Nicosia, April 11: Syrian troops encircled the flashpoint coastal town of Banias today, where weekend shootings left 13 dead and scores wounded, a human rights activist said.
“Seventeen tanks were deployed (to Banias),” the activist told AFP, adding that the army had encircled the northwestern city and electricity had been cut off.
“The army is shooting sporadically to provoke people but not a single demonstrator has fired. There are calls from the minarets of the mosques asking the army to stop its fire,” the activist said.
He added that three soldiers had tried to defect and join the demonstrators, after refusing to fire at them, but superior officers opened fire, wounding the soldiers.
Meanwhile, Syrian human rights organisations today demanded an investigation into the bloody clashes in the city the previous day when at least four civilians and nine military were killed.
-Agencies