Fresh clashes near Syrian capital kill 9
ZEINA KARAMZEINA KARAM, Associated Press?
?This citizen journalism image provide by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and released early Friday Jan. 27, 2012, purports to show a Syrian man, right, mourning over the dead body of his son, who was shot by the Syrian forces, in Idlib province, Syria, on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. A "terrifying massacre" in the restive Syrian city of Homs has killed more than 30 people, including small children, in a barrage of mortar fire and attacks by armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, activists said Friday. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
This citizen journalism image provide by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and released early Friday Jan. 27, 2012, purports to show a Syrian man, right, mourning over the dead body of his son, who was shot by the Syrian forces, in Idlib province, Syria, on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. A "terrifying massacre" in the restive Syrian city of Homs has killed more than 30 people, including small children, in a barrage of mortar fire and attacks by armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, activists said Friday. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
This citizen journalism image provided by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and released on Friday Jan. 27, 2012, purports to show the bodies of five Syrian children wrapped in plastic bags, with signs in Arabic identifying them by name. Activists say the children were killed in a shelling attack by Syrian forces, in the Karm el-Zaytoun neighborhood of Homs, Syria, on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012 A "terrifying massacre" in the restive Syrian city of Homs has killed more than 30 people, including small children, in a barrage of mortar fire and attacks by armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, activists said Friday. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO EDITORIAL USE ONLY
An anti-Syrian regime protester, gestures during a demonstration against Syrian President Bashar Assad, at Khalidya area in Homs province, central Syria, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Syrian troops stormed a flashpoint suburb of Damascus on Thursday, rounding people up in house-to-house raids and clashing with army defectors, activists said, as the 10-month-old uprising inches ever closer to the capital. (AP Photo)
Syrian army defectors stand guard on a rooftop to secure an anti-Syrian regime protest in the Deir Baghlaba area in Homs province, central Syria, on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad barraged residential buildings with mortars and machine-gun fire, killing at least 30 people, including a family of women and children during a day of sectarian killings and kidnappings in the besieged Syrian city of Homs, activists said Friday. (AP Photo)
Syrian army defectors secure a street near an anti-Syrian regime protest in the Deir Baghlaba area of Homs province, central Syria, on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad barraged residential buildings with mortars and machine-gun fire, killing at least 30 people, including a family of women and children during a day of sectarian killings and kidnappings in the besieged Syrian city of Homs, activists said Friday. (AP Photo)
BEIRUT (AP) ? Fresh clashes erupted Sunday between the Syrian military and groups of army defectors in suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus, killing at least nine people, activists and state media said.
Government forces dispatched more tanks and armored vehicles to reinforce troops in the restive area early Sunday, a day after it witnessed some of the most intense fighting yet so close to the capital as President Bashar Assad's regime tries to uproot protesters and dissident soldiers who have joined the opposition.
The ten-month uprising against Assad has become increasingly militarized recently as more frustrated protesters and army defectors arm themselves against the regime. A spike in violence since Thursday has killed nearly 100 people.
On Sunday, activists said three people including a 16-year-old died in fierce fighting in the suburb of Kfar Batna. There was heavy shelling there and in the nearby suburbs of Saqba and Arbeen, they said.
Syria's state-run news agency, meanwhile, said "terrorists" detonated a roadside bomb by remote control near a bus carrying soldiers in the Damascus suburb of Sahnaya, killing six soldiers and wounding six others.
Among those killed in the attack some 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of the capital were two first lieutenants, SANA said.
The rising bloodshed has added urgency to new attempts by Arab and Western countries to find a resolution to the 10 months of violence, which according to the United Nations has killed at least 5,400 people as Assad seeks to crush persistent protests demanding an end to his rule.
The U.N. is holding talks on a new resolution on Syria and next week will discuss an Arab League peace plan aimed at ending the crisis. But the initiatives face two major obstacles: Damascus' rejection of the Arab plan, which it says impinges on its sovereignty, and Russia's willingness to use its U.N. Security Council veto to protect Syria from sanctions.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told reporters in Egypt on Sunday that contacts were under way with China and Russia. "I hope that their stand will be adjusted in line with the final drafting of the draft resolution," he said.
Elaraby spoke to reporters at Cairo airport before leaving for New York with Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim. The two will seek U.N. support for the latest Arab plan to end Syria's crisis. The plans calls for a two-month transition to a unity government, with Assad giving his vice president full powers to work with the proposed government.
The Arab League announced Saturday it was halting the observers' work in Syria immediately because of the increasing violence, until the League's council can meet to decide the mission's fate.
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