Syria ignores world calls to cease violence

Despite the UN Security Council's condemnation of Syria for its ongoing attacks on civilians, reports said a number of civilians were killed and scores wounded by military forces during demonstrations in Damascus, in rural Daraa province in the south and in Palmyra in central Syria. On Wednesday the United Nations called on Syria and President Bashar Assad to immediately end all violence and permit the people to exercise the fundamental freedom of peaceful assembly. Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 500 families had left Hama, a city 210 kilometers north of Damascus, after tanks surrounded it and all communications were cut off . Earlier this week 100 demonstrators in the city were killed by military forces.