Syrian deserters seize town of Douma in northeast of Damascus.

Syrian army deserters on Saturday seized the town of Douma just northeast of Damascus after fierce fighting, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement, as escalated violence throughout the country killed left 94 people dead, including 60 from the town of Idlib alone.

“Groups of deserters took control of all districts in the town of Douma, near Damascus, after fierce fighting on Saturday with Syrian security forces,” the Observatory’s chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP, citing militants there.

The latest development came amid intensified violence across the country with the Revolution’s General Commission reporting the death of 94 people, 60 of them were found in Idlib hospital morgue,

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights earlier reported that an explosion killed at least 14 people and injured 32 on a minibus carrying prisoners in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib.

“Eleven prisoners were killed in the explosion which targeted a prison truck on the road between Idlib town and the village of Mastumeh,” The Syrian Observatory’s chairman, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP by telephone.

A number of security personnel accompanying the prisoners were wounded, Abdel Rahman said, without being able to provide details.

The British-based group, which monitors a 10-month-old uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, gave no further details. No independent confirmation was available.

Separately, the Observatory reported that a member of the security forces was killed in fighting between dissidents and soldiers at Kfarnebel, in the Zawiya mountains of Idlib province, with troops using heavy machineguns.

It also said security forces had arrested seven people Saturday, including four members of the same family, in Iblin village.

The Syrian Coordination Committees had also reported that 30 dead bodies were in found Idlib National Hospital, including the bodies of prisoners, Al Arabiya TV reported.

The United Nations estimates that more than 5,400 people have been killed in Syria since anti-regime demonstrations erupted in March.

Meanwhile, the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) has formally asked the Arab League to refer the Syrian crisis to the U.N. Security Council, after Arab observers failed to end the bloodshed, an opposition spokeswoman said.

Syrian opposition groups have called in the past for the case to be referred to the Security Council but had not made a formal request to the 22-member League, whose foreign ministers are due to discuss the Syrian crisis on Sunday.

“We think that when the Arab League refers the case to the United Nations and to the Security Council the situation will change,” SNC spokeswoman Basma ElKadamny told reporters in Cairo on Saturday.
Asked about Chinese and Russian opposition to any Security Council involvement, she said: “When the Arab League transfers the case to the United Nations and affirms to the world that the Syrian regime is not cooperating with the Arab League, all countries will have to take new positions.