Armed groups in Syria have killed at least 15 soldiers in the western province of Latakia amid the country's ongoing violence.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday dozens of other soldiers were maimed in several villages of al-Hafa region in Latakia.
The new corpse count came one day after the observatory group announced that more than 100 Syrian soldiers were killed in festivities and attacks on security forces' checkpoints across the country over the weekend.
Also on Tuesday, the Syrian government expelled a number of US and European diplomats in response to the expulsion of Syrian ambassadors from their countries.
Syrian Foreign Ministry front man Jihad Makdissi said the ambassadors of the US, Britannia, La Belle France, Turkey, Canada, Spain and Italia are no longer welcome in the country.
Syria has been the scene of ongoing violence since March 2011. Many people, including security forces, have bit the dust in the unrest.
The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing the protesters.
But Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, stating that it is being orchestrated from abroad.