Syria: New Fighting In Southern City
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — There are new reports of fighting in the southern Syrian city of Daraa.
AP quotes a witness in the city as saying Syrian army troops backed by tanks and three helicopters took control of a prominent mosque, killing four people.
The Omari mosque, in Daraa’s Roman-era old town, had been under the control of antigovernment protestors since the Syrian army began a major operation in Daraa earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Syrian human rights groups say security forces killed more than 60 people across Syria on April 29 during demonstrations demanding the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Separately, Washington said on April 29 it is imposing financial restrictions on Syria’s intelligence agency and two relatives of Assad for alleged human rights abuses.
And at a meeting on April 29 in Brussels, EU officials were reported to have agreed preliminarily to impose an arms embargo and a ban on transfers of equipment that can be used for repression — such as body armor and explosives — against Assad’s regime.
