CNN: Defectors in Syria strike pro-regime office

[ellisonz]

Source: CNN

By Joe Sterling, CNN
updated 9:15 PM EST, Thu November 17, 2011

(CNN) -- Army defectors in northwestern Syria -- armed with rocket-propelled grenades -- attacked a pro-government youth group office and clashed with Syrian security personnel Thursday, activist groups said.

Security forces also arrested dozens during raids in Harasta, the location of the air intelligence base outside Damascus that was attacked a day earlier by the Free Syrian Army, a band of military defectors confronting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The defectors Thursday targeted the Revolutionary Youth Association office in the Idlib province town of Maaret Al Nu'man and fought Syrian security personnel at the scene, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees of Syria.

The groups didn't identify the assailants as Free Syrian Army members, but an officer for the army defectors issued a statement claiming its members "fired two rocket-propelled grenades at ruling Baath Party offices in Idlib province."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/17/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html?eref=rss_topstories