In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi speaks at a news conference in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, July 15, 2012. Syria on Sunday denied U.N. claims that government forces used heavy weapons during a military operation that left scores dead. Makdissi said the violence Thursday was not a massacre as activists and many foreign leaders have asserted but a military operation targeting armed fighters who had taken control of the village of Tremseh. (AP Photo/SANA)
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