7 killed in Syria as Arabs warn about peace deal

Clashes in Syria killed seven people on Saturday as the chief of the Arab League warned that failure of a peace deal agreed this week would be catastrophic and demanded an immediate end to the bloodshed.To mark the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, meanwhile, Damascus freed 553 people arrested during anti-regime protests while condemning Washington for suggesting Syrians reject an amnesty offered to lay down their arms.At least three civilians were killed by gunfire and heavy machinegun fire in the Baba Amro neighbourhood of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement received in Nicosia.In the northwestern province of Idlib, near the Turkish border, four (Shabiha) militiamen loyal to the regime were killed by suspected deserters in the town of Saraqeb, added the Britain-based Observatory.On Friday, Syrian troops killed at least 23 people when demonstrators took to the streets denouncing despots and tyrants, with world powers casting doubt on the regimes commitment to the peace deal agreed with the Arab League.The death toll since Syria agreed to the plan on Wednesday has reached 50, with the United Nations estimating that more than 3,000 people have been killed in a brutal crackdown since anti-regime protests erupted in mid-March.The Arab League plan calls for an end to violence, the release of those detained, the withdrawal of the army from urban areas and free movement for observers and the media, as well as talks between the regime and opposition.State news agency SANA said Syria released on Saturday 553 people arrested during the anti-regime protests, to mark the Eid al-Adha feats that marks the climax of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.On the occasion of (Eid) al-Adha, 553 people arrested during the events in Syria and whose hands are not stained by blood, have been freed, it said, adding, without elaborating, that another 119 detainees had recently been freed.