Syria: Tanks and Troops Surround Towns, Seven Dead

Syrian Kurds hold a huge Syrian flag during a pro-democracy demonstration calling for political changes in Syria in the predominantly Kurdish northern Syrian city of Qamishli on May 27, 2011. (AFP/Getty Images) Syrian rights activists told media agencies on Sunday that troops and tanks surrounded several cities in an attempt to widen the crackdown against the three-month-long demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assads regime.

At least seven people were killed in the towns of Rastan, Talbiseh, and Teir Maaleh in the central province of Homs, rights activists who wished not to be named told Al Jazeera.

The towns are under siege, one activist told the television station, adding that roads into the towns were closed down by government forces. Authorities also cut off telecommunications in the region.

Two more civilians have been killed at Talbiseh and a nearby village, taking the number of dead to seven, another activist told AFP.

Assad has sent more heavy weaponry, tanks, and troops to several cities starting at the beginning of the month to try and crush the wave of protests that have spread throughout the country.

In Rastan and Talbiseh, tanks and troops encircled the towns, activists said.

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Since Assad began to crack down on protesters and rights activists, at least 800 people have been killed.

On Friday, during weekly organized mass protests, Syrian security forces killed at least a dozen protesters throughout the country.


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