More than 100 Dead in Syria Crackdown ahead of Deadline

More than 100 people were reported killed across Syria on Saturday, 74 of them civilians, as regime forces pressed a protest crackdown three days ahead of a deadline to cease fire and pull back.

Monitors reported the escalation in violence despite U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's latest rebuke to Damascus for stepping up its assault on dissent hubs ahead of Tuesday's deadline.

At least 40 civilians died "in bombardment and shooting on the town of Latamna," in Hama province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based monitoring group said civilians were killed as well in Tibet al-Imam, also in Hama, and another 16 in the neighboring province of Homs, where Rastan town was bombed, in Idlib to the northwest, and Aleppo in north Syria.

In escalating clashes, 16 rebels and 17 members of the security forces were also killed nationwide, it said, adding 13 bodies were found in Deir Balaa district of Homs and 10 extracted from rubble in Hreitan, Aleppo province.

The Observatory said the deaths came after President Bashar Assad's forces launched an overnight assault on Latamna and clashed with members of the rebel Free Syrian Army.

Monitors put the number of dead at more than 10,000.

At least 77 people were killed nationwide on Thursday and 35 on Friday, mostly civilians, according to Observatory figures.

On Saturday, rebels attacked a military intelligence headquarters in the second city of Aleppo, the Observatory said, and army deserters also pressed a dawn assault on Ming air base in the same province.

Fighting was also reported between troops and deserters in districts of Hama city.

"Regular forces launched an assault early on Saturday on the al-Qussur district, where they burned down the house of an activist," said an activist on the ground, Abu Ghazi al-Hamwi.

The Local Coordination Committees group, which organizes protests at a local level, on Saturday posted online videos of tanks and armored cars deploying in Douma, just north of the capital.

The Security Council passed one statement backing U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan and on Thursday agreed a second "presidential statement" formally endorsing the April 10 limit for Syrian troops and big guns to be withdrawn from cities.

Russia and China, which vetoed two Security Council resolutions on Syria, have signed up to the new demands.

But Syria said on Friday that the number of what it calls "terrorist acts" has risen since the deal was reached with Annan.

"The terrorist acts committed by the armed terrorist groups in Syria have increased during the last few days, particularly after reaching an understanding on Kofi Annan's plan," it said in a letter to Ban.

Meanwhile, Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem is scheduled to travel to Moscow on Monday for talks.

In a statement announcing the trip, Muallem's office said Russia had an "objective balanced position" on the crisis that had won "recognition and deep respect" from the Damascus regime.