Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: UN Talks, Damascus Fights

1958 GMT: Syria. Defections have been occurring at a faster and faster pace, but today there were reports that a relative trickle, perhaps a hundred ot a few hundred soldiers every week, may have finnaly reached flood-stage, with unconfirmed reports that hundreds of fighters jumped ship.

There are reports that a single new brigade of Free Syrian Army soldiers, the "Unification Brigade" claiming to be made up of soldiers from many different backgrounds, contained more than 100 soldiers, all of whom appear to be heavily armed, and that those soldiers are also equipped with multiple vehicles armed with heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft weapons.

Massive Brigade of the FSA formed in #Aleppo - "Unification Brigade" - youtube.com/watch?v=AGIky5… #Syria

— Sami al-Hamwi (@HamaEcho) July 18, 2012

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1715 GMT: Syria. The Local Coordination Committees of Syria report 47 people have been killed by security forces so far today, with 17 slain in the shelling of Deir Ez Zor and 10 dead in Aleppo and its suburbs.

1615 GMT: Iraq. Officials say a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged belt at a gathering of his family, killing his pro-government cousin and six other relatives, in Ramadi, 115 kilometres ((71 miles) west of Baghdad.

The bomber entered the home of his cousin, the local leader of the Sahwa militia, on Friday night as the extended family was gathered for a meal. He approached his cousin and detonated his explosives, killing him as well as his wife, three of their teenage children, his brother and another relative.

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