Four killed in clashes in the country's northwest

Syrian protests continue as violence escalates across the country Things have intensified in Rastan, where fighting has been taking place in recent days and major sweeps have resulted in about 3,000 arrests in Syria over the last 72 hours. "Syrian troops going house to house have detained more than 3,000 people in the past three days in a rebellious town that government forces recently retook in some of the worst fighting since the country's uprising began six months ago, an activist has said.
He said the detainees were being held at a cement factory, as well as some schools and the Sports Club, a massive four-storey compound, in Rastain.
'Ten of my relatives have been detained,' said the activist, who asked that he be identified by this first name, Hassan. He was speaking from hiding.
'The situation in the town is miserable,' he said, adding that the town of some 70,000 people was heavily bombed for five days starting Tuesday when the army launched an offensive."
But the Syrian state media said that state troops had been hunting down "armed terrorists" in Rastan.
The Associated Press reported that four people have been killed in clashes in Syria today:
"Activists say at least four people have been killed in clashes between Syrian troops and army defectors in the country's northwest.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the three soldiers and one civilian were killed Tuesday in fighting in the region of Jabal al-Zawiya.
Activists also reported clashes elsewhere. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, said defectors attacked an army checkpoint in the southern village of Dael, wounding one officer."
Russia on Tuesday called the latest draft of a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the Syrian crackdown “unacceptable” despite last-minute changes that removed a direct reference to sanctions.
“The text that Western nations are planning to put up for a vote is clearly unacceptable,” Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the Interfax news agency.
European nations were expected to seek a vote later Tuesday on a resolution imposing “targeted measures” against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for a crackdown that has killed 2,700 according to U.N. estimates.
Russia had initially proposed its own resolution that simply called for more dialogue and then began pressing Western powers to water down the language in their draft.
The current proposal would impose sanctions if Assad failed to comply within 30 days with instructions to end violence and impose reforms.
Russia initially reserved judgment about the latest initiative and Gatilov did not spell out the details of Moscow’s complaint with the latest plan.
But he noted that “unfortunately, quite a few things there do not suit us and not all of our complaints were taken into account.”
The deputy foreign minister also repeated that Russia wanted the resolution to stress the importance of political dialogue that put equal pressure on both sides.