Syrian army deserters kill 10 troops

Syrian army deserters killed 10 soldiers on Tuesday in attacks on convoys sent to crush a seven-month uprising, activists said, a day ahead of an Arab League visit which aims to open dialogue between President Bashar al-Assad and his opponents.

Residents and activists said fighting took place in the northwestern province of Idlib near Turkey, where soldiers who defected during a military assault in the central province of Homs had gathered.

The assault on Homs was one of the largest offensives in a crackdown on street protests demanding an end to 41 years of Assad family rule, which has triggered a nascent armed insurgency, they said.

Assad has agreed to meet an Arab League committee in Damascus on Wednesday. Regional officials said Syrian authorities had dropped objections to the delegation being led by Qatar, which has sharply criticised Assad.

"What is hoped is that the violence will end, a dialogue will start and reforms will be achieved," Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said.

The six-nation committee also comprises Egypt, which has been hosting members of the Syrian opposition, as well as Algeria, Oman, Sudan and Yemen- countries seen as more sympathetic to Assad.

Assad's government says it is serious about political reform, which militants wanted to wreck. The opposition says Assad has no plan to relax his grip on power, citing a spike in killings, arrests, torture and assassinations.

DEFECTIONS EXPAND

The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights said seven soldiers were killed in Maarat al-Numaan, 230 km (145 miles) north of Damascus, when their armoured convoy came under attack. Local residents said three soldiers were killed near the city of Khan Sheikhoun to the south.

"A firefight broke out in the early afternoon at the large barrier which is manned by soldiers and military intelligence personnel. Tanks are also deployed there," a local resident Of Maarat al-Numaan, who gave his name as Raed, said by telephone.

He said the roadblock was attacked in response to a military operation overnight against defectors sheltering around a chicken factory on the outskirts of Maarat al-Numaan.

The town is located in an agricultural area on the main northern highway, 100 km north of Homs and 70 km from Syria's main commercial hub Aleppo.

In the 1980s itwas a hotbed of resistance to Assad's father, the late President Hafez al-Assad, when his forces crushed Islamist and leftist challenges to his rule, killing tens of thousands of people.

Fighting also broke out overnight in the southern Hauran Plain, a strategic agricultural region on the border with Jordan now witnessing the most sustained crackdown since the uprising began, and in Talbiseh near the city of Homs, residents said.

They said tanks stationed at roadblocks crisscrossing Talbiseh fired machineguns and anti-aircraft guns at neighbourhoods where deserters had taken refuge.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. Syrian authorities say "armed terrorist groups" in Homs and across the country have killed 1,100 soldiers and police. The United Nations says the intensifying crackdown has killed 3,000 people.

Eight people were killed in Homs on Monday when troops and militiamen fired at majority Sunni Muslim districts that have been a bastion of protests and, lately, a refuge for military defectors leading armed resistance, residents said.

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