The Associated Press is reporting that dozens of security forces and soldiers were gunned down on Monday by suspected defectors of the Syrian Army. Activists informed reporters in Beirut, Lebanon of the ongoing rebellion against President Bashar Assad, whose been accused of killing more than 3,500 people in the past eight months, according to the United Nations.
Violence increased after the Arab League voted on Saturday to suspend Syria’s membership, a move supported by President Barack Obama who said the US “will work with our friends and allies to pressure the Assad regime and support the Syrian people as they pursue the dignity and transition to democracy that they deserve.”
While the Arab Spring melds into the Arab Winter for Syria, information on the bloody clashes is sporadically making its way to the Web in online videos. Those videos show the mutilated bodies and victims being beaten by Assad’s loyal forces.
The British-based Syrian Observatory on Human Right’s said “27 civilians were shot dead by security forces while 34 soldiers and 12 suspected army deserters were killed in clashes. Most of the victims were killed in the southern flashpoint province of Daraa.” The human right’s group lists detailed videos and up-to-date reports from Syria, in both English and Arabic.
Sara A. Carter is The Washington Examiner’s national security correspondent. She can be reached at [email protected].
