A human rights monitor has issued new allegations that Syrian government forces have been torturing children as young as 13.
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said in a new report that children are a particular target in what the group called the "rampant" use of torture by Syrian government forces who have been carrying out a crackdown against antigovernment protesters.
It said children were being kept in solitary confinement, subjected to beatings and electrocution, and burned with cigarettes.
Meanwhile, antiregime activists have urged "millions" of Syrians on February 3 to commemorate 30 years since government forces killed thousands of people in a crackdown on the city of Hama.
Hafez al-Assad, the late father of President Bashar al-Assad, crushed a revolt in Hama in 1982, killing up to 40,000 civilians.
Compiled from agency reports