The bloody battles between the Syrian government and its own people took a turn for the worse early this week, with reports of mass civilian and military casualties emerging Tuesday despite the ongoing ban on foreign media within Syria’s borders, according to the BBC. –KA

BBC:

The London-based Observatory said that at least 23 people were killed in clashes between army deserters and the security forces in the north-western province of Idlib on Tuesday.

It said that dozens of civilians remained besieged by an army offensive in two villages in the Jabal al-Zawiya area.

The group also cited defectors as saying that 100 of their colleagues were “killed or wounded between the villages”, the AFP news agency reported.

The LCC put the death toll in Idlib at 59.

Both groups also reported deaths in Homs, Hama and Deraa.

Video footage emerged on Tuesday, allegedly showing the body of a young boy torn in half in the ruins of two houses hit by army shelling in Homs.

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