BEIRUT - Activists say Syrian pro-regime gunmen shooting in celebration after televised comments by President Bashar Assad killed two people overnight.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the two died early Monday in the central city of Hama in the hours after Assad's interview with state-run TV. Another activist group, called the Local Coordination Committees, confirmed the deaths.
Both groups cited witness accounts.
Activists say a government crackdown on a 5-month-old uprising in Syria has killed nearly 2,000 people.
On Sunday, Assad said he is not concerned with the security situation and announced some tentative steps toward reform. The opposition has dismissed his pledges as too little too late.
![Mason Nadolney got his second COVID-19 vaccine shot during a mobile vaccine event at Chanhassen High School in July.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/J7LEBWHZ57AFGZSTIR2WYOQJ3A.jpg?h=91&w=145&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
What to know about the latest COVID variants, Minnesota testing, vaccines
Sign up for Star Tribune newsletters
![Nearly a dozen collected Bachman's warblers lie in a specimen tray.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/3KDGPJTGN5CRNG5PO5S5T35XUE.jpg?h=91&w=145&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
126 birds on list 'lost to science'
![Champlin Park volleyball player Carly Gilk posed for a photo by her mom, Shelley, when they arrived for the AMSA celebration at Target Field.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/QPHJLQJMYJDLFMFTYKDONXWDQY.jpg?h=91&w=145&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)