A United States official has said forces loyal to the government of Syria have been firing Soviet-designed Scud missiles at insurgence this week. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the missiles had been launched from the Damascus area, targeting rebels in the north. NATO also said that its surveillance operations had detected this type of missile. Without confirming that Scuds have been fired, the U.S. State Department spokeswoman said the recent use of incendiary barrel bombs showed that President Assad's forces were resorting to, what she called, increased lethality.

美国官员称，本周忠于叙利亚政府的军队开始向叛军发射苏联设计的飞毛腿导弹。这位匿名官员称这些导弹来自大马士革地区，袭击目标是北部的叛军。北约称其监视行动也监测到此类导弹。美国国务院尚未确认此类导弹，其女发言人称最近燃烧桶炸弹的使用表明总统阿萨德正越发诉诸于“致命杀害”。

The British Prime Minister David Cameron says a government commission report into the murder of a prominent human rights lawyer in Northern Ireland in 1989 has found that British agents played a key role in his killing. Pat Finucane defended members of the IRA during their armed campaign to unite Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic. Mr. Cameron said the review made difficult reading. It sets aside the extent of collusion in areas such as identifying, targeting and murdering Mr. Finucane, supplying a weapon and facilitating its later disappearance and deliberately obstructing subsequent investigations. But Mr. Finucane's widow Geraldine dismissed the report as a sham.