Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. June 30, 2011 Security Forces Spread Out Through Northwest Syria VOA News A picture taken on a tour organized by the Syrian Red Crescent shows Syrian soldiers deploying along the Syrian-Turkish border near the village of Khirbet al-Joz in the northern province of Idlib, June 29, 2011 Photo: AFP A picture taken on a tour organized by the Syrian Red Crescent shows Syrian soldiers deploying along the Syrian-Turkish border near the village of Khirbet al-Joz in the northern province of Idlib, June 29, 2011 Activists say Syrian security forces continue to spread through villages in the country's northwest, a day after allegedly killing at least seven civilians during the ongoing crackdown on pro-democracy protests. Human rights activists said on Thursday that Syrian forces worked to consolidate their hold on several villages between the Turkish border and Syria's second largest city, Aleppo. On Wednesday, rights groups said Syrian tanks shelled the village of Rameh in Idlib province, prompting many residents to flee as soldiers conducted searches for dissidents. View the slide show if Syrian refugees in Turkey: At least seven civilians died in the violence, but details could not be independently confirmed because Syria allows very few foreign news reporters into the country and restricts their movements. More than 12,000 Syrians have fled into Turkey and hundreds more into Lebanon to escape the violence in their homeland. Rights groups say more than 1,400 people have been killed in the violence, most of them unarmed protesters. Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP. Follow our Middle East reports on [1]Twitter and discuss them on our [2]Facebook page. References 1. http://twitter.com/VOAMiddleEast 2. http://www.facebook.com/pages/VOAMiddleEastVoices/124360240958667?%20%20%20%20v=wall .