Syria troops kill 20 despite peace deal

DAMASCUS, Nov 4 (AFP): Syrian troops killed 20 civilians and arrested dozens Thursday, a rights watchdog said, a day after Damascus pledged to withdraw its forces from protest hubs under a deal with the Arab League to end months of bloodshed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the victims fell in various neighbourhoods of the flashpoint protest city of Homs, in central Syria, where government forces reportedly used heavy tank-mounted machineguns. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton joined world leaders in welcoming the Arab deal and urging Syria to comply quickly with the terms. But activists remained sceptical and called for mass demonstrations Friday to test the government's commitment to the peace dead while the largest opposition group met Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi to voice its concerns. "We told the secretary general of our fears that the regime will not keep its promises," Samir al-Nashar, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council, said in Cairo.