Syria troops storm villages, kill civilians: activist

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DAMASCUS: Syrian troops killed seven civilians when they stormed northwestern villages Wednesday to quash anti-government dissent, activists said, as Washington piled new pressure on the regime and its Iranian ally over the deadly crackdown.

The latest military action came as hundreds of lawyers staged a sit-in in the second city of Aleppo calling for freedom and the release of prisoners and regime loyalists held a counter-protest, activists said.

The Aleppo sit-in came as calls mounted on the Internet for a massive rally to take place Thursday in the the northern city -- the country's economic centre.

Tanks rolled into Mar-Ayan and Ihsem in the northwestern province of Idleb "opening fire and killing at least seven people," an activist in the region of Jabal al-Zawiyah, home district of the two villages, said.

"The men are fleeing the villages because they are afraid they will be arrested," the activist told AFP in Nicosia by telephone.

Earlier the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP soldiers, backed by tanks and troops carriers, were conducting searches in the villages.

"They are currently at the outskirts of Al-Bara," a hamlet known for its Roman remains, said Rami Abdel Rahman. "The soldiers are deployed in the villages and are conducting searches."

The London-based Observatory says 1,342 civilians have been killed since mid-March in a crackdown by President Bashar al-Assad's regime on the reformist movement and that 342 security force personnel have also died.

Some 300 lawyers organised staged a sit-in at the Aleppo courthouse chanting slogans for liberty and the release of political prisoners, activists said.

At the same time other, pro-regime lawyers gathered in a different room in the courthouse to pledge their allegiance to the regime.

Pro-democracy activists on Facebook have called for a rally to take place Thursday in Aleppo, where anti-regime protests have been largely muted since the pro-democracy movement broke out in mid-March.

"Revolutionaries, come to Aleppo and Idleb provinces... and go to central Aleppo tomorrow, Thursday, to protest and to light the spark of the Revolution," said the message posted on the Internet.

More than a month after imposing sanctions on the Syrian president and six top aides over the deadly crackdown, Washington on Wednesday announced fresh penalties against Syria and key ally Iran.

The US Treasury imposed sanctions on Syria's Political Security Directorate for human rights abuses, citing two incidents when its agents shot down protesters in March and April.

The national police force in Iran was sanctioned "for providing support to the Syrian regime," the US Treasury said.

The new sanctions included Iran's Law Enforcement Forces chief Ismail Ahmadi Moghadam and his deputy Ahmad Reza Radan, as well as the Syrian air force intelligence chief Major General Jamil Hassan.

The sanctions freeze any assets they might hold in the United States and forbid any US business dealings with them. (AFP)