Damascus - XINHUA
More than 10 Syrian soldiers were reportedly killed and injured when rebel fighters targeted them in the northwestern province of Idlib, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Thursday. The soldiers were targeted at the Darwish area near the southern bridge of the town of Marat al-Numan in the countryside of Idlib, the Observatory said, adding that the Syrian air force carried out an air raid on the al-Jamieh al-Sakanieh area in Jisr al-Shughour area in Idilb. In the northern province of Aleppo, rebels from the al-Qaida- linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant summarily executed two minors over sectarian backgrounds as part of the radical rebels sectarian cleansing campaign in areas under their control in Syria. The Observatory posted a video footage online showing a hooded armed man while gunning down two teenage males from the Shiite towns of Nubbul and Zahra of Aleppo. The executioner alleged that the boys were \"Shabiha,\" a term used by the rebels to describe pro- government militia. Syria\'s 28-month-old crisis has slid toward the quagmire of sectarian war starring radical Sunni militia linked to al-Qaida fighting against the administration of President Bashar al-Assad whose rule belongs to the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.