Activists: 26 Syrian Regime Supporters Killed

An image taken from a video uploaded on YouTube on June 22, 2012 allegedly shows the bodies of Syrian regime supporters after they were killed in an ambush west of the province of Aleppo.
Syrian activists say 26 men reported to be pro-government "shabiha" militia fighters have been killed in an ambush in Syria's northern Aleppo province. 

Rami Abdelrahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said he has received a video showing the bloodied bodies of the men piled on the side of a road.

"Over 26 people following the Syrian regime were killed west of Aleppo...this morning the people there said these people are from shabiha," said Abdelrahman.  "We cannot confirm this, but we have received a video with over 26 bodies."

In an apparent reference to the same incident, Syrian state media reported Friday that at least 25 people were killed by "armed terrorists" in the same region outside Aleppo.

The Observatory said it could not confirm whether the victims were civilians, as Syrian state media reported, or shabiha militants, who have been blamed for a series of deadly attacks on civilians in recent months.

The group also reported fresh clashes Friday between government troops and rebels in the flashpoint city of Homs, where hundreds of civilians are believed to be trapped and unable to find shelter.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) aborted its attempt to evacuate civilians from Homs Thursday after encountering close gunfire.  The ICRC said it will attempt to go back to the area as soon as conditions permit.

The United Nations says up to 1.5 million Syrians are now in need of humanitarian assistance as it warns of a deteriorating situation in Syria. The figure reported by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is up from an earlier estimate of 1 million.

The U.N. reached a deal with Syrian authorities earlier this month to create a series of humanitarian hubs to allow the delivery of aid to the growing number of civilians who need basic goods and protection. But the world body said it is not able to send staff to those locations because of increased violence, which continued in several rebel strongholds on Friday.

Meanwhile, Jordan has granted political asylum to a Syrian pilot, Colonel Hassan al-Hamade, who flew his Russian-made MiG-21 fighter jet into the country Thursday while on a training mission.  Syria's government labeled the pilot a "deserter and a traitor" and contacted Jordanian authorities to try to retrieve the plane.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland praised the Syrian pilot's action as "extremely courageous."