BEIRUT — Violence in Syria killed at least 63 people Sunday, nearly half of them troops who died in clashes with rebels, as the bloodshed reached new heights, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. At least 16 soldiers were killed in the northern Aleppo province, while one died in an attack on his vehicle in neighboring Idlib province and the rest died in fighting elsewhere in Idlib and in the provinces of Damascus and Deir Ezzor in the east. The Britain-based watchdog added that a number of soldiers defected after an attack on an artillery battalion in Aleppo province, taking with them a large amount of weapons. Five civilians were killed elsewhere in the province, including a man and his wife killed in regime shelling in the town of Andan, while there were reports of casualties following the storming of the Neirab refugee camp. In the city of Homs, three rebels were killed during pre-dawn clashes, as troops bombarded several rebel-held districts in the central city, leaving one civilian dead. And in the northwestern Latakia province, a rebel died in clashes in the Kurdish Mountain region, the watchdog said.Opposition meets to try to forge unity Members of disparate Syrian groups opposed to the rule of President Bashar Al-Assad tried Sunday in Brussels to hash out their differences and plan for a democratic transition. The different opposition groups are riven by divisions over whether outside military intervention would help or hurt the country — and whether to engage in dialogue with Assad's regime. In addition, some Islamists opposed to Assad's rule are not viewed by other opposition members as true democrats. While much of the focus of the c onference, which runs through Monday and had about 50 participants, was on planning for a post-Assad transition to democracy, participants held different opinions on how to reach that point. — Agencies
