14 killed, Syria accused of 'crimes against humanity'

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14 killed, Syria accused of 'crimes against humanity'

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At least 14 people, most of them civilians, were killed in violence in the restive city of Homs.

12 November,2011 05:10 am

At least 14 people were killed in violence in Syria on Friday, most of them civilians in the restive city of Homs, as Human Rights Watch accused the regime of crimes against humanity.The Arab League, meanwhile, held a preparatory session in Cairo on the eve of a meeting of foreign ministers to discuss Syrias failure to respect proposals to end the crisis.Opposition leaders have been pressing the League to suspend Syrias membership over the crisis which the UN says has cost more than 3,500 lives since protests against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in mid-March.Eight people were killed in Homs in the latest violence, including four civilians shot by security forces in Al-Bayada neighbourhood and a 63-year-old man shot by a sniper, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.Residents in Homs also found the corpse of a young man who went missing the previous day and the bodies of two others, the Observatory said, without saying when they were killed.The deaths in Homs came amid mass anti-regime rallies demanding the Arab League suspend Syrias membership in the pan-Arab body to sanction its brutal, eight-month crackdown on dissent.Security forces broke up demonstrations in Al-Malaab, a main thoroughfare in Homs, but rallies relocated and mushroomed, engulfing eight neighbourhoods, the Observatory said.Five people died in Daraa province, cradle of the revolt, including a 13-year-old boy killed by a bomb blast in Mseifra and a man hit by security forces who opened fire against protesters in the same town.In the northwestern province of Idlib, near Turkey, security forces shot dead a man in the town of Ariha, where demonstrations erupted after the weekly Muslim midday prayers.The Observatory also reported the entry of tanks into the Idlib town of Sheikhun in the wake of mass demonstrations and violent clashes that led to the retreat by security forces from government buildings.In Damascus, security forces on the streets of Barzeh and posted snipers on rooftops, after a wave of arrests and deadly violence shook the neighbourhood.And security forces unleashed heavy gunfire to disperse demonstrations, in the eastern oil hub of Deir Ezzor.