– Bloody Crackdown In Syria 
AP – In this citizen journalism image acquired by the AP, Syrian refugees are seen inside Syria, near the … AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian troops rounded up hundreds of people in a sweep through villages near Jisr al-Shughour on Monday, fleeing residents said, after President Bashar al-Assad's army retook the rebellious northwestern town.
Nearly 7,000 Syrians have fled the region around Jisr al-Shughour, seeking sanctuary in neighboring Turkey, while thousands more are sheltering in rural areas just inside Syria, activists say.
Monday's wave of arrests followed an assault by troops, tanks and helicopters to regain control of the town, one week after authorities said 120 security personnel were killed there in fighting they blamed on "armed groups."
Some residents said those killed were soldiers who had mutinied, refusing to shoot protesters and joining demonstrators calling for an end to Assad's rule.
The town of 50,000, just 20 km (12 miles) south of the Turkish border, is the latest focus of a military crackdown on the protests which have swept Syria for nearly three months and continue despite the deaths of hundreds of civilians.
Refugees from Jisr al-Shughour said the military was combing villages to the east of the town and arresting hundreds of men between the ages of 18 and 40, in a pattern seen in other military crackdowns since the unrest started in March.
Residents said the army unit that took the town was commanded by Assad's brother Maher.
Ahmad Yassin, 27, said he left his 7,000 sq meter plot of land east of Jisr al-Shughour early on Monday when a force of 200 soldiers and men wearing black came in armored personnel carriers and cars and poured petrol on the wheat crops.
"I tried to save my three cows but there was no time. I put my wife and two children in the car and drove straight to the border," he said.
His account of troops setting fire to crops echoed reports from other refugees, but the official state news agency has accused "armed terrorist groups" of burning land as sabotage.
Syrian rights groups say 1,300 civilians have been killed since the start of the uprising. One group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says more than 300 soldiers and police have also been killed.
Syria has banned most foreign correspondents, making it difficult to verify accounts of events.
ARMY TAKES CONTROL
The government says the protests are part of a violent conspiracy backed by foreign powers to sow sectarian strife.
Army units "have taken total control of Jisr al-Shughour and are chasing remnants of the armed terrorist gangs in the woods and mountains," the Syrian news agency said on Sunday.
It said a soldier and two armed men were killed in clashes around the town. The army defused explosives planted on bridges and roads and uncovered mass graves holding mostly mutilated bodies of 12 security men killed by armed groups, it said.
Thousands of people from Jisr al-Shughour, located on a vital road junction, had already fled to Turkey before Sunday's assault. Turkey has grown increasingly critical of Assad and has now set up four camps to accommodate refugees.
In a sign of tension between Syria and Turkey, which had close trade and political ties before the crisis, supporters of Assad protested outside Turkey's embassy in Damascus on Sunday.
Turkey's Anatolian news agency said some people climbed the embassy walls and hung a Syrian flag, and Syrian security forces prevented some protesters from trying to lower the Turkish flag.
A resident said the crowd then tore down tourist posters on the outside wall of the embassy.
France, with British support, has led efforts for the United Nations Security Council to condemn Assad's repression of the protests but Russia and China have suggested they may use their veto power to kill the resolution.
A spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said newly re-elected Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan welcomed British efforts to put pressure on Assad at the United Nations.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has said Assad had lost the legitimacy to rule Syria.
The White House condemned the Syrian forces' latest violence in the "strongest possible terms" and said Assad should step aside if he will not lead a democratic transition.
Assad, who inherited power when his father died in 2000, has offered some moves aimed at appeasing protesters, lifting a 48-year state of emergency and promising a national dialogue -- steps which have been dismissed by many activists.
The privately owned Syrian newspaper Al-Watan said a committee formed to investigate the unrest had imposed a travel ban on the former governor of Deraa, where protests broke out on March 18, and its head of security. It said there would be "no immunity for people who committed crimes."
(Additional reporting by Alexandra Hudson in Guvecci, Turkey; Writing by Dominic Evans; editing by Tim Pearce)
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