Syria

[BRVoice]

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=236119


Lebanon backs Syria in rejecting Arab League statement
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND REUTERS
08/31/2011 12:08

Lebanese FM says League's declaration was in breach of agreements reached during foreign ministers' meeting and thus illegitimate.

Lebanon on Wednesday backed Damascus in rejecting the Arab League's call to end bloodshed in Syria, according to a report by DPA.

"Lebanon stands by brotherly Syria and its stance is clear in this regard,” Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour was quoted as telling Hezbollah-run radio station al-Nour.

Mansour said the Arab League's statement had not been agreed upon by all participating nations. “A consensus had been reached by the conferees not to issue a statement at the end of the meeting but some attending the meeting, breached it and issued it.”

“Such a stand by some of the Arab League's foreign ministers prompted the Syrian delegation to send a diplomatic note to the Arab League's general secretariat in which it noted that the released statement did not reflect the meeting's final agreement,” Mansour said, adding that Syria was right in doing so.

Arab states told Syria on Sunday to "resort to reason" and end months of bloodshed after some of the most intense protests in Damascus since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad.

Arab League foreign ministers also agreed to send Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby to Syria to push for political and economic reforms in the country ruled by Assad's family for 41 years.

A delegate to the League has said Arab governments would step up pressure on Assad at a summit on Saturday with a demand he end the bloody crackdown.

"There has been an agreement in talks held between the Arab states on ... pressuring the Syrian regime to completely stop the military operations and withdraw its forces," the delegate said.

"A clear message (will be sent) to the Syrian president that it has become unacceptable for the Arab states to stay silent on what is happening in Syria, especially following the Security Council's move to impose sanctions on Syrian officials and the condemnation from the United Nations Human Rights Council," said the delegate, who asked not to be named.

The Arab League's move came as Syria's closest ally Iran also said Damascus must listen to the "legitimate demands" of its people, adding, however, that any change in Syria's ruling system or a power vacuum in Damascus would be dangerous for the region.

The United Nations says at least 2,200 people have been killed since Assad sent in tanks and troops to crush the demonstrations that erupted in March after the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt were toppled by popular protests.

But despite growing international condemnation, the threat of more Western sanctions, and escalating economic pressures because of the impact on tourism and investment, Assad's rule shows no sign of imminent collapse.

The Arab League council stressed "the importance of ending bloodshed and to resort to reason before it is too late".

[American Patriot]

I would think that Israel will use all necessary force against chemical weapons... although in the past they haven't done so. (Hence Michael2's remarks that Israel isn't really as powerful as it lets on to be).

I think they are like everyone else. They JUST WANNA GET ALONG. So they go along to get along, and they don't use nukes (which would be severely frowned upon by the world).

Israel does NOT want to be the first guys to use nuclear weapons again. They are waiting on the US to do something like that in our own defense before the precedence can be (re)set.

The use of nuclear weapons (atomic) in WWII was the ONLY way to make the Japanese understand we would not be dominated by them. It may someday come to that again...."We will NOT be dominated by any other state or RELIGION"....

Where the hell are the people who should be thinking this way....

[BRVoice]

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=236257


Syrian forces raid Hama, official resigns in protest
By REUTERS
09/01/2011 06:41

AMMAN - Syrian forces raided houses in Hama for the second day on Thursday, residents said, hours after the city's attorney general declared on YouTube he had resigned in protest against bloody repression of street demonstrations.

Five months of protests have failed to unseat President Bashar Assad, who inherited power from his father and retains the loyalty of the core of his armed forces comprised mostly of members of the Alawite minority, the same sect as the president.

But demonstrators have been encouraged by the fall of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and rising international pressure on Syria, including a planned European Union embargo on the oil industry which would disrupt a vital source if income.

Residents of Hama said security police and state militiamen, known as shabbiha, raided houses overnight in the al-Sabouniya and al-Marabet districts, after troops backed by tanks arrested dozens in two other neighborhoods of the city the night before.

"The inhabitants are responding by shouting 'God is greatest' from windows and rooftops. Tonight there are more random raids as opposed to what the army did yesterday, which is go into specific houses looking for suspected activists on a list," Haidar, a local activist, told Reuters by phone.

Syrian forces mounted a 10-day operation in the city at the beginning of August and arrested hundreds of people.

The attorney-general of Hama said he had resigned because security forces killed 72 jailed protesters and activists at Hama's central jail on the eve of the military assault on the city on July 31. He said at least another 420 people were killed in the operation and were buried in mass graves in public parks.

"I, Judge Adnan Mohammad al-Bakkour, Hama province Attorney-General, declare that I have resigned in protest of the savage regime's practices against peaceful demonstrators," Bakkour said in a YouTube video released by activists.

An independent lawyer said the person in the video was Bakkour, who also denied reports by state media that he had been kidnapped by armed groups this week.

If confirmed, Bakkour's resignation would be the first high profile defection in the uprising against Assad. The United Nations says more than 2,000 civilians have been killed since protests began in March.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday that Assad had committed "irreparable" damage and that France and its partners would do everything possible to "help the Syrian people's aspirations to freedom and democracy".

Assad has repeatedly said he is fighting agents of what he calls a foreign plot to divide Syria. Authorities blame "armed terrorist groups" for most of the bloodshed and say more than 500 soldiers and police have been also killed.

Syrian authorities have expelled foreign media making it difficult to verify events in the country.

[BRVoice]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...116690,00.html


Syria reportedly stonewalling IAEA
Diplomats say Syria reneged on promise to cooperate with UN probe of its secret nuclear activities, claiming Damascus now says it cannot provide more information
Associated Press
Published: 09.01.11, 14:18 / Israel News

Diplomats say Syria has reneged on a promise to quickly cooperate with a United Nations' probe of its secret nuclear activities.

Damascus promised such cooperation in June. But the diplomats say it now has announced it cannot provide more information to challenge a UN assessment that it tried to build a plutonium producing reactor until late fall.

The diplomats asked for anonymity because their information is confidential. They said Thursday that UN nuclear chief Yukiya Amano will announce next month that he has been stymied in his Syria probe.

The International Atomic Energy Agency referred Syria to the UN Security Council in June for stonewalling IAEA investigative efforts. The UN nuclear agency says Syria tried to build a reactor meant to produce plutonium, which can be used to arm warheads.

[American Patriot]

Talking about Israel here, Michael. Not Assad...

[American Patriot]

I wouldn't kill people for protesting. Sorry, I wouldn't be "strict" in that sense of the word.

Egypt gets "paid"? Where's that money come from?

Show me some numbers and proof.

[BRVoice]

http://nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=306773


Sarkozy: Actions of Syria's Assad 'irreparable'
September 1, 2011

French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared on Wednesday that the actions of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad had caused "irreparable" damage to his rule and vowed to support his overthrow.

In his annual address to France's top diplomats, Sarkozy said France will do whatever is "legally" within its power in order to ensure a victory of Syria's pro-democracy movement over Assad's regime.

"The regime in Damascus wrongly believes it is safe from its own people," Sarkozy said, referring to Assad's ongoing battle to suppress pro-democracy street protests that have erupted in Syrian cities.

"What the Syrian president has done is irreparable. France, with its partners, will do all that is legally possible in order that the Libyan people's hopes for freedom and democracy are triumphant."

Sarkozy was making the speech on the eve of a Paris conference to mark the victory, with French and NATO military and diplomatic support, of Libya's pro-democracy revolution against Moammar Qaddafi's regime.

He made no threat to repeat France's Libyan military intervention in Syria, but made it clear Paris stands on the side of Arab peoples demanding freedom.

Meanwhile, in Syria, the crackdown continued, activists reported, with security forces carrying out arrests and setting fire to homes.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 16 people were arrested in Houle, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Homs, where the authorities sparked anger on Monday as they returned the bodies of 13 people arrested in early August.

The British-based Observatory said 360 civilians and 113 members of the security forces and army were killed during protests during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and prayer which came to an end on Tuesday.

The civilians included 25 people under 18, 14 women and 28 who died in detention or under torture, mainly in the central province of Homs.

-AFP/NOW Lebanon

[BRVoice]

http://nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=306763


US says Syria retains control over chemical weapons
September 1, 2011

The United States said Tuesday that Syria retains control over its chemical weapons stockpile following reports of US and Israeli fears that militants could seize them during anti-government protests.

"We have long called on the Syrian government to give up its chemical weapons arsenal and to join the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it has not yet done," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said.

"That said, we do believe that Syria's chemical stockpile remains under government control and that there is no change in the lockdown status of those weapons," Nuland added.

"Syria has a stockpile of nerve agent and some mustard gas, and we will continue to work closely with like-minded countries to ensure that there is no proliferation of that material as well," she said.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the United States and Israel were monitoring Syria's suspected arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, fearing that terror groups could take advantage of the protests against President Bashar al-Assad to obtain chemical agents and long-range missiles.

Citing unnamed officials from both countries, the newspaper said US intelligence services believe Syria's nonconventional weapons programs include significant stockpiles of mustard gas, VX and Sarin gas, along with the missile and artillery systems to deliver them.

"We are very concerned about the status of Syria's WMD, including chemical weapons," the paper quoted Israel's Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, as saying.

"Together with the US administration, we are watching this situation very carefully."

Current and former US officials said Syria has at least five sites where it produces chemical-weapons agents, including mustard gas, Sarin and VX, The Journal noted.

But the officials said these facilities are difficult to track as they are spread across Syria, centered in such cities as Damascus, Hama, Latakia and Aleppo, the report said.


-AFP/NOW Lebanon

[BRVoice]

http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/30/55389459.html


Russia suggests settlement plan for Syria
Aug 30, 2011 15:19 Moscow Time

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has visited Baghdad to hand over a message from President Dmitry Medvedev to Syrian head of state Bashar al-Assad. According to the Kremlin press service, the Russian side places major emphasis on the necessity of an immediate and complete end to violence from whatever side.

The Russian president’s envoy urged the Syrian government to start taking specific steps and implementing the declared reforms. It was stressed at the same time that the opposition should not deviate from taking part in the dialogue with the government. This is the only way to restore civil peace and consent, the Kremlin believes. Moscow voiced support of Syria’s course for political and economic change.

Following negotiations with Mikhail Bogdanov, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad referred to Russia’s stand as balanced, unlike that of the West which only envisages pressure on the Syrian authorities. Dmitry Medvedev’s message provided the basis for Russia’s own version of a draft resolution of the UN Security Council. It has already evoked a positive response from Russian BRICS partners - Brazil, China, India and South Africa. Moscow’s diplomatic initiative became an alternative to the resolution presented by the US and EU member states, which, according to Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin, is “totally non-objective and one-sided”. Adopting such a document may encourage the Syrian opposition’s radical groups to intensify efforts in their desire to oust the government, the Russian diplomat said. “We agree that the Security Council must not remain aloof, but we believe that it is necessary to act in a positive way,” Churkin said, ruling out the possibility of developing a single text based on the two draft resolutions. The diplomat compared this to intercrossing creatures from different planets. The resolution must stimulate dialogue and political compromise instead of using the language of sanctions and aggravating the country’s inner conflict. However, the UN ambassador said, if the West has some constructive ideas, Russia is ready to include them in the text of its resolution.

The stand taken by Moscow is aimed at a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis and urges active discussions. The international community should have an accurate position to avert the repetition of the Libyan scenario in Syria. It is also necessary to consider the situation around Syria itself, according to Orientalist expert at the Institute of Strategic Assessment and Analysis Sergey Demidenko:

"There is a very dangerous point in the entire Syrian game, namely the security of Israel. If Assad’s rule collapses, the security of its northern territories will become a matter of dispute. Serious consultations are therefore under way to decide on further actions, because the main thing is not to make the cup run over. Unlike Libya, the Syrian situation requires careful actions in order to prevent Islamists from assuming power," Sergey Demidenko said.

It is therefore impossible to speak the language of ultimatums when dealing with Damascus, even though EU countries are already going to take a step to that effect and declare an embargo on Syrian oil supplies in the next few days, which looks like nothing but blackmail. Syria’s incumbent leaders should not be taken as incapable of conducting a dialogue. The only civil war panacea is inner dialogue and the end of violence.

[BRVoice]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...116829,00.html


EU to seek ban of sale of Syria oil to Europe
Published: 09.01.11, 18:02 / Israel News

The European Union will seek a ban on sale of Syrian oil to the 27-member bloc, part of new efforts to step up pressure on President Bashar Assad's regime, Britain's foreign secretary said Thursday. Britain and others are also working on a new United Nations Security Council resolution against Syria, William Hague told reporters on the sidelines of an international meeting in Paris on Libya.

Hague said there was "a real prospect that we will agree sanctions on the sale of oil into the European Union," and that the plan would be discussed at a weekend meeting in Poland. (AP)

[BRVoice]

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/...-says-nothing/


Our Ambassador In Syria Attacked By Thugs, But Obama Says Nothing
By Christian Whiton
Published September 01, 2011
| FoxNews.com

Pro-regime thugs in Syria harassed and set upon the U.S. ambassador just over a week ago. The event was not publicly reported in Washington until Tuesday, when a journalist discovered a propaganda video exploiting the attack.

The episode reveals an American diplomat with more fortitude and canny than his boss in the White House.

U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford has distinguished himself by symbolically standing with the brutalized people of Syria as they seek freedom from the dictator Assad. Ford has done so through a radical and seldom-used diplomatic technique in the annals of the U.S. Foreign Service: showing up and talking to ordinary people.

Ford’s July visit to the city of Hama, where two generations of Assads have filled the streets with the blood of dissenters, won him the ire of the regime.

His welcome there was perhaps the most heartfelt and significant for a U.S. ambassador since Mark Palmer joined anti-communist protestors in the streets in Hungary as they brought down that regime in 1989.

Ford has since calmly defied regime orders to stay put.

On August 23, Ford was observing a peaceful sit-in by Syrian lawyers opposed to Assad and waiting to see if regime supporters would attack them. Thugs swarmed him and tried to envelope him a in banner with a pro-regime slogan. He was ushered away by U.S. Diplomatic Security personnel who performed admirably.

The event is outrageous because it amounts to a regime-condoned attack on the U.S. president’s envoy to Damascus. Syria is a police state and U.S. officials, especially the top one, are closely monitored by Assad’s men. It is difficult to believe that an attack on the U.S. ambassador would occur without at least a nod from them.

Even more suspect, the attack was filmed and rapidly worked into a pro-Assad propaganda piece. It was released through media controlled by a regime crony. Assad maintains total control over Syria’s press. So one can conclude this was a regime performance through and through.

Dissidents and pro-freedom protestors often say how support from the outside world—and especially the USA—is helpful to their causes. Just knowing someone cares of their plight, and would notice if they disappeared, can be a shot in the arm. A rarity in the Foreign Service, Ambassador Ford should be commended for sticking with the Syrian people and having guts.

The same cannot be said of his boss man in the White House. President Obama was on Martha’s Vineyard vacationing the day his envoy was attacked. The president did not utter a word of protest in public, nor has he since the incident. It does not appear his administration has taken even the minimal but useful step of summoning the Syrian ambassador for an explanation.

When the story first came to light yesterday in Washington, an unnamed State Department official finally described it as “a weak, banal, laughable attempt by the Syrian thugs to have the international community focus on anything but the real story…”

That assessment would be perfectly apt, except the episode was neither “weak,” “banal,” nor “laughable.”

Furthermore, the paean to the fabled “international community” strikes at the heart of the Obama problem.
From the beginning of his presidency, President Obama has refused to see as his job advancing U.S. interests abroad—a goal generally held by his forty-three predecessors. Were this the case, defining the objective would be simple enough: helping the good guys or the lesser of two evils—depending on whether one is an optimist or pessimist on the Arab Spring—in their quest to topple foes like the terrorist-sponsoring Assad regime.

But instead, Mr. Obama’s priority remains on not being seen advancing U.S. interests. Hence his apology tours through the Middle East regretting supposed American sins dating from the 1950s, and having a florid, humanitarian-only rationale for war in Libya (that commanders luckily wiggled around). It also permeates his administration’s statements implying the United States is but one among harmonious equals in an “international community” that all wants the same thing.

This delusion is a comfort to those who instinctively dislike American power and coalitions of the willing that group governments by values instead of alphabetical order, but it does nothing to help those fighting for freedom in Syria and elsewhere. The power of outsiders to help them is not infinite. But free and confident nations expressing support can be a welcome help—as Ambassador Ford has demonstrated in Syria.

You can call it smart power. Or call it political warfare. Or call it nuance. Or even call it diplomacy. But whatever you call it, President Obama doesn’t know it when he sees it—and evidently appreciates it not.


Christian Whiton is a former U.S. State Department senior adviser and is a principal at DC International Advisory. Whiton writes frequently for Fox News Opinion. Follow him on Twitter @WhitonDCIA.

[American Patriot]

Bears REPEATING:

Our Ambassador In Syria Attacked By Thugs, But Obama Says Nothing

[American Patriot]

If Assad can't handle the Islamists like his Dad, what makes you think he has the 'stones' to face Israel?

Even in his Dad's day, the border between Syria and Israel was quieter than the border between Texas and Oklahoma...

Fact is if I was in Assad's shoes, i'd be alot stricter against the Brotherhood behind all this, and fuck what the World would think. And so would you Rick. It's just that Baathist Syria doesn't like Israel...Nobody in the Middle East does, it's just some countries get PAID to be 'nice' to them, like Egypt. For now....I assure you, all these 'Arab Spring' countries including a post-Assad Syria will be more anti-Israel than before.

It isn't funny at all, you DID mention Egypt.

[BRVoice]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...116953,00.html


Britain, US call for tougher stance on Syria
Published: 09.02.11, 00:57 / Israel News

The US and Britain called for a tougher stance over Syria's bloody crackdown on protesters Thursday, demanding tough new international sanctions on President Bashar Assad and his regime. In a round of talks on the sidelines of a Paris summit on Libya, the US, Britain and France discussed plans to escalate international action aimed at halting violence which the United Nations estimates has seen 2,200 people killed since mid-March.

"President Assad's brutality against unarmed citizens has outraged the region, the world and most importantly the Syrian people themselves," US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters in Paris. (AP)

[BRVoice]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...117094,00.html


Syrian forces kill 6 on first Friday after Ramadan
Published: 09.02.11, 16:06 / Israel News

Security forces killed at least six protesters when they fired at demonstrations that swelled across Syria on the first Friday after the month-long Ramadan fasting period, encouraged by increasing international pressure on President Bashar al-Assad, activists and residents said.

The killings, they said, occurred in the Damascus suburbs of Irbin and Hamouriya, the eastern tribal province of Deir al-Zor, and rural Homs. (Reuters)

[BRVoice]

http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=307223


Jarrah: Syrian regime’s fall is ‘inevitable’
September 2, 2011

Future bloc MP Jamal al-Jarrah told New TV on Friday that the “fall of the Syrian regime has become inevitable” because it has “[wasted] all the chances it was given [to resolve the crisis].”

Jarrah also questioned why the Syrian regime has not fulfilled its promise to withdraw its armies from the country’s cities.

The Syrian regime withdraw its army from Hama and then deployed it to Homs and Deir az-Zour and “killed 200 people,” the MP also said.

Commenting on the Future Movement’s relation with Grand Mufti of the Lebanese Republic Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani, Jarrah said “there is no war against Qabbani,” in response to Al-Akhbar’s headline “The War on the Mufti.”

He also said that Qabbani has repeatedly voiced his concern over national issues, including that of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Jarrah added, however, that Qabbani’s meeting with Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali “on the day of Hama’s massacre does not harmonize with Dar al-Fatwa.”

“Dar al-Fatwa must have had a clear and frank position on the massacres committed in Hama.”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s troops have cracked down on protests against almost five decades of Baath Party rule which broke out mid-March, killing over 2,200 people and triggering a torrent of international condemnation.

Receiving a Hezbollah delegation when the STL’s indictment was issued was also “not within the context of Dar al-Fatwa,” he added.

“Dar al-Fatwa is a spiritual institute…not a state institution that [follows] a specific political system. It is for all the Lebanese people.”

Jarrah also called on the mufti to call on Hezbollah to hand over the suspects indicted for the murder of Rafik Hariri.

Four Hezbollah members have been indicted by the STL. However, the Shia group strongly denied the charges and refused to cooperate with the court.

Qabbani met separately with Ali and a Hezbollah delegation in August.

-NOW Lebanon

[BRVoice]

http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=307218


France to “develop” contacts with Syrian opposition
September 2, 2011

France said Friday it planned to boost its contacts with the opposition in Syria to try and bring an end to the bloody crackdown on anti-regime protests.

"We will develop our contacts with the opposition," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told a French ambassadors' meeting. "We will not let up on our efforts to bring an end to the repression and to secure a democratic dialogue."

Juppe did not elaborate on how France would boost its contacts with Syrian dissidents, who in Istanbul last month established a "national council" to coordinate a campaign to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Assad's regime has defied Western sanctions over its deadly crackdown on dissent, blaming "armed terrorist gangs" for the violence.

The United Nations says that more than 2,200 people have been killed since the beginning of near-daily protests across the country against Assad's regime in mid-March.

-AFP/NOW Lebanon

[BRVoice]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...117244,00.html


2 killed in new Syrian raid on village
Published: 09.03.11, 14:07 / Israel News

Activists say Syrian security forces cracking down on a growing uprising have killed two people after storming a northern village.

They said troops raided a village near the town of Maaret al-Numan in the northern province of Idlib Saturday. (AP)

[BRVoice]

http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=307561


Russia disapproves of EU oil embargo on Syria
September 3, 2011

Russia disapproves of the European Union oil embargo imposed on Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday, the Interfax news agency reported.

"We have always said that unilateral sanctions will do no good. This destroys a partnership approach to any crisis," Lavrov was quoted as telling journalists at a regional summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

"We are against unilateral sanctions. Sanctions rarely solve anything in general," Lavrov added, reaffirming Russia's position.

The European Union on Friday adopted a ban on crude oil imports from Syria to take effect on Saturday, depriving President Bashar al-Assad's regime of a vital source of cash.

Moscow has consistently opposed Western calls for sanctions on Syria and along with China has boycotted UN Security Council talks on a Western proposal to impose sanctions on Assad, instead calling for him to implement reforms.

Russia has also said it is maintaining arms sales to long-term partner Syria despite pressure from the United States, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telling Moscow to "get on the right side of history" and end supplies.

Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov said after talks in Damascus on Monday that there was no change in Russia's policy towards Syria.


-AFP/NOW Lebanon

[BRVoice]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-Ne...6931315148953/


Syrian rebels ambush military bus
Published: Sept. 4, 2011 at 11:09 AM

MHADRA CITY, Syria, Sept. 4 (UPI) - A rebel ambush killed six Syrian soldiers and three civilians near Mhadra City Sunday amid scattered clashes between troops and insurgents, officials say.

Syria's official Sana news agency said "an armed terrorist group" opened fire with machine guns on a bus carrying military and civilian personnel from a military maintenance center.

Another 17 passengers were wounded.

Sana said the guerrillas were cornered after pursuit on the Hama-al-Ghab highway and three were killed. Weapons and explosives were reportedly found in their stolen pickup truck.

The ambush came on the same day that Syrian security forces killed three anti-government protesters in Idlib province, a rebel organization told the BBC.

The Local Coordination Committees told the BBC troops sealed off the hospital in the area to prevent wounded protesters from receiving medical treatment.


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