Violence Soars in Syria: Opposition Groups Claim Massacre Near Turkish Border

Nearly 300 Killed in Three Days of Violence

With the Arab League’s observer team expected any day, violence continues to soar in Syria, and opposition groups are claiming a massacre took place in the village of Kfar Owaid, where tanks and machine gun fire targeted masses of people, killing more than 100.

The violence is just part of a pattern of rising violence across the nation, with attacks on civilians and military defectors bringing the toll to an estimate 300 killed in the three days since the Arab League deal was announced.

Over 100 people were reported slain on the first day, also mostly in the Idlib Province near the Turkish border, where troops attacked large numbers of defecting soldiers. Members of the Syrian military were attacked and killed yesterday in the far south, where a defector faction launched an attack of their own.

This is the second time Syria has agreed to the Arab League’s deal to send monitors, and the first agreement also was followed by a massive escalation in attacks on protesters, and subsequently the deal was called off. Whether the current deal will survive or not remains to be seen.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.