Syria frees 755 prisoners detained in crackdown

[December 28, 2011]  BEIRUT (AP) -- Syria's state-run news agency says authorities have released 755 prisoners who were detained in the government crackdown on dissent over the past nine months.

SANA says the release excludes prisoners with "blood on their hands."

The release of prisoners is one of the terms of the Arab League peace plan to stop the bloodshed in Syria and comes a day after Arab monitors were allowed to deploy in the country to ensure authorities are complying with the plan.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch had just accused Syrian authorities of hiding hundreds of detainees from the observers now in the country. It said the detainees have been transferred to off-limits military sites and urged the observers to insist on full access to all sites used for detention.

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THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.
AP's earlier story is below.

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BEIRUT (AP) -- Activists say at least four soldiers have been killed and 12 others wounded in southern Syria in an ambush carried out by a group of military defectors.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the ambush targeted a joint military and security convoy on the road between the villages of Khirbet Ghazaleh and Dael, in Daraa province.

Thousands of army defectors in Syria have grown increasingly bolder in attacking government forces.

Wednesday's ambush comes as Arab League observers began a second day of work touring districts in the flashpoint central city of Homs.

The observers are also expected to visit Daraa and other trouble spots under an agreement to monitor Syria's compliance with a plan to end the country's nearly 10-month-long crisis.

[Associated Press; By ZEINA KARAM]

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