- Members of the Syrian security forces have been killed and injured in clashes, activists say
- Syrian state media report huge pro-government rallies in the capital and elsewhere
- The extension of an Arab League monitoring mission was agreed to this week
- The United Nations says more than 5,000 civilians have died in the government crackdown
(CNN) — At least one member of the Syrian security forces was killed and nine others were injured following violent clashes with army defectors in Daraa province, opposition activists said Thursday.
The clashes occurred on a highway near the town of Khirbet Ghazaly, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Also in Daraa, three people were injured in the town of Nawa, including an 11-year-old child, when government forces randomly fired at their homes, the Observatory said.
Three explosions rocked the town of Almaseefra and heavy gunfire is being directed at people’s homes by regime troops, the group said. A young man died in the town of Seeda from injuries received under torture by government security forces, it added.
Elsewhere, a large group of Syrian security forces raided the suburb of Douma, in Damascus province, early Thursday, days after loyalist forces pulled out after heavy clashes with defectors, the Observatory said.
Security forces are setting up checkpoints in residential streets there, the group said, but have not met violent resistance so far.
Meanwhile, Syrian state television reported that mass pro-government rallies were taking place in Damascus, Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Lattakia on Thursday.
According to the state-run Syrian Arab New Agency (SANA), hundreds of thousands of Syrians from across the country flocked to the capital to join demonstrations in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
The demonstrators have taken to the streets “in rejection of the recent decisions by Arab League Council which are but flagrant violation of the Syrian independence and sovereignty,” the agency reported.
It said the rallies were “an embodiment of the Syrians’ national unity and cohesion, are considered a sharp cry and strong condemnation of the armed terrorist groups’ attacks against their security, stability and unity.”
The Syrian government blames the ongoing violence in the country on terrorist groups and says security forces are only trying to protect civilians.
CNN cannot independently confirm events because the Syrian government restricts access of international media to the country.
The uprising against the regime and the resulting government crackdown have engulfed the country for more than 10 months. The United Nations last month estimated that more than 5,000 people have died since March. The Local Coordination Committees of Syria said Tuesday more than 6,600 deaths have been documented since the unrest began. Avaaz, a global political activist group, said the death toll has exceeded 7,000.
On Wednesday, Syria’s government agreed to a one-month extension of the Arab League monitors’ mission there.
The 22-member Arab League has called on the al-Assad regime to stop violence against civilians, free political detainees, remove tanks and weapons from cities and allow outsiders — including the international news media — to travel freely in Syria.
The league is working on a proposal for al-Assad to transfer power to his vice president following the formation of a national unity government. The plan calls for the government to start talks with the opposition within two weeks and for the formation of a new government within two months. A new constitutional council would follow, as would a plan for parliamentary and presidential elections.
However, six nations from the Gulf Cooperation Council withdrew their observers from the mission this week, citing the continuing bloodshed and the government’s “lack of commitment” to the Arab League proposal.
The council is also calling for the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China — and other council members to ratchet up pressure on the regime.
It wants the Security Council to support the Arab League’s Syrian initiative by passing a resolution.
A draft U.N. resolution on Syria obtained by CNN calls on “all states” to take steps similar to those the Arab League undertook in November when it imposed sanctions on Syrian authorities.
Russia, a Syrian ally, has been seen as an obstacle in developing a tough U.N. resolution toward the al-Assad regime because it has veto power as a permanent council member.
CNN’s Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.
