SYRIA SLAPS TRAVEL BAN ON PRESIDENT’S COUSIN

An inquiry into the deaths of the anti-government protestors forced Syria to bar two of its top officials from going abroad of which one of them is a cousin of the President Bashar al-Assad, a state media said on Monday.

Ateb Najib, cousin of the President was barred from foreign travel along with Faisal Kulthum, the town’s former governor as they protested against the government erupted in mid-March.

The commission of inquiry voiced that immunity could not be accorded to those who commit crimes and that law must be applied according to the state media.

Further, the village near Jisr al-Shughour witnessed Syrian troops rounding up hundreds of people after the President’s army retook the rebellious town.

According to activists, around 7000 Syrians fled to Turkey to seek shelter while thousands of others have moved close to the frontier in rural areas just inside Syria.

A week passed by after the authorities had stated that nearly 120 security personnel were killed in fighting and Monday’s wave of arrests followed an army assault on the northwestern town.

Report by Sumit