Syrians Flee Second Northern Town as Army Said to Approach

Syrians are fleeing a second town and nearby villages in the north of the country, fearing President Bashar al-Assad’s forces are preparing to widen their crackdown on anti-government protesters in the region, according to human-rights activists.

The people of Ma’arrat an Nu’man “have information that the army will surround the villages, and they are leaving before the army comes,” Ammar Qurabi, head of Syria’s National Organization for Human Rights, said in a phone interview yesterday. “We are scared now of a repeat of Jisr al-Shughour.”