Israeli air raids on three military sites near Damascus killed at least 42 soldiers at the weekend, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in an updated toll on Monday. "At least 42 soldiers were killed in the strikes, and another 100 who would usually be at the targeted sites remain unaccounted for," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. The Britain-based watchdog group had earlier given a toll of at least 15 soldiers killed. bur-sah/dv

The Turkish authorities are carrying out blood tests on Syrians who have fled the fighting at home to determine if they have been victims of chemical weapons, a medical source said Monday. "Samples have been taken from people wounded in Syria who have been transported to Turkey," the source said on condition of anonymity, adding that the results were not yet known. Western nations have raised concerns about the use of chemical weapons in the escalating conflict between the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and rebels fighting to oust him.

Syria's rebel Free Syrian Army reacted cautiously on Sunday to reported Israeli air strikes near Damascus, saying their country was already under attack daily by regime war planes. "Of course the Free Syrian Army and any Syrian is bothered that their country is being bombed, but Syria is being bombed every day by (President) Bashar al-Assad, and by Israel," FSA media and political coordinator Louay Muqdad told AFP.

Cairo, May 4 (EFE).- More than 60 people, including women and children, have been executed by forces of the Syrian regime between Friday and Saturday in the Sunni-majority neighborhood of Raas Nabea in the coastal city of Banias, activist groups said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a communique that 62 bodies have been found in the area, while the Syrian Revolution General Commission raised the number of fatalities to 87. Ras al Nabaa, where hundreds of civilians had fled, was besieged and bombarded by troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.