43 Killed as Clashes Rage across Syria

Violence across Syria killed at least 43 people on Sunday, 36 of them civilians caught in fierce fighting between troops and armed insurgents.

Sunday's highest concentration of deaths was in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor where nine civilians and three rebels were reportedly killed.

Regime forces shelled several areas of Damascus province, a day after mortar fire killed at least 30 civilians attending a funeral in the town of Zamalka, 10 kilometers (six miles) east of the capital, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based watchdog said troops shelled the town of Daraya during the night, killing four people, adding that several blasts were heard in Damascus itself, without elaborating on casualties there.

A civilian and a rebel fighter were killed in al-Tal and Douma in Damascus province, both sites of clashes, the Observatory said.

The army reportedly staged a bloody attack on Douma on Saturday.

In the central province of Hama, regime forces shot dead five people, the monitoring group said.

Activists in Hama told Agence France Presse that regime forces shelled the Halfaya suburb, while grassroots opposition network the Local Coordination Committees said the army was using helicopters to attack the area.

Meanwhile the army continued to shell several besieged neighborhoods of the central city of Homs, according to activists, with the Observatory saying several buildings in the Jourat al-Shiah neighborhood were destroyed, leading to at least one death.

Rebels and regime forces clashed in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, the Observatory added.

The northern province of Aleppo saw continued fighting too, where "regime forces withdrew from the village of Atarib," the monitoring group said. A rebel fighter was killed in clashes in the same province, while a young detainee died under torture by regime forces, it added.

The village is situated near Idlib province, where three civilians were reportedly killed. Much of the northwestern border province is under rebel control.

Three people were also killed in the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the uprising, including two young girls, according to the Observatory.

At least 120 people were killed across Syria on Saturday, the group said earlier, revising up a previous toll of 83.