Secret agents wearing coloured wristbands as their sole distinguishing marks directed a civilian massacre in Jisr al-Shughur

Hundreds more refugees poured across the border into Turkey, bringing the total to more than 2,000 forced into flight in anticipation of a mission of retribution led by President Bashar al-Assad's notorious younger brother.
Maher al-Assad, the commander of the elite Fourth Division and Republican Guard, has vowed to take vengeance on the town after its inhabitants were accused of killing 120 government soldiers and policemen over the weekend.
One man who fled was able to make phone contact with his wife who remained in Syria. The woman warned her husband that the troops were so close "that they will soon level the town".
Jisr al-Shughur has effectively become the first town to fall from government control since the 11-week uprising against the president began. But its residents tell a story that differs vastly from official propaganda, one in which they are the victims of a government operation to crush all dissent, no matter what the human cost. As in many cities and towns across Syria, the residents of Jisr al-Shughur rose up in protest over the brutal tactics the government has used to repress dissent. The regime responded with overwhelming force.
According to one imam, speaking from a hospital bed in the Turkish city of Antakya, the first sign of trouble came as men dressed in civilian clothes, suspected members of the feared Syrian intelligence, or Mukhabarat, swarmed through the centre of the town. "They were all wearing colourful wristbands in order to identify each other," he said.