Syrian activists: Thousands died in 2011 | 1818club.com

Syrian activists: Thousands died in 2011 | 1818club.com

clipped from article: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: More than 5,800 died during the year, opposition group says
A deal rejects non-Arab foreign intervention
The al-Assad regime began its crackdown in March
The agreement signals a strengthening of the opposition movement

(CNN) — More than 5,800 people, including 395 children, died in 2011 during the crackdown on protests in Syria, according to an opposition activist group.

The grim tally of “martyrs” from the Local Coordination Committees of Syria totaled 5,862, including 287 prisoners it said were tortured to death. The LCC said 19 doctors and 146 women were among those killed.

The first death in 2012 was an individual who died due to the lack of blood plasma platelets at a hospital, the group said.

The LCC has a network of contacts across Syria.

President Bashar al-Assad in mid-March began the crackdown on anti-government protesters calling for his ouster. The Syrian government blames “armed terrorist groups” for violence during the uprising.

CNN cannot independently verify opposition accounts of violence or reports of deaths and injuries in Syria. Al-Assad’s government has restricted access by international journalists.

Two major Syrian opposition groups, meanwhile, have forged a deal that charts a course for democracy if President al-Assad’s regime crumbles.

Representatives of the Syrian National Council and the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria signed an agreement late Friday in Cairo for a transition in a post-Assad era, the NCB said on its Facebook page.

Protesters turned out on Saturday for anti-regime rallies in restive cities, including Homs, Idlib, and Hama, activists said. They occurred as an Arab League fact-finding mission continued its work to determine whether the Syrian government is abiding by a peace agreement to end a brutal crackdown on protesters.

The LCC said at least 13 people died Saturday amid gunfire, a bolstered police presence and massive demonstrations. Seven were killed in Homs. One each was killed in Hama in the west, Banias and Idlib in the northwest, Abu Kamal in the east, Kafar Soseh in Damascus province, and Daraa in the south. [ read more at link]