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.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
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