BEIRUT — Syria’s main opposition group said nearly 800 people have been killed in violence across the country in the past week which saw some of the bloodiest violence in the 16-month uprising against President Bashar Assad.
Opposition groups say more than 14,000 people have been killed in the uprising, or on average of about 900 a month. That would make last week’s toll alone, tallied by the Syrian National Council, almost as high as the monthly average.
The SNC did not explain how it arrived at the death toll but said in a statement that most of the dead were killed in indiscriminate tank and helicopter shelling by regime forces on residential areas throughout Syria.
The conflict is also threatening to spill across borders after Syria shot down a warplane from neighboring Turkey, which responded by saying it would treat any Syrian military unit approaching its border as a direct threat.
Turkey said Sunday it scrambled fighter jets to its border after Syrian helicopters flew too close to the frontier.
