Monday, May 14, 2012

EU slaps new sanctions on Syria

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Twin suicide bombers rock Damascus
  • Opposition activists: At least 23 regime soldiers are killed Monday in clashes at Rastan
  • Rastan has been pummeled by government attacks, an opposition group said.
  • Report: Clashes continue between pro- and anti-Assad factions within Lebanon

Monday night, Anderson Cooper reports live from the Syria/Turkey border on the turmoil in the country. Watch "Anderson Cooper 360°" at 8 ET.

(CNN) -- European Union foreign ministers agreed Monday to impose fresh sanctions on Syria as a U.N.-backed peace plan -- along with all other diplomatic efforts -- has yet to stop the carnage that mounts every day.

The EU ministers agreed to an assets freeze and visa ban on two firms and three people believed to provide funding for the regime, according to the office of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Inside Syria, regime forces suffered heavy casualties Monday during clashes at Rastan, a city that has been pummeled by government forces, opposition activists said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it received "preliminary information that three armored personnel carriers were destroyed and that at least 23 soldiers were killed."

Medical supplies were running low after more than 60 people were reportedly injured from a barrage of roughly 255 mortar shells that rained on Rastan.

At least four people were killed elsewhere in Syria on Monday, including a child struck by random gunfire from the regime's army in Deir Ezzor, said the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition network.

The LCC posted dire reports of the military aiming mortars and heavy artillery at the Homs village of Al-Burnhanieh.

Violence from the Syian conflict continues to spill over into neighboring Lebanon, with at least one person killed and 45 others wounded in fresh violence, the Lebanese National News Agency reported Monday.

The fighting in Lebanon pits residents of Bab al-Tebbaneh, a Sunni stronghold hostile to the Syrian regime, against Alawite residents of Jabal Mohsen who support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

More than 1,000 people have died since a cease-fire was supposed to go into effect on April 12, according to the LCC.

CNN cannot independently verify reports of deaths and violence because the Syrian government has severely restricted access to international media.

A team of U.N. monitors is on the ground to observe the progress of the cease-fire and encourage the implementation of a U.N.-backed peace plan.

On Saturday, the head of the U.N. observer mission, Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, said 157 civilian and military monitors were in the provinces of Daraa, Idleb, Hama and Homs, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported. About 300 observers are expected within weeks.

CNN's Saad Abedine and Laura Perez Maestro contributed to this report.