Syrian Forces Continue to Target Civilians, 100 dead

More than 100 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in Syrian violence just a few days ahead of the ceasefire deadline.

Anti-Assad regime activists have accused Syrian forces of killing at least 74 civilians in the opposition areas, reported Reuters.

The news agency reported that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed those dead included 40 in an army attack on al-Latmana, in Hama province, that began on Friday. The rebel Free Syrian Army lost 15 men in the battle, it said, and 17 members of the security forces were killed across the country.

While the UN-backed ceasefire deadline is 12 April, the region has been witnessing severe bloodshed for the past few days.

One of the amateur pictures of the killings shows a baby's body in blood-stained clothes.

In a video uploaded by the activists, "a sole survivor of the Homs massacre" shows severely wounded parts of his body narrating his traumatic experience of the incident. In another video from al-Latmana, mourners held aloft the limp corpse of a child. A row of bodies lay on the ground, according to Reuters.

Amid continuing violence, Turkey has said that the number of refugees fleeing into the country is rising. A full-fledged uprising could unleash a tide of refugees into Turkey, the country fears.

The Syrian government has been warned by the US for their "deception of pulling out the troops". Robert Ford, the US ambassador to Syria posted commercial satellite images on Facebook stating: "This is not the reduction in offensive Syrian government security operations that all agree must be the first step for the Annan initiative to succeed."

"The regime and the Syrian people should know that we are watching. It cannot hide the truth," Ford added.

President Bashar Assad accepted the peace agreement initiated by UN special envoy Kofi Annan and agreed to withdraw the troops from the region. But the activists keep accusing the government of acting otherwise.

Western diplomats and leaders are equally skeptical about the Syrian government agreeing to the truce as their track record in keeping promises seems to be poor.