Syria releases 1,180 prisoners detained during months-long unrest

The Syrian government released Tuesday a total of 1,180 prisoners arrested during the eight-month- long unrest who didn't commit homicide crimes, the state-run SANA news agency reported. Earlier this month, Syria released 553 prisoners on the occasion of the Muslim's Eid al-Adha holiday. The private al-Watan newspaper said Tuesday that Syrian authorities released on Monday hundreds of Syrian prisoners who were arrested during the unrest in the country. Activists said thousands of people have been detained during the eight-month-old unrest in Syria. Protesters in Syria demanded the release of those arrested during the crisis which is also part of a peace plan reached between the Syrian government and the Arab League, aiming at bringing an end to the Syrian political crisis. Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights said a total of 34 soldiers were killed in an ambush in the southern province of Daraa by armed men believed to be army defectors. Al-Watan said Tuesday that statistics of the National Hospital in the central province of Homs showed that 3,230 civilians and military personnel had been killed or injured by "armed gangs" in the province since the eruption of unrest in the country in mid March.