Syrian troops kill 55 rebels

The Syrian troops Friday killed 55 armed rebels in separate operations across the country, the state media said.

The army killed 20 rebels in an ambush in the eastern al-Ghouta suburb of Damascus, a couple of days after killing 175 others who were attempting to sneak into Damascus, Xinhua reported.

The army also killed 25 rebels in Douma and four in Jobar, both eastern suburbs of Damascus, and six rebels in Deir Attieh town in the north.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian authorities set free 60 armed men in the central province of Homs after they pledged not to undertake acts that could harm the country and its security.

The three-year-old Syrian conflict has left more than 100,000 people dead as well as 9.3 million people within Syria and more than 2 million others outside the country in bad need of humanitarian assistance.