the town of trust them -- of rastan has come under fire from tanks. you may saw -- you may find some of the images disturbing. >> rastan has been fought over many times and it bears the scars. the town is now defiantly in rebel hands. they are bracing themselves for the next assault. this is the daily routine. [gunfire] just around the corner, a family. the father is too afraid of breast to shave his face as he tells us about living on the front line with his children. >> what is the affect on them -- the effect on them? >> it is very difficult. they are shelling day and night. we have nowhere else to go. so we submit ourselves to god. >> the free syrian army took the last government post just over one week ago, killing dozens of soldiers. they had to fight for every inch of ground. all of this is happening during a un-sponsored trips. the government says army attacks never stopped and the rebels say they are under constant pressure from the regime. in rastan, they are surrounded. we are in the middle of what is supposed to be a cease-fire. they have

reports suggest that 23 government soldiers have been killed in fighting the rabble-held town of rastan in homs. he now has a force of 160 u.n. observers. he has said it is just one small ingredient in preserving syria's fragile ceasefire. >> more un observers arrive every day. the general has the same message. for all of them >> my first point is exactly -- if you do not remember anything else, you will remember that you are a guest in syria. >> it is also a dangerous place. >> everything is fine and you are arriving. >> what can his mission so few in numbers do? >> the mission in syria is not the ingredients that is going to change everything on the ground, not in the next few days, not in more days. it is a little element that can help. >> many find it is difficult to see this opening that you talk about. >> the main challenge is to have all stakeholders inside syria make the commitment and then by actions on the ground by what they do every day to live up to these commitments. >> they have made the commitments. >> we have engaged with the opposition and locally. the situation is ver

. >> 23 government soldiers have been reported killed in heavy fighting in rastan, syria. the syrian observatory for human rights says rebels were defending the town against a government assault over the weekend. at least nine people have been killed in an explosion in northern afghanistan. the blast happened inside a busy market. a member of the region's provincial council was among those killed. a local doctor said at least 10 people were injured. the military in uganda says it captured a senior commander of the lord's resistance army, a group that's been killing and abducting people for more than 20 years. the ugandan army is one of the top five leaders who was caught in the african republic. the head, joseph kony, is wanted for war crimes by the international criminal court. an inquiry finds that 72 civilians were killed in nato air strikes over libya last year. that's the conclusion by human rights watch, which has examined claims of civilian deaths during eight separate nato strikes. it's now called the military alliance to investigate the claims further. our diploma

the opposition says at least 23 government soldiers were killed today in rastan and three armored personnel carriers destroyed. elsewhere in homs, a syrian tank rolls down the street. among bombed out buildings and open fire. and at hama today, tanks rolled in and heavy gunfire ensued. we can't independently confirm what these videos purport to show. they're scenes uploaded to youtube by activists. for months there's been concern the violence will spill into neighboring countries. this week we saw some of that beginning to happen. in tripoli fighting erupted pitting residents against each other. at least seven people were killed in lebanon. every day in syria, more syrian citizens die, more syrian citizens flee to refugee camps, more syrian citizens are wounded, arrested, disappear. even in the hospitals the injured are not safe. there's no haven anywhere. we're getting new evidence tonight from the group doctors without borders that wounded people are still being targeted in parts of syria as are the medical workers who are trying to give them desperately needed emergency care. doctors wit

meanwhile, the military stepped up its shelling of rastan. thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising above the town in central syria. in damascus, the norwegian commander of a u.n. observer mission urged both sides to stop the bloodshed. >> no volume of observers can achieve a progressive drop and a permanent end to the violence. if the commitment to give dialogue a chance, it's not genuine from all internal and external factors. >> holman: the u.n. estimated in march that more than 9,000 people have died in the syrian uprising. hundreds more have been killed since then. in afghanistan, nato announced two service members were killed in the eastern part of the country. that put this year's toll at 154. at least 100 of those were americans. meanwhile, the new french president stuck by his campaign pledge to withdraw french combat troops from afghanistan by the end of the year. francois hollande met with president obama in washington. he indicated some of the 3,300 french troops in afghanistan might remain, but not in combat roles. the house pa