Skip to main content

At least 150 reported killed across Syria; activist says families executed

By the CNN Wire Staff
August 27, 2012 -- Updated 0036 GMT (0836 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: Activists report 62 killed in Damascus and its suburbs, including an entire family
  • Video shows Syrian VP in Damascus after defection claims
  • An opposition activist says Daraya is under fire because it revolted against the regime
  • 440 people were reported dead Saturday, including more than 200 bodies found in Daraya

(CNN) -- A day after more than 440 bodies were recovered -- the highest single-day death toll to date in the nation's civil war -- at least 160 more people were found dead in Syria on Sunday.

Here are some of the latest key developments in the country's 17-month crisis.

On the ground: Daraya becomes a horror story

On Sunday, 62 people were killed in Damascus and its suburbs, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said. The LCC said 21 people, including an entire family, were found dead in the Damascus suburb of Daraya.

Syrian rebel convoy under attack
Residents flee Hirak, Syria
Syrian doctors know they face execution
Tourists urged to leave Lebanon
'Syria becoming a proxy war'

It said 48 people were killed Sunday in Daraa, the town south of Damascus near the Jordanian border where Syria's uprising began.

CNN spoke by Skype to an activist named Osama, who said the army was executing families in their homes in Daraya and stealing some possessions. He said shelling began last Monday and the military closed all the ways in and out, but he kept in contact with people inside Daraya through the Internet.

He was told the army moved into the neighborhood on Friday and began sweeping through buildings where families were taking cover.

At least 50 bodies were found in one apartment basement, he reported.

Saturday's death toll included more than 200 bodies found in Daraya, but it was unclear when those victims were killed.

One death consumes Syrian family's life

CNN cannot independently verify reports of death tolls, as the Syrian regime has severely limited access by international journalists.

It's not surprising that Daraya came under attack, opposition activist Rafif Jouejati said.

"Daraya is being targeted because it is the closest to the capital, and it is one of the first cities that revolted against the Assad regime and was the spearhead of the peaceful demonstrations in the beginning of the revolution," said Jouejati, a spokeswoman for the LCC.

"I believe the regime thinks that the only way to end the revolution is (to) kill, kill, kill. Deep down, they know they are failing, but they want to destroy as much as possible before it is over."

But the Syrian government had a different take on the situation in Daraya:

"The armed forces cleared the town of Daraya in Damascus countryside from terrorists ... eliminating a large number of them," the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

Inside Damascus: VP surfaces

New video shows Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa in Damascus holding an official meeting in the capital, despite reports this month that he had defected.

The video, distributed by Reuters, showed al-Sharaa meeting with a top Iranian official, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who according to Syrian state media arrived in Damascus on Saturday.

Iran's state-run Press TV also reported that al-Sharaa had met with an Iranian official "amid anti-Assad TV's defection rumors."

More than a week ago, a spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army said al-Sharaa had fled the regime.

Syrian state-run TV, at the time, did not explicitly say whether al-Sharaa had defected, but reported that the vice president's office issued a statement saying al-Sharaa "has never at any moment thought of leaving the homeland to whatever direction."

Had al-Sharaa defected, it would have marked the highest-level departure from President Bashar al-Assad's regime yet. A stream of Syrian officials resigned from the regime in recent weeks, including Republican Guard Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlas and Prime Minister Riyad Hijab. Like al-Sharaa, the men are Sunnis who held top posts in a government dominated by the country's Alawite minority.

Will Syria's first lady take a stand or stand by her man?

Observers view al-Sharaa's power and influence as more significant than the prime minister, who only served in the post for weeks. Al-Sharaa has more clout as a long-time prominent, loyal member of the regime's old guard. He served as foreign minister under al-Assad and his late father, Hafez, for more than 20 years and has been vice president since 2006.

The region: Turkey denies sending aid to rebels, slams the Syrian government

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu rejected claims that his country was shipping weapons to Syrian rebels in their quest to oust al-Assad, the Anadolu news agency reported Saturday.

"These are the arguments which authoritarian regimes had always used to conceal their internal problems," Davutoglu told the NTV news channel, according to Anadolu.

Davutoglu added, "No regime fighting its own people can survive long. (The al-Assad regime) has months, and maybe even weeks -- not years."

Syria's neighbors: What's at stake?

Syria explained: What you need to know

CNN's Yousif Basil and Saad Abedine contributed to this report.

ADVERTISEMENT
Part of complete coverage on
Syrian crisis
There's more to the Syrian civil war than rebels versus the regime. Syria's neighbors in the Middle East also have a stake in the conflict.
May 9, 2013 -- Updated 2113 GMT (0513 HKT)
Israel is taking steps to defend itself against threatened retaliation from Syria after claims it launched airstrikes on Damascus.
May 14, 2013 -- Updated 1636 GMT (0036 HKT)
Domestic political will is a necessary for intervention and polls show Americans are reluctant to support military interventions in Syria.
May 6, 2013 -- Updated 1738 GMT (0138 HKT)
Syria's claim that Israel launched airstrikes presents a dangerous escalation of Israel's involvement in Syria's war, writes Fawaz Gerges.
May 7, 2013 -- Updated 0941 GMT (1741 HKT)
The U.N. says a Syrian rebel group may have used a nerve agent -- it would not be the first time the al-Qaeda-affiliated group used chemical weapons.
May 1, 2013 -- Updated 1800 GMT (0200 HKT)
Having willfully avoided direct military involvement in Syria for the past two years, Obama may not be so lucky anymore, writes Aaron David Miller.
May 10, 2013 -- Updated 0944 GMT (1744 HKT)
What began as a protest movement became an uprising that metastasized into a war, a vicious whirlpool dragging a whole region toward it.
A devout man prays. A fighter weeps over a slain comrade. These are a few faces of the Syrian conflict captured by photographer LeeHarper.
April 25, 2013 -- Updated 0859 GMT (1659 HKT)
A group of pro-Syrian regime hackers that has targeted major news organizations but its cyber attacks can have real-life impact.
March 7, 2013 -- Updated 2324 GMT (0724 HKT)
A woman participates in a demonstration in support of the Syrian people on July 7, 2012, in front of the Pantheon in Paris.
The role of women in Syrian uprising is little reported, but many have played a key part as activists and medics since the bloodshed began.
Are you in Syria? Share your stories, videos and photos with the world on CNN iReport, but please stay safe.
ADVERTISEMENT