Syria crisis: Assad's forces prepare assault on Aleppo Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are preparing to launch an assault on Aleppo aimed at driving rebels out of the city, Lebanon's Daily Star reports. "It is likely the battle for Aleppo will start in the coming hours or days, and its aim is to reclaim the towns and villages [under rebel control] in the province," a security source told AFP. And the pro-government daily Al-Watan said the army had "started to deploy at a large scale in Aleppo province, in preparation for a battle that will be fought in the city and its outskirts." Assad's forces have killed at least 100 people who fled the town of Qusair after it was captured by army troops and Hezbollah fighters last week, according to opposition activists. Most of the dead were hit by machinegun fire and a sustained bombardment over the past three days as they tried to cross a road east of Qusair to areas beyond the reach of Assad's forces, the activists said. "We were carrying lots of injured from Qusair and they were among the first to be killed because they could not escape the gunfire," activist Hadi al-Abdallah told Reuters. The Red Cross has evacuated 87 Syrians seriously wounded in fighting in the Qusair region. Robert Mardini, the ICRC's head of operations for the Near and Middle East, warned: "Those who have already arrived [in Lebanon] may only represent the tip of the iceberg - we don't have information on how many people have been wounded or killed, or on the number of people who remain in Qusair." Members of an al Qaida-linked Islamist group in Aleppo executed a 15-year-old boy in front of his parents on Sunday as punishment for what the group regarded as a heretical comment, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Mohammad Qataa was shot in the face and neck a day after being seized, said the pro-opposition monitoring group, which is based in Britain and uses a network of observers across Syria. The UK will not start arming Syrian rebels without giving MPs a vote on the issue, William Hague has insisted after more than 80 Tories signed a letter calling on the government to seek the Commons' approval for such a decision. Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Hague said: The Obama administration is considering resettling refugees who have fled Syria as part of an international effort to help tens of thousands of families who have fled the violence, the LA Times reports. A resettlement plan under discussion in Washington and other capitals is aimed at relieving pressure on Middle Eastern countries straining to support 1.6 million refugees, as well as assisting hard-hit Syrian families. Lebanon A man was killed outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut on Sunday after gunmen from the Iran-backed Shia militia Hezbollah opened fire on anti-Hezbollah protesters, the Independent reports. The Lebanese army deployed tanks and erected roadblocks across the city after the shooting, fearing a flare-up in sectarian tensions. Security guards at the Iranian embassy in Beirut clash with supporters of the Lebanese Affiliation Party during a protest over Hezbollah military intervention in Syria. Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has challenged increasingly angry anti-government protesters to beat his party at the ballot box after they flooded the streets for a 10th day of demonstrations. In the southern city of Adana, where pro- and anti-government protesters clashed on Saturday night, Erdoğan greeted supporters before lashing out at his opponents. Iran The US is assisting Middle East allies in building up cyber defences to counter growing attacks from Iran, it was reported on Sunday. The New York Times, citing senior American officials, said computer software, hardware and training was being provided to pro-Washington countries in the Persian Gulf to diffuse the growing threat from Tehran. Israel A group of 300 women marked a significant moment in Jewish history on Sunday by praying at Jerusalem's Western Wall on equal terms with men. Women of the Wall argue that Jewish law does not prohibit women from praying as men do. Libya One of Libya's highest military officers has resigned after clashes between protesters and a government-aligned militia he oversaw left 31 people dead in the eastern city of Benghazi. The army's chief of staff Major-General Youssef al-Mangoush cited the unusually high death toll from the violence in his resignation. Al-Mangoush was due to be replaced soon, and the country's Congress voted in support of accepting his resignation on Sunday.