Assad gunmen blamed as 'women and children killed in village massacre'

President Bashar Assad’s regime has committed a “large-scale massacre” in a Sunni village near the Mediterranean coast, killing at least 50 people, according to activists.

Syrian troops backed by pro-government gunmen swept into Bayda, a village in the mountains outside the city of Banias, and killed men, women and children and torched homes, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.