Syrian troops storm mosque

Syrian forces have continued their military crackdown in the flashpoint city of Deraa, seizing control of a mosque and shooting dead the son of its imam, witnesses say. Four people were reportedly killed as the southern city came under heavy shelling and gunfire on Saturday, as residents attempted to bury those killed a day earlier during Friday's "day of rage" protests against the government.

"We are totally besieged. It is a tragedy. Many houses are levelled by shelling from the army. For the past six days we haven’t seen an ambulance," one witness told Al Jazeera via telephone, as gunfire rang out in the background.

"We are keeping the bodies of the dead in refrigerator trucks, but many bodies are still lying in the streets. Many of the bodies are bloated and are reeking."

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Video: Syrian army bombard Deraa

This video was recorded by a Syrian citizen 25th April 2011 as Syrian artillery began pounding the city of Deraa

Syria: US orders partial embassy evacuation

The United States has ordered State Department family members and some non-emergency embassy personnel to leave Syria, citing the "uncertainty and volatility" of a crackdown on protesters.

The department also urged Americans to defer all travel to Syria and advised those already in the country to get out while commercial transportation is still available.

It said the embassy would remain open for limited services.

The move came as thousands of Syrian soldiers backed by tanks and snipers moved in to the southern city of Daraa and opened fire on civilians, killing at least 11 people, witnesses said.

Source: news.com.au

Syria: troops raid rebellious city

Thousands of soldiers backed by tanks and snipers moved in before dawn to the city where Syria's anti-government uprising began, causing panic in the streets when they opened fire indiscriminately on civilians and went house-to-house rounding up suspected protesters. At least 11 people were killed and 14 others lay in the streets - either dead or gravely wounded, witnesses said.

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