Syria airs confessions from alleged cell

DAMASCUS, Syria, April 13 (UPI) -- A terrorist cell calling itself The Syrian Revolution has confessed it was trained to attack security forces responding to protests, Syrian officials claim.

Activists monitoring growing unrest in Syria say at least 37 people were killed since last week in the southern city of Daraa, a center of a growing opposition to President Bashar Assad.

The Interior Ministry in a statement published by the official Syrian Arab News Agency said there was "no more room for leniency or tolerance" in dealing with disruption.

Assad has made some concessions since large-scale protests began in Syria. The Interior ministry blamed the protests on foreign plotters.

The state broadcaster aired confessions from three men -- Anas Kanj, Mohammed Bader al-Qalam and Ahmad al-Suhneh -- who said they were operating under a terrorist cell called The Syrian Revolution.

Kanj, whom SANA described as the leader of the cell, said he sent Qalam and eight others to Daraa to chant "freedom slogans" along with other protests.

"We were instructed later to be armed and to make operations in support of the people in Daraa and all the Syrian provinces such as Lattakia and Baniyas," the alleged leader was quoted as saying.

He went on to say his contacts had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood group in Syria and brought weapons into the country from Lebanon.

Kanj added that Ahmad used social networking sites like Facebook and other opposition forums "to make the people believe that the Syrian security members are the ones who were killing the citizens."