9 Civilians, 2 Soldiers Killed in Fresh Syria Violence

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Syrian security forces on Sunday pressed a crackdown on dissent, killing nine people in the central cities of Homs and Hama and the northwestern province of Idlib, rights activists said, adding two soldiers were killed in an ambush.

The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network spurring protests on the ground, reported a higher toll, saying 17 civilians were shot dead, among them nine in Hama.

"Security forces opened fire killing four people in Hama," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in an email received by Agence France Presse.

In the central city of Homs, snipers killed one person on Cairo Street early in the morning, said the Observatory, which reported a similar incident in the same place the previous day.

And in Idlib’s countryside, a civilian hailing from the town of Sarjeh was shot dead at the hands of pro-regime soldiers, the Observatory added.

Meanwhile, engineering students were injured by a "round of mortar" fire which hit their faculty building in Baath University, also in Homs, the same source added.

And two citizens, one in Homs and the other in Hama, died from gunshot wounds suffered the previous day.

Gunmen believed to be defectors ambushed and killed two soldiers patrolling town of Qusayr, near Homs, the Observatory said.

The deaths come one day after the Arab League decided to suspend Syria from the pan-Arab body as punishment for its brutal crackdown on dissent which has left more than 3,500 Syrians dead, according to U.N. figures.