Syrian rebels have captured a number of positions on the country's borders with Turkey and Iraq.

A senior Iraqi official said all the crossings on Syria's eastern frontier had been seized. At one point, two Turkish posts were also in rebel hands.

The push came a day after a bomb claimed the lives of three senior defence officials in Damascus.

The first images of President Assad since the attack have appeared, largely ending rumours he might have been hurt.

The footage appeared to show Gen Fahd Jassim al-Furayj, chief of staff of the armed forces, being sworn into his new post.

Escalating battle

The rebels, perhaps sensing that the regime was too preoccupied with the escalating battle for the capital, stormed all the posts on the Iraqi border, the BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon says.

The major Abu Kamal crossing on the Euphrates river in the east was captured after a clash with government forces, opposition activists said.

More than 20 Syrian soldiers and their commander were killed when a remote army outpost in the far north-east was attacked, Associated Press news agency reported.

Iraq's government, seen as sympathetic to President Bashar al-Assad, has threatened to shut its side of the border and one official told Reuters news agency that it was closing the Abu Kamal crossing.

On the frontier with Turkey, too, rebels were said to have taken control of two posts, at Bab al-Hawa and Jarablus.

Video from the Bab al-Hawa crossing in Idlib province soon emerged of rebels defacing a portrait of President Assad, but they later reportedly withdrew from the position.

For four days, rebels have been involved in clashes in areas of the capital as they push their "Damascus volcano" operation against Syrian armed forces.

Damascus-based activist Hassan describes how people are too afraid to venture outside

The deaths of three top security officials has led to a mobilisation of government troops in an attempt to drive the rebels out of the city.

The president's brother-in-law, the defence minister and head of the government's crisis team were killed by a bomb as they attended a meeting at the national security headquarters.

Tanks and armoured vehicles were reported to have moved into Qaboun on Thursday, close to the centre of Damascus.

There were heavy casualties, activists said, as a result of an army bombardment of Zamalka in the eastern outskirts of Damascus.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the number of fatalities across the country on Thursday at 250.

Hunt for Assad is on amid claims of wife's exit to Russia

 Rumours about the location of the royal couple were rife yesterday with unverified reports claiming that President Bashar al-Assad had fled to safety in the coastal province of Latakia while his glamorous British-born wife left for Russia. Although the president made a brief appearance on state television yesterday to swear in his new Defence Minister, Fahad Jassim al-Freij, whose predecessor was killed in the Damascus blast that took out several top regime officials, state television did not say where or when the footage was filmed. The president's first public appearance since the attack will, however, allay suspicions that the president was himself injured. Opposition sources and a Western diplomat told Reuters that the president was directing the official response to the assassinations from Latakia, the heartland for the Alawite sect to which the ruling family belongs. The Assad clan hails from the provincial town of Qardaha which perches on a hill above Latakia city. Assad's mother Anisa Makhlouf and his newly widowed sister Bushra travelled with the body of his brother-in-law Assef Shawkat to Latakia last night on a private jet, according to a Free Syrian Army source who said the group had "insiders" informing them of the ruling family's movements. The same source said that Assad had been injured – but in an attack earlier on Wednesday and not the blast at the national security centre. "The president was in Al Shaab Palace in Damascus and there was a warning at 3.30am and they decided to move him," the source said. "As they moved, the Free Syrian Army was striking the area with mortars and one hit the cars. He only had small injuries." The Syrian ambassador to Moscow, Riyad Haddad, told Russian news agency Interfax that reports that the First Lady Asma al-Assad, had fled there were "completely false". With information so murky, some speculated that the blast did not happen at all and instead was part of an elaborate regime hoax to cover up the fact that senior security officials were poisoned. Salman Shaikh, a Syria analyst at the Brookings Doha centre, said he was "increasingly suspicious" about the events. "Assef Shawkat may well have been poisoned along with other members of security cell on 19 May in operation claimed by Kataba Sahaba," he said on social networking site Twitter. "It may well have been compelled to reveal the deaths to justify the massive killing operation it has launched to clean up Damascus."

Tattoos are permanent reminders of temporary feelings

'It's wisest to pick someone whom you cannot break up with or divorce.' Photograph: Gary Powell/Getty Images

Tattoos are permanent reminders of temporary feelings – at least if you believe the report in Thursday's Daily Mail, which looked at "embarrassing" matching couple tattoos – designs that complement or complete each other across two, romantically involved bodies.

Yet there are millions of people who feel no embarrassment about the tattoos they share with their friends, lovers and even exes. Moreover, as with most perceived "new trends" in tattooing, this practice is one with a history far older than the current generation; it's a phenomenon that provides both an insight into human beings' fundamental relationships with their own bodies and the bodies and lives of those close to them.

 

Tattoos have been used as markers of association for probably as long as human beings have walked the earth, to mark tribal affiliations, regimental membership in the military, membership of fraternal orders such as the masons or US college Greek letter groups, and to signify gang membership.

The most common of these types of affiliative tattoos, though, is marking an attachment to a loved one. There's an old adage in tattooed circles that suggests getting your lover's name tattooed on you is a sure kiss of death for that relationship, and it's an old gag too: Norman Rockwell's famous 1944 Saturday Evening Post cover painting, The Tattooist, shows a salty sailor in the tattooist's chair, having yet another name added to an arm already full of the crossed-out names of past paramours. Even earlier, a cartoon in Punch from 1916 shows a "fickle young thing" – a well-turned-out young woman, as it happens – revisiting her tattooist to seek an amendment to the ornamental crest tattoo on her arm as she has, euphemistically, "exchanged into another regiment".

 

None of this seems to have affected the long-standing popularity of having names or symbols tattooed to commemorate couples' love and bond. Magazines in the 1920s reported the latest fad for newlyweds was getting matching tattooed wedding rings; preserved tattooed skins in the Wellcome Collection from the late 19th century feature names and portraits of lovers; studies of tattoos in the American navy in the 18th century reveal a large percentage of seamen of the period bore tattoos of the names of women; even Christian pilgrims in the 16th century were recorded to have borne the names of their wives on their skins, as tokens or identificatory marks; and records attest to romantic tattooing even in ancient Rome – St Basil the Great (329-380) is said to have condemned the tattooing of a lover's name that he observed on someone's hand. While I'd certainly never advocate getting a permanent mark of your relationship too hastily, it does seem that the instinct to inscribe a permanent token transcends the ages. Caveat amator.

 

Single tattoos that span multiple bodies appear to be a more recent phenomenon, however. In 1977, New York-based tattoo artist Spider Webb undertook what was probably the first conceptual art project to use tattooing, in a piece called X-1000, in which he tattooed single, small Xs on to 999 individuals, and, as a culmination, one large X on the final, 1,000th skin, conceived as one contiguous work. This tattoo, potentially spanning thousands of miles at any one time, was, Webb said, "the largest tattoo ever done at any point in history". In 2000, as the culmination to a performance art project begun in 1998 designed to highlight the horrific lives and plights of the homeless and hungry in Mexico City, Santiago Sierra produced his piece 160cm Line Tattooed on Four People, a single black line tattooed across the backs of prostitutes in exchange for wraps of heroin, as a symbol of their desperation, interdependence, and utter powerlessness. Sierra would later remark: "You could make this tattooed line a kilometre long, using thousands and thousands of willing people." In 2003, author Shelley Jackson famously published her short story Skin on the bodies of 2095, one tattooed word per person. These tattoos bring together strangers in common cause.

 

My favourite set of matching tattoos, though, are probably the ongoing collection of work worn by twins Caleb and Jordan Kilby, tattooed with matching work by influential and extraordinarily talented New York-based artist Thomas Hooper. If you must get matching tattoos with someone, it's wisest to pick someone whom you cannot break up with or divorce, and to get the work carried out by a tattoo artist who will produce a piece of work that will stand the test of time on its own terms.

Latvian company creates leather bound Ferrari

We're familiar with seeing tight leather on smoking hot women, and weird old men, but it's a first for us seeing a leather bound Ferrari F430.

There seems to be a lot of fuss over this leather bound Ferrari F430 in the UK with both The Sun and The Daily Mail reporting about it recently.

However, this isn’t a new car by any means as US motoring blog Jalopnikreported on the F430 way back in August last year. It’s a pretty cool, albeit manky, car so we thought we’d show you anyway.

It’s the work of a Latvian custom car company called Dartz who hit the headlines in 2009 when they created a $1.5 million ruby red SUV with whale foreskin-covered seats. Yes, foreskin…

Anyway, some high roller with more cash then sense decided it would be a great idea to cover his €170,000 Ferrari in dark leather.

The owner of Dartz, Leonard Yankelovich, said: "One of our very rich customers from the Cote d'Azur wanted a leather exterior and knew we could deliver.

"It took three of my staff 16 working days to apply the leather and finish. He was more than happy when he picked it up."

He won’t be too happy when he scratches it though.

Is this the most expensive way to ruin a Ferrari?

Morsi wins Egypt's presidential election

The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi has officially won Egypt's presidential election and will be the country's next president, the electoral commission has announced. Morsi picked up 13.2 million votes out of just over 26 million, giving him about 51 per cent of the vote. His competitor, Ahmed Shafiq, the final prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, received 12.3 million. More than 800,000 ballots were invalidated. Farouq Sultan, the head of the election commission, delivered a long speech before announcing the results in which he defended the body's "independence and integrity" amidst what he called meddling by unnamed political factions. The final results Turnout: 26,420,763 (51 per cent) Invalidated votes: 843,252 Morsi: 13,230,131 votes (51.7 per cent of valid votes) Shafiq: 12,347,380 votes Read more on our live blog » The two candidates filed 456 complaints about the electoral process, Sultan said, most of them allegations of either forgery or Christian voters being blocked from polling stations in Upper Egypt. The vast majority of those complaints were dismissed. Tahrir Square erupted into celebration after Morsi's victory was announced. Tens of thousands of his supporters waved Egyptian flags and chanted "God is great" and "down with military rule." Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Egypt's military ruler, congratulated Morsi on his victory, state television reported. Reactions also trickled in from around the region: The governments of Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the Palestinian Authority congratulated the winner. Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said in a statement that he "respects the outcome" of the election, and "expects to continue cooperation with the Egyptian administration." There was no immediate reaction from Shafiq's campaign. Bishop Pachomius, the caretaker pope of Egypt's Coptic Church, issued a short statement congratulating Morsi. The Coptic community makes up about 10 per cent of Egypt's population, and some were worried by Morsi's candidacy, fearing that his government would restrict their personal freedoms. Gehad el-Haddad, Morsi's campaign spokesman, said in an interview shortly after the results were announced that Morsi would work to be a "president for all Egyptians." The president-elect is expected to take his oath of office later this month in front of the country's supreme court - though a spokesman said on Facebook that Morsi would take the oath in front of parliament, the "only elected institution" in the country. The Muslim Brotherhood said in a statement that Morsi had resigned his positions in both the Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party, fulfilling a campaign pledge. Political uncertainty ahead Morsi's victory caps off more than a week of behind-the-scenes negotiations between the Brotherhood and the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). He claimed victory just hours after last week's runoff election, based on unofficial numbers tallied by the Brotherhood, but the commission delayed its official announcement until Sunday. In the intervening days, Khairat al-Shater, the Brotherhood's political boss, met generals from SCAF at least once. Sources say they were negotiating exactly what powers the president will have. Morsi's spokesman, Gehad el-Haddad, reacts to the announcement on Al Jazeera Despite Morsi's victory, many of those questions about his power remain unanswered. "This is not the end of the game, it's a start of a huge responsibility," el-Haddad told Al Jazeera. "It comes with more challenges, turning from being the largest opposition group in Egypt to leading the country with its national front." Shortly before the polls closed last week, the generals issued a decree sharply limiting the powers of the new president. It permitted him to declare war, for example, only with the approval of the military council. SCAF will also keep control of legislative power, and the budget, until a new parliament is elected. Egyptians went to the polls in November to elect a legislature, which was dominated by the Freedom and Justice Party, but it was dissolved earlier this month after a high court ruling found parts of the electoral law unconstitutional. Saad el-Katatni, the speaker of the now-dissolved parliament, also met with officials from SCAF, and told them that the Brotherhood would not accept the court ruling or the election-night decree. But it's unclear whether the Brotherhood ultimately accepted those decisions in exchange for the presidency. Either way, the military council - which has promised to hand over power to a civilian government on June 30, in a "grand ceremony" - will remain a powerful force in Egyptian politics, despite the election of a civilian president.

Ship bound for Syria was carrying 3 old helicopters repaired in Russia

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has confirmed in an exclusive interview to RT that a Russian ship bound for Syria was carrying 3 Syrian helicopters that had been repaired in Russia. RT: The Western media this week has been frenzied about Russia sending warships and helicopters to Syria. How do you react to that? Sergey Lavrov: It was part of a campaign and not a very decent campaign, I would say. We are sending no battleships to Syria. We have been saying publicly that we have been implementing contracts under which we have to supply arms to Syria. Those armaments are entirely defensive and they mostly consist of air defense systems, which cannot be used against the population and can only be used to respond to outside aggression. The ship which is being discussed these days was indeed carrying air defense systems. It was carrying three helicopters which had been repaired in Russia under contracts signed in 2008. Those are Soviet helicopters. They have been in Syria from Soviet days. In 2008 there was a contract to repair them. They are still to be assembled after delivery. The entire process will take no less than three months. '[Helicopters] are still to be assembled after delivery. The entire process will take no less than three months,' – Lavrov. So to speak about something we have just sold to Syria and which is being used in action is not true at all. But this story has another twist with the British insurance company, which decided to withdraw insurance from this particular ship. This is a testimony that the insurance system of Great Britain is not reliable, because they were citing sanctions imposed on Syria unilaterally by the EU. This means that anyone – any country or any company – who is not violating any international rules, who is not violating any UN Security Council resolutions might be subject to extra-territorial application of somebody else’s unilateral sanctions. This is a very slippery slope. I do believe we have to discuss the issue of unilateral sanctions in a systematic manner: what they mean and what can be done to make those who faithfully implement international law, including UNSC resolutions, not be subject to application of somebody else’s rules. 'In principle dealing with any international issue you need to include partners with whom you have difficulties, not isolate them. Isolation never works,' – Lavrov. Bad examples are contagious. It was until recently the US which was resorting to unilateral sanctions to punish countries every now and then, including sanctions with extra-territorial application. Now unfortunately the EU is taking the cue, beginning to use sanctions in a unilateral manner more and more against Syria, but also against some other cases. This is a trend which is counter-productive. In principle dealing with any international issue you need to include partners with whom you have difficulties, not isolate them. Isolation never works. RT: We are hearing reports of a clemency for President Assad from the West if he steps down, some kind of immunity, how would Russia react to that? SL: I would just repeat what I said: it's for the Syrian people to decide who should rule them, how they should live. The main thing for the external players is to ensure that they all sit down at the negotiating table to discuss their future, where the minority and the majority will feel safe and included into the political system, otherwise the groups that now support president Assad, and there are quite a number who do so, would be in the opposition to the ruling majority and the war and violence would continue, but the positions of the participants would be shifted. This is something that might happen if people insist on one-sided approaches to the crisis and on imposing something on the Syrians. RT: Some would argue that this was the case in Libya, where a hundred people were killed just this week alone. Obviously this is not what people thought they were fighting for in the previous year’s uprising against Muammar Gaddafi. Is this the same fate that Syria has if there is some kind of an intervention? SL: It could not be the same, because there would be no resolution of the UN Security Council authorizing outside interference. 'There would be no resolution of the UN Security Council authorizing outside interference,'  – Lavrov. RT: In terms of the aftermath of any kind of intervention for the people? SL: I think intervention in Syria would be disastrous for the region. Syria is a multi-ethnic, multi-confessional country, whose different confessional groups have close relations to sister confessional groups in other countries. Lebanon has already been influenced by the Syrian developments. Inter-ethnic clashes and strife can take place very fast and can embrace the entire region. The Kurdish problem: the Kurds live in Syria, Turkey, in Iraq and other countries. The problem of Christians: Christians in Egypt have been subject to some violence. It is very dangerous. They have been living there for centuries. To topple this balance would be catastrophic. RT: British Prime Minister David Cameron says that in Los Cabos at the G20 meeting President Vladimir Putin shifted his view on the situation in Syria. Is that true? SL: It is not true. The meetings with UK PM David Cameron and US President Barack Obama did discuss Syria. Both our partners said President Bashar Al-Assad must go and external players must develop a transition plan for the Syrians to agree. We expressed our position that we cannot accept a policy which would aim at changing regimes from the outside. This has been our position all along. We also cannot prejudge for the Syrians what the outcome of the political dialogue would be. We strongly support a political dialogue and efforts to stop the violence. We suggest for this purpose that all external players should lean on the Syrian party on which they have influence and thus persuade them to withdraw from cities – both the government and opposition – to sit down and have a dialogue. But there should be no prejudging from outside what the substance and result of this dialogue might be. It’s for the Syrians to decide. I have seen the statement made by PM Cameron that President Putin shifted his position after meetings in Los Cabos. It is not true at all. President Putin was asked in Los Cabos himself at his press conference about his position on Syria. He expressed it exactly the way he did with David Cameron and Barack Obama.

CIA secretly operates on Syrian border, supplies arms to rebels

American secret service operatives are distributing illegal assault rifles, anti-tank rocket launchers and other ammunition to Syrian opposition, the New York Times reports. But due to some rebels’ links to Al Qaeda, the CIA’s task is precarious. The paper reports that for weeks now, officers based in southeast Turkey have supervised the flow of illegal arms to numerous opposition factions ready to fight the regime of President Bashar Assad. The only problem is some of the rebel groups have links with terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda, so the CIA mission must be careful not to arm proven terrorists by mistake. Arms and ammunition are being brought into Syria mainly over the Turkish border with the help of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood network and other groups, the report says. Expenses are being shared by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The NYT source, an unnamed Arab intelligence official, revealed that American officers are also collecting information on Syrian opposition groups and recruiting informants among their ranks. The source said the Obama administration is considering sharing its intelligence data, such as satellite images and detailed information on the location and maneuvers of Syrian troops. According to the source, CIA operatives might be helping the rebels with organizing a rudimentary intelligence organization. The CIA agents have reportedly not set foot on Syrian soil, however. While, it seems, supplying Syrian opposition with arms, the US would like to see Syria’s allies, Russia in the first place, stop supplying weapons to the regime of President Bashar Assad. Washington has expressed concern with Russia performing maintenance of Syrian Mi-25 assault helicopters. Moscow has consistently denied supplying to Damascus any types of assault weapons that can be used against armed rebels. Russia’s Foreign Ministry says the country has only supplied Syria with defensive capabilities such as anti-air missile systems. Russia is not violating any international sanctions against Syria, and Moscow has declared it will not cease military cooperation with Damascus. Prior to the report about CIA officers operating on the Turkish-Syrian border, the Obama administration’s declared policy on the conflict in Syria centered on diplomacy and humanitarian aid. The State Department has reportedly allocated $15 million in medical supplies and communication equipment for armed opposition groups in Syria. In the meantime it seems the Pentagon is considering various options for interference in the Syrian conflict, including establishing no-fly zones over the country, as was done in Libya a year ago. American and Israeli generals are also concerned with securing alleged stockpiles of Syrian chemical weapons, the very existence of which has never been proven.

Syrian fighter pilot defects to Jordan

Syrian fighter plane has landed at a military air base in the north of Jordan and the pilot has been granted political asylum, officials say. Jordan's information minister said the MiG-21 pilot, an air force colonel, was being debriefed. Syria has condemned the pilot as a traitor, and has asked the Jordanian government for the return of its plane. Meanwhile violence continues to prevent Red Cross teams from moving civilians out of the old city of Homs. 'Humanitarian grounds' The Russian-made MiG-21 landed at the King Hussein Air Base in Mafraq, close to the Syrian border, officials said. It is believed to be the first such defection by a Syrian pilot with his plane. The Syrian state news agency Sana named the pilot as Col Hassan Mirei al-Hamadeh, and said his plane was near the southern border when contact was lost at around 10:34 (07:34 GMT). State TV said the plane had gone missing during a training mission. A Jordanian official told Associated Press that the pilot's request for political asylum had been given on "humanitarian grounds" as the colonel would be tortured or killed if he returned home. A spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army, Ahmad Kassem, said the group had encouraged the pilot to defect, AP reported. A Jordanian security source said the pilot had flown from al-Dumair military airport, north-east of Damascus. The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says Col Hamadeh may well have flown over the Deraa area close to the southern border where some of the bloodiest fighting of the day has been reported. According to activists, as many as 18 people died when the town of Inkhel was hit by shells and a series of raids by government forces. Heavy shelling In Homs, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that it had the green light from government forces as well as assurances from opposition groups that there would be a two-hour pause in fighting in the worst affected areas of the city to allow aid and medical supplies to be brought in and trapped civilians to be taken out. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Reports that they were carrying helicopters can be used against peaceful demonstrators is quite a distortion aimed at whipping up passions and putting Russia in a bad light".” Sergei Lavrov Russian Foreign Minister But spokeswoman Carla Haddad Mardini told the BBC that the team had had to turn back "due to shooting and the security situation". "The team is now in Homs city and will attempt today to return to the area. They have re-established contact with both sides," she said. Waleed Faris, a resident of one area the ICRC was trying to enter, said shelling had been heaviest at dawn on Thursday but there were signs it was subsiding. "Early this morning there was heavy shelling. Now I can hear one or two mortars fall every half an hour. It is quiet today compared to the past few days," he told Reuters news agency. Russian helicopters In a separate development, the Russian government has confirmed for the first time that a cargo ship that was stopped off the north coast of Scotland and sent back to Russia was carrying three refurbished attack helicopters destined for Syria. The MV Alaed had its insurance withdrawn because The Standard Club in London, which supplied its cover, said the ship had "broken internal rules". UN observers have expressed fears recently about the use of such helicopters in attacks by government forces. Last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Russia of escalating the conflict by supplying Syria with attack helicopters, although US officials later acknowledged the helicopters had been refurbished. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that reports that the ship was carrying helicopters that could be "used against peaceful demonstrators is quite a distortion aimed at whipping up passions and putting Russia in a bad light". He told Ekho Moskvy radio: "We are not breaching anything and we will perform our contractual obligations, which are not outside the restrictions imposed by the UN Security Council." He said the helicopters had been repaired by Russia under a 2008 contract.

Syrian troops have tortured children and used them as human shields on tanks to prevent attacks by opposition forces

Syrian troops have tortured children and used them as human shields on tanks to prevent attacks by opposition forces, a UN report says. The UN's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict said children were being tortured in detention and slaughtered in massacres. The report said rebel forces were also using children on the front line. Separately the US has accused Syria of planning another massacre, while the UN chief condemned the rising violence. 'Torture marks' The UN special representative, Radhika Coomaraswamy, told the BBC her team had returned from Syria with "horrific" reports. She said she had never seen a similar situation where children were not spared - and even targeted - in a conflict. "Many former soldiers spoke about shooting into civilian areas, seeing children, young children being killed and maimed," she said. "We also had testimonies and saw children who had been tortured, and who carried the torture marks with them. We also heard of children being used - this was recounted to us by some children - of being put on tanks and being used as human shields so that the tanks would not be fired upon." However, she also criticised the opposition Free Syrian Army for endangering children. "For the first time we heard of children being recruited by the Free Syrian Army mainly in medical and service orientated jobs but still on the front line," she said. Ms Coomaraswamy said the suffering inflicted on children in Syria was unusual even for combat situations. "We are really quite shocked. Killing and maiming of children in cross-fire is something we come across in many conflicts but this torture of children in detention, children as young as 10, is something quite extraordinary, which we don't really see in other places." The UN is pushing for the evacuation of people trapped by shelling in Homs She said that in recent massacres children under the age of 10 had been summarily killed. The UN's annual report on children and armed conflict cited one attack on the village of Ayn l'Arouz in Idlib province on 9 March. It quoted a witness saying how several young children were forcibly taken from their homes and "used by soldiers and militia members as human shields, placing them in front of the windows of buses carrying military personnel into the raid on the village". Other children described being beaten, blindfolded, subjected to stress positions, whipped with heavy electrical cables, scarred by cigarette burns and in one case subjected to electrical shock during interrogations, the report said. 'Accountable' A team of UN military observers is currently inside Syria as part of a six-point peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. Despite all international diplomatic efforts, bloodshed is continuing on a daily basis. Activists said more than 100 people were killed on Monday across the country, with the heaviest casualties in northern Idlib province. Activists say the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is deliberately targeting civilian populations, while the government blames the violence on "armed gangs". US state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said there were fears the Syrian government "may be organising another massacre", in the town of Haffa in Latakia province, where UN military observers have been denied access. "We are calling this out now in the hope that we can stop what could be a potential massacre," she said, adding: "People will be held accountable." Earlier this month, activists said Syrian government forces killed 108 people in the region of Houla, in Homs province, and 78 people in the village of Qubair, in Hama province. The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says Syrian state television has been playing recordings of what it says is an intercepted phone conversation between militants, with one of them ordering the rebels to carry out a massacre of civilians at Haffa, film it, and blame the government. He says the UN observers are eager to get to the area to prevent any massacre happening, but the government forces are apparently blocking them. Rebel fighters in the town are besieged by the government troops, who have been using artillery, tanks and attack helicopters. There are increasing fears among UN observers about the use of attack helicopters. In a statement, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed "deep concern at the dangerous intensification of armed violence across Syria over the past several days". He said: "The Syrian government's intensive military operations, including the shelling of Homs and reportedly other population centres, as well as firing from helicopters on Talbiseh and Rastan, are resulting in heavy civilian casualties and human rights violations." Our correspondent says the situation in Homs is of particular concern, with many families trapped by shelling. The UN wants to evacuate people from the battle zone but he says that, so far, this has proven impossible. There are also reports that the army has shelled a night-time protest in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, with activists saying 11 people have been killed. Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who is visiting Pakistan, said foreign military intervention was not being considered for Syria and that all efforts were being made for a peaceful transition. "I think we should not think about it in terms of another Libya," he said.

More than 140 people, more than half of them from South Sudan were arrested by Israel's immigration police in a series of sweeping raids.

 (Reuters)

Foreigners illegally residing in Israel have said they have been “treated like animals” by Israeli authorities, as a campaign to arrest and deport the immigrants came into action on Monday.

More than 140 people, more than half of them from South Sudan were arrested by Israel's immigration police in a series of sweeping raids on Sunday and Monday aimed at rounding up and deporting illegal immigrants, officials said Tuesday, according to Israeli news reports. 

But while officials said that they had “signed voluntary departure forms,” the news site reported, the immigrants said they had been forced to leave.

“They fired all the people, so they decided to leave,” Michael Bazia, 45, a Sudanese community leader in Arad, told Ynet. “They treat us like animals so we have no choice but to go back.

“They are going from house to house and rounding up people. They tell us: ‘Get your things and go,’” Bazia said, adding that “the (people) are willing to go home, but not in this manner. We are tired of this. We’ve only had independence for 10 months. You can’t build a state in 10 months,” referring to South Sudan, the world’s newest nation. 

“They said they would give us a week to prepare, but the week hasn’t ended yet and they already started with the arrests,” Bazia added.

The arrests on Monday follow orderly protests on Sunday by about 500 Sudanese men against their expulsion. 

“We are refugees, not criminals,” the Sudanese chanted, in a retort to allegations that Africans prey on Israeli citizens, following high-profile rape allegations.

“We’re being called a cancer and an AIDS virus on the Israeli people, by politicians in the Knesset,” protest organizer Jacob Berri said, accusing the government right-wingers of racist incitement and inflammatory language. 

Many Sudanese, including hundreds who escaped from conflict and humanitarian disaster in Darfur, have been in Israel for several years, living in legal limbo without formal refugee status, but peacefully, they say.

Berri said the South Sudanese “know when they are not wanted and will leave.” But their refugee status must first be assured by the United Nations, and third-country resettlement programs established.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned last week of Africans “flooding” and “swamping” Israel, threatening “the character of the country.” He also said that emergency measures to reverse the influx will include “detention facilities with thousands of units.”

An official at the Population and Immigration Authority claimed that “whoever wants to leave voluntarily can receive a grant and some time to sort their affairs in Israel; this is much more respectful; each person should decide according to their own considerations,” the news website reported.

Israel Interior Minister Eli Yishai has said that the campaign “is not aimed against infiltrators, but instead is meant to preserve Israel’s character as a Zionist-Jewish country.”

“What we witnessed today was just the beginning of the battle for the future of Israel. I’m certain that the court will also sanction the deportation of infiltrators from Eritrea and Sudan, who pose the main threat,” Yishai told Ynet.

Meanwhile, the Immigration Authority said the operation to arrest the 1,500 South Sudanese migrants will continue in the coming weeks. According to Israeli media reports, the goal is to repatriate all the estimated 60,000 African migrants, including some 35,000 Eritreans.

But Israel cannot deport all Eritreans due to international obligations, which include Eritrea being recognized by the United Nations and the international community as a country ruled by a tyrannical regime that systematically violates human rights.

The situation in Israel, a country which was built essentially by immigrants and refugees, has led many commentators to believe that deportation is a bad solution which could damage the international image of the country.

Critics have said the rounding up of members from different racial groups and holding them in camps for deportation may invite allusions to the Nazi Holocaust and betrays Jewish values, however unfair such comparisons may be.