AMMAN: Syrian forces shot dead six villagers when they stormed a town near the city of Hama looking for army defectors and seeking to prevent regular pro-democracy demonstrations after Friday prayers, local activists said. "They raided Hilfaya at 6:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) with troops and security police descending from buses and trucks equipped with machineguns," one of the activists told Reuters by telephone. "They stayed for two hours, firing at random to frighten the inhabitants. Among the six who were killed were two cousins from the Al-Jammal family who were on their way to Hilfaya from the nearby village of Taybeh," the activist said. Troops began last week a big offensive in the countryside around Hama, which was among the hardest hit cities in an escalation of military attacks against urban centers that had seen protests demanding an end to the rule of President Bashar Al-Assad at the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The offensive, which killed tens of villagers, extended west to the ancient Ghab Plain. Troops and armored vehicles moved north in the last two days to the Jabal Al-Zawiya area, a rugged region near Turkey where deserters, estimated to numbers in the hundreds, have been hiding or trying to seek refuge across the border, residents and opposition sources said.
