NATO does not prepare any military intervention in Syria, said today the Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen during his speech in the Academy of Sciences in Azerbaijan. Rasmussen spoke against any comparison between Libya and Syria, adding that NATO was monitoring the situation in Syria and was ready to protect Turkey in the event it will need so. "Turkey is our partner and we will protect it in case of need," said the Secretary General e NATO.
Meanwhile, "hundreds of soldiers" loyal to the regime backed by heavy military vehicles raided Friday Babbila, a town near Damascus, in an attempt to crush pockets rebels, reported the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR).
The soldiers entered in force into Babbila Thursday clashing with members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
Fighting also erupted around al-Qazzaz in the southeast of the capital, where security forces have arrested dozens of young men. Gunfire was also heard in Tadamoun (southern Damascus) and Yarmouk, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, according to the SOHR.
Witnesses said that heavy shelling targeted these two areas since Friday morning. The bombing was heard in Damascus, according to AFP.
Elsewhere in the country, two children were killed in a bombing in Boukamal located in Deir Ezzor province (east), and two rebels were killed when a mortar shell struck the city of Deir Ezzor, according the SOHR.
On Thursday, at least 153 people killed - 83 civilians, 46 soldiers and 24 rebels. In addition, more than 50 men were arrested late Thursday by security forces in the province of Deraa, on the Jordanian border.
