Affrontements à حمص Homs, حلب Alep, الديرة Deraa et دمشقي Damas : plus de 20 morts – 3 novembre 2011

At least 20 dead in Syria clashes

CNN

November 3, 2011 —

(CNN) — Syrian troops killed at least 20 civilians and rounded up more suspected anti-government protesters Thursday, a day after the government pledged to end the months-long clampdown, opposition groups said.

Syrian aircraft buzzed the besieged neighborhood of Baba Amer in the northwestern city of Homs, where witnesses reported fighting between government troops and deserters who had sided with opposition groups. The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition group, said 19 people were killed in Homs and three others in Idlib, near the Turkish border, while the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 20 in Homs.

Gunfire could still be heard in some neighborhoods in Homs around nightfall, the Syrian Observatory reported. The Local Coordination Committees also reported arrests of student demonstrators in Aleppo, Daraa and Damascus, where it said several homes had been raided by security forces.

Meanwhile, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that 13 soldiers and police officers had been killed fighting « armed terrorist groups » in Hama, Homs and Idlib. CNN cannot independently verify the reports from either side, since Syria’s government has limited access to international news organizations.

The latest developments reports come a day after the government of embattled President Bashar al-Assad agreed to an Arab League plan to bring an end to the crisis in Syria. The government agreed to pull its army off the streets, release people jailed since the protests began in March and allow international journalists and Arab League observers to monitor the moves, Arab League ministers announced Wednesday. Read more…