Syrian Troops Shell Rastan, Killing 13

Syrian regime forces pounded the town of Rastan in central Homs province on Thursday, killing three civilians, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Violence elsewhere in Syria killed 10 other people in the morning, the Britain-based watchdog reported, including four who were summarily executed in northwestern Idlib province.

Government forces have been trying to overrun Rastan for 11 consecutive days, after rebel fighters from the battered central city of Homs regrouped in the town that straddles the main highway linking Damascus to the north.

Speaking to Agence France Presse via Skype on Wednesday, Abu Rawan, an opposition activist in Rastan, said there was no electricity in the besieged town, and a shortage of food and water.

Abu Rawan was not reachable for comment on Thursday morning.

Elsewhere in the violence-swept country, four civilians were summarily executed in a field near Basamis town in the province of Idlib, while four others were killed in fighting.

"Eight civilians were killed in a field near Basamis this morning, including four who were detained from their homes and summarily executed," according to the monitoring group.

"The Observatory strongly condemns the summary execution of the four people, in contravention of international treaties signed by the Syrian authorities," it said in a statement.

"The Syrian security and military authorities do not have the right to summarily execute people, even if they are fighters," the statement noted.

Four other people were killed in clashes in Idlib between regime troops and rebel forces, the Observatory added.

In eastern Deir al-Zour province, one civilian and regular army soldier were killed, the watchdog said.

"Regime forces killed a young man at dawn in Quriya town in Deir al-Zour," it said, adding clashes between rebel forces and regime troops were taking place in the town, leaving dead one soldier.

More than 12,600 people have been killed in Syria since a revolt against President Bashar Assad's rule broke out in March 2011, including nearly 1,500 since a U.N.-backed truce took effect on April 12, says the Observatory.