Syrian army raids border town

Syria's army Friday launched a crackdown on "armed gangs" in the flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shughur, where authorities say 120 police and troops were already massacred earlier in the week.

"Army units have started their mission to control Jisr al-Shughur and neighboring villages and arrest the armed gangs," state television said, adding that the raid had been launched "at the request of residents."

Rights activists said that many of the 50,000 inhabitants of Jisr al-Shughur had fled to neighboring Turkey when tanks and troops began midweek converging on the northwestern town and that it was now largely deserted.

Syrian state television blamed "armed terrorist gangs" on Wednesday as it ran images of the "massacres" in Jisr al-Shughur which it said had resulted in the deaths of 120 police and troops.

Opposition activists, say the deaths resulted from a mutiny by troops who refused orders to crack down on protesters.

"The armed groups terrorized residents and committed atrocities. They burned harvests and bushes around the town," according to the television report, which also showed residents calling for "the intervention of the army" as a matter of "urgency."

State television also accused the armed groups of "photographing themselves dressed in military uniforms before the arrival of the Syrian army, so as to send the images to (foreign) television channels that have become an instrument in the tendentious campaign being waged against Syria."

Security forces shot dead at least two demonstrators taking part in a rally in the Qaboun district of the capital Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Residents said government forces also killed two protesters in the village of Busra al-Harir.

Meanwhile, the special envoy of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday he would "in the very near future" meet representatives of the Syrian opposition as Moscow calls for a diplomatic solution to the unrest.

"I will receive a delegation of the Syrian opposition in Moscow in the very near future," Mikhail Margelov, the Kremlin's representative to Africa, told a news conference.

A Russian Foreign Ministry official confirmed separately that Russia was planning to host representatives of the Syrian opposition.

Agencies