27 prisoners killed by Syrian regime forces, opposition claims

A coalition of Syrian revolutionary forces said Monday that at least 27 Syrian detainees had been killed by thugs allied to the Syrian army after the latter attacked a prison in the city of Homs in western Syria late Sunday. "Thugs used deadly force and live ammunition to silence dissent inside the prison, which had been besieged by pro-Assad forces since last Saturday," the Alliance of Syrian Revolutionary Forces said in a statement obtained by Anadolu Agency. According to the statement, at least 27 detainees were killed in the incident. The Syrian opposition accuses groups of thugs allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of committing a series of massacres in several parts of the country. The alliance held the head of the Homs prison responsible for what he described as the "violations" committed inside the jail. The group went on to assert that the Assad regime had detained around 200,000 opponents – including women, children and old people – since the conflict began more than two years ago. It added that detainees were held in poor conditions and were often subject to torture. The alliance claims that more than 3,000 Syrians have been tortured to death inside Syrian prisons since the conflict began. It renewed calls to the international community and rights organizations to protect Syrian civilians against what it described as frequent "killing, detention and bombing" by al-Assad regime forces. It said the international community needed to "rein in" the regime in Damascus and find an "immediate way out" of the ongoing bloodshed in Syria.