Fresh clashes broke out in Syria Friday between opposition militants and regular army units in restive areas, killing two people activists said, as violence showed no signs of waning ahead of a ceasefire deadline next week, dpa reported. Battles erupted in the southern province of Daraa, and Idlib, near the northern border with Turkey, while shelling continued to hit neighbourhoods in the central province of Homs. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said clashes took place in the Homs region of Houla, shorty after troops fired at a group of women working in a farming field, killing two and injuring four others. Meanwhile, activists near the capital Damascus said Syrian troops have intensified their attacks against restive areas across the country, since the arrival of the UN team in Syria, to discuss ways to deploy monitors to supervise the April 10 deadline for withdrawal of tanks and forces. "The talks between Syrian foreign ministry officials and the UN technical team are being held behind closed doors for the sensitivity of the issue," a western diplomat based in Beirut told dpa. The opposition Local Coordination Committees, which report violence across Syria, said 69 people were killed on Thursday, mainly in Idlib and Homs. News coming out of Syria cannot not be verified as the government bans independent journalists from restive areas. Many Western and some Arab countries have expressed their doubts that the year-long violence in Syria will end soon, accusing the Syrian government of "trying to fool the world" by accepting international envoy Kofi Annan's deadline to pull the army back from populated areas on April 10. According to the plan, both Syrian sides should observe a ceasefire within 48 hours of April 10, paving the way for talks to end the bloodshed which has claimed the lives of at least 9,000 people, according to UN estimates.
