Syria group urges UN action over 'massacre'

[tabatha]

Syrian security forces appear to be continuing an offensive on army defectors in the northwestern province of Idlib in which activists say about 200 people, including a large number of civilians, have already been killed.

The Syrian National Council, the umbrella group representing opponents of President Bashar al-Assad's government, on Wednesday called for "immediate action" by the Arab League and the UN Security Council to condemn and halt what it called "horrific massacres" conducted by Syrian forces in Idlib and other areas.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from the Turkish city of Antakya, along the border with Syria, said the Syrian military's operations had been focused on Idlib because it was attempting to regain control over what had become a stronghold for army defectors.

"It is clear that army defectors have taken control over some towns and villages, almost as though they have created some sort of safe area, where protesters from other regions were seeking a safe haven and where defectors were able to operate from," she said.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/12/2011122182648844599.html