Syrians Find Mass Graves

Syrian villagers have found as many as 26 bodies piled into two fresh graves near the recently occupied city of Daraa, four locals tell Reuters. Authorities stepped in quickly to cordon off the area, but villagers were able to identify one of the men and several of his children, activists tell Al Jazeera. Syria’s government says the report is "totally false," and part of a “campaign of incitement” against it.

The report came as another city in the region got the Daraa treatment. Tanks and armored personnel carriers rolled into Nawa today after weeks spent circling it. Activists say soldiers fired machine guns in the air and combed through the neighborhood arresting “scores of men.” On Saturday, troops launched a similar campaign in the border town of Tel Kelakh. “They destroyed the houses, they cut electricity and water,” one resident says. “The wounded are dying in our hands and the dead are strewn on the streets." (More Syria stories.)