Syria: 25 killed in overnight shelling in Daraa

At least 25 civilians, including 11 women and seven children, were killed early Saturday by regime fire in Deraa (south), according to SOHR. The shooting, which also left 90 more injured, some serious, hit a residential area in the city, the cradle of opposition against the regime of Assad. The young victims were between 12 and 13 years of age, it said.

Shams News Network (SNN) reported that Mobile communications in Daraa were cut off on Saturday morning.

On Friday, the Observatory said thousands of Syrians marched through the country against Assad, while expressing their frustration towards the international community, which is powerless to stop the violence. Forty-four civilians were killed across the country Friday, nearly half of them in the central province of Homs and in Damascus districts and suburbs.

Also on Friday, 20 UN observers visited the site where 100 people were reported massacred two days earlier, saying the smell of burnt flesh hung in the air and body parts lay scattered around the Syrian village of Mazraat al-Qubeir.

In a statement Friday night, the UN spokesman Martin Nesirky reported that the observers saw traces of armored vehicles and houses badly damaged by rocket fire, grenades and other weapons.

"In some houses, the blood was visible on the walls and floor. There was still fire outside some buildings and in the air there was a smell of burning flesh," said Nesirky, quoting the report by the observers. "The circumstances surrounding the attack remain unclear. The identity and number of people killed are yet to be confirmed. Observers continue to work to check some facts," said Nesirky.

Meanwhile, in a press conference, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that his country will not oppose the departure of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad if such a move is a result of a dialogue between Syrians themselves and is not enforced through external pressure.

Lavrov told reporters that he believed it is not too late to start up a dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition to solve the Syrian conflict .

On his part, the Russian Deputy Minister of Affairs Foreign Gennady Gatilov, said his country considers that it is not necessary at this time to put additional pressure, to introduce sanctions or threatening to use force as new sanctions or military intervention would only worsen an already difficult atmosphere.Quoted by the Interfax news agency.

Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/06/09/219532.html