SYRIAN TROOPS BACKED by tanks and helicopter gunships seized control of a northwestern town in Syria this morning.

This came after a days-long siege during which activists reported accounts of executions and indiscriminate killings.

Al Jazeera is reporting that rallies started in several towns and cities across Syria, as part of their now 3-month old campaign to oust President Bashar Assad.

Omar Idilbi of the Local Coordination Committees said government forces had taken full control of Maaret al-Numan, a town of 100,000 on the highway linking Damascus with Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo.

Human rights activists say more than 1,400 Syrians have been killed and 10,000 detained in the past three months. Some 9,600 others from the northwest have sought refuge in camps in neighbouring Turkey.

Friday has become the main day for protests in the Arab world, inspired by democratic revolutions in  Tunisia and Egypt

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that France and Germany will push for tougher sanctions against Syria, while UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he strongly urges President Assad to stop killing people and engage in dialogue.

Thousands of Syrians have escaped across the border to Turkey.

The Turkish government is preparing to send humanitarian aid to around 10,000 people waiting on the Syrian side of the border.

Meanwhile, Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie will visit Syrian refugee camps in Turkey.

Acting in her role as goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, she is expected to arrive in the Turkish province of Hatay this afternoon.

Turkish authorities are to hang a 16 yard-long banner near the entrance of the camp reading: “Goodness Angel of the World, Welcome.”

- Additional reporting by AP

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