Syrian troops killed three people and wounded several others yesterday in the border town of Tall Kalakh, a witness said, as the death toll rose despite a presidential no-shoot order and offer of dialogue.
Hundreds of Syrians, most of them women and children, fled across the border from Tall Kalakh for Lebanon yesterday, a local official said.
“More than 500 people have crossed since 7am, most of them women and children,” town councilor Mahmud Khazaal said.
The assault came a day after thousands of people took to the streets after the main weekly Muslim prayers for anti-regime -protests in the town, which lies about 160km north of Damascus.
At least five people were killed on Friday, activists said, despite an order from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for security forces not to open fire on protesters and an offer of dialogue.
Friday’s bloodshed cast a pall over the government’s pledges to forge ahead with reforms in Syria, which has been gripped by two months of deadly protests, and triggered fresh condemnation from Western governments.
The US expressed renewed outrage and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe blamed Assad for the deadly repression.
Britain summoned the Syrian ambassador in coordination with other European nations, warning of “further measures” if it failed to stop the crackdown.
Three people were shot dead during protests in the central city of Homs and two others were killed as they emerged from a mosque in Damascus, activists said.
Security sources also fired warning shots on Friday to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters in Daraa, scene of a massive 10-day military operation that ended last week.
Friday rallies also swept the northern, mostly Kurdish regions of Qamishli, Derbassiye and Amuda, activists said.
Several dissidents were -arrested on Friday in Homs and in and around Damascus, said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the -London--based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Syrian Information Minister Adnan Mahmud said the army started on Friday to pull out of the coastal province of Banias, where it deployed in force last week.
“A general national dialogue will start in the coming days in every governorate,” he told reporters, adding that Assad had already met delegates from several regions.
“The president has heard their grievances and their opinions about what is going on in Syria,” the minister said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)