Syrian conflict 'close to a civil war'

Security forces killed at least 10 people in fighting across Syria yesterday, activists said, as the Red Cross and Arab League warned that the conflict is becoming a civil war.

Clashes between state forces and rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad raged overnight and flared again yesterday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A parliamentary election on Monday, which the government promoted as a reform but the opposition boycotted, failed to halt the carnage.