Eleven Syrians killed in explosion, violence

Supporters of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) gathered in the Khalidiya neighborhood of the flashpoint city of Homs last week

Eleven civilians were killed in Syria yesterday, including eight who died in an explosion in the northwestern province of Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“Eight civilians were killed by a device that exploded as their minibus passed on the road between Idlib and Aleppo,” in the north, said the Britain-based rights group in a statement received in Nicosia, without specifying the identity of the assailants.
In the same province, an activist was killed by a sharp shooter, while at a shop in the town of Khan Sheikhun.
And in Homs, a flashpoint of the protest movement against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, troops travelling in armoured vehicles in Al-Qahira Street “opened fire arbitrarily, killing a civilian and wounding nine others.”
Security forces also killed a civilian in the Homs neighbourhood of Al-Bayada, the same source said.
In Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, they raided the university campus after a rally organised the previous night by students, shattering furniture and arresting some of the protesters.
Assad’s regime is facing increased external and internal pressure with UN Chief Ban Ki-moon prodding the Security Council to take action on the Syrian crisis and military and political foes organising their work more closely.
The regime has waged a fierce crackdown on dissent since protests erupted in March, dispatching troops and militias to protest hotbeds in a bid to silence the opposition.

Damascus rejects Arab troops

Meanwhile Syria’s government yesterday rejected the possibility of the Arab League deploying troops in the unrest-swept country as suggested by the emir of Qatar.
“Syria rejects the statements of officials of Qatar on sending Arab troops to worsen the crisis... and paves the way for foreign intervention,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
In an interview with US television aired at the weekend, Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani said he favoured sending Arab troops to Syria to “stop the killing” that has claimed more than 5,000 lives since March when the unrest started, according to UN estimates.