PHOTO: Claimed image of leader of pro-Assad Iraqi militia detaining a civilian in Nabk on December 4 — initial, erroneous claims were that this was from Saturday’s executions

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The spike in civilian deaths, fed by the regime offensive in the Qalamoun area, continued on Saturday.

The Local Coordination Committees claimed 123 people were killed, including 25 children and 11 women.

Almost half the dead were in Damascus Province, where Syrian forces are pursuing the Qalamoun campaign to take territory between the capital and the Lebanese border. Another 26 died in Aleppo Province and 16 in Raqqa Province.

Activists assert that President Assad’s forces have killed scores of people just in the town of Nabk, 40 miles north of Damascus, since Friday — first through shelling, then through house raids and executions.

The Violations Documentation Center records 80,678 deaths since the start of the conflict in March 2011. Of the dead, 59,632 were civilians.

[liveblog]