Syria says 120 forces killed in northern 'massacre'

[LetTimmySmoke]

Source: MSNBC

Armed men attacked Syrian security forces in a tense northern city on Monday, killing 120 policemen and security forces in a region where the army has carried out days of deadly assaults on protesters, state television said.

Communications were cut to the area around Jisr al-Shughour on Monday and the details of the attack were impossible to verify, but there have been unconfirmed reports in the past by residents and activists of Syrians fighting back against security forces.

The government promised a "decisive" response, setting the stage for an even stronger government crackdown against a popular uprising that began in mid-March and poses the most potent threat in years to the 40-year regime of the Assad family.

"We will deal strongly and decisively, and according to the law, and we will not be silent about any armed attack that targets the security of the state and its citizens," said Interior Minister Ibrahim Shaar.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43295395/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

[SkyDaddy7]

1. I would bet anything that this so-called "attack" is either

a flat out lie or blown way out of proportion simply to be used as a reason to kill even more of its citizens! This situation in Syria has gotten almost too bad to even follow. Especially after seeing what they did to that child I can only imagine what they are doing to countless others they have in custody. If I were a citizen of Syria I would rather be shot in the street than get captured or simply taken out of my home like they have done so many others.

America has it problems & to us they are massive but at least we don't live in a country like Syria!

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Activists claim it was a mutiny in the police

Activists who spoke to AFP in Cyprus disputed the official account, speaking instead of a mutiny in the town of Jisrash Shugur, where security forces had been carrying out operations for three days.

"The armed groups are committing a real massacre. They have mutilated bodies and thrown others into the Assi river," the state broadcaster said. "They have burned government buildings."

It said a total of 120 police were killed, including 80 at the town's security headquarters, without specifying the date of the incidents in Jisrash Shugur.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hmsNaMTU4qVajr8naQBXdTrRVDuw?docId=CNG.e31de2f5f7f70b7510c33a41ef0d1826.1181

Hard to know what's going on, with nearly all outside media banned from Syria.

[bemildred]

3. That's a lot of dead people all at once.

It is most unlikely that such a thing, if it happened, was carried about by inexperienced and unarmed or lightly armed private citizens, mutiny sounds much more like it.