Many had expected that after the signing of the Arab monitor protocol by Damascus, there will be a decline in the intensity of the regime's killing machine. However, that did not happen. In the past two days, more than 200 people were killed, according to figures provided by human rights organizations.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights conveyed that more than 80 civilians were killed Tuesday afternoon after they were shot dead by Syrian security forces in different parts of the country. In addition, 14 members of the security forces were killed in an ambush by deserters in the south of the country.
According to the reports, 23 civilians were killed and others wounded in the town of Kafr Owaid in the province of Idlib. Seven civilians died in the neighborhood of Baba Amr in Homs, while 14 security members killed in the southern Dara'a province in an ambush by defectors.
It seems there has been intensified fighting between regular soldiers and dissidents during the past two days. On Monday, more than 60 Syrian dissident soldiers were killed as they tried to flee their posts in the province of Idlib, according to the Observatory.
The United Nations recently announced that the number of deaths in Syria amounted to more than 5000 people during the nine months of the crackdown by government forces against opponents.
In the meantime, in a show of force the Syrian army conducted air and sea drills including live fire exercises designed to test the readiness to repel "any aggression against the territory of the country," the state news agency announced.
