Syrian security forces 'fire on rallies'

At least 28 deaths reported in Damascus, Idlib and other cities on a day
of massive anti-government demonstrations.

July 15, 2011 Al Jazeera

As many as 28 protesters have been killed across Syria after security
forces reportedly shot at protesters, hundreds of thousands of whom took
to the streets in the biggest protests so far against Bashar al-Assad's
rule, an activist group said.

The latest toll included 22 people who were killed in Damascus and its
suburbs - the highest death toll for the capital so far, Mohammad
Abdullah, a spokesman for the Local Co-ordination Committee (LCC), said on
Saturday.

The LCC tracks anti-government demonstrations in the strife-ridden country.

Police fired live ammunition and teargas in Damascus, killing five people,
and four in southern Syria near the Jordanian border, Reuters news agency
reported on Friday, quoting witnessess and activists.

Three protesters were shot dead in the northern city of Idlib, they said.

Reuters quoted a witness in the Rukn al-Din district of Damascus as saying
that hundreds of young men wearing white masks fought security forces with
sticks and stones.

"Down, down Bashar al-Assad", they chanted.

"We are in Midan and they are firing teargas on us, people are chanting,"
a witness said by telephone from the centre of Damascus.

In the city of Hama, scene of a 1982 massacre by the military, live video
footage by residents showed a huge crowd in the main Orontos Square
shouting "the people want the overthrow of the regime".

Al Jazeera has not been able to verify independently the reports of violence.

Deir al-Zour unrest

At least 350,000 people demonstrated in the eastern province of Deir
al-Zour, a tribal city in the eastern desert, the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights (SOHR), an independent rights group based in London, said.

"These are the biggest demonstrations so far. It is a clear challenge to
the authorities, especially when we see all these numbers coming out from
Damascus for the first time," Rami Abdelrahman, head of the SOHR, said.

On Thursday day, Syrian forces shot dead two pro-democracy protesters in
Deir al-Zour, local residents said.

For the first time, that city observed a full strike on Thursday, an
activist told Al Jazeera, with almost all businesses closed, though
government offices remained operational.

Reports said military dragnets had also taken place on Wednesday and
Thursday in Damascus, Idlib province and a politically sensitive area near
the Turkish border in the northwest.

President Assad, facing the greatest challenge to 40 years of Baath Party
rule, has sought to crush demonstrations.

The protesters have been calling for reforms and an end to the
longstanding political status quo.

Swelling in size

Rights groups say about 1,400 civilians have been killed since the
uprising began in March, but the protests have continued unabated and
swelled in size.

With the economy stagnating and unemployment rising, Syria's main ally,
Iran, is considering offering $5.8bn in financial help, including a
three-month loan worth $1.5bn to be made available immediately, a French
business newspaper, Les Echos, said, citing a report by a Tehran
think-tank linked to Iran's leadership.

Emboldened by the spreading protests, prominent opposition figures and
activists were to hold a conference in Istanbul in Turkey on Saturday that
would be closely co-ordinated with another conference in Damascus.

Radwan Ziadeh, an opposition figure, told Reuters the conference would
elect a 75-member National Council consisting of opposition members from
inside and outside Syria.

"This is the first time we have a joint dialogue [between] opposition in
Syria and exiled Syrians," he said from Istanbul.

"We will elect 50 members to the National Council from inside Syria and 25
from exiled Syrians."



32 killed in Syria protests, Damascus moves: activists

By Khaled Yakoub Oweis | Reuters – July 15, 2011

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian forces killed at least 32 civilians on Friday,
including 23 in the capital Damascus, in an intensifying crackdown on
protests against President Bashar al-Assad, activists said.

It was the highest death toll in the central neighborhoods of Damascus
since the uprising erupted four months ago in the southern Hauran Plain
near Syria's border with Jordan.

"Tens of thousands of Damascenes took to the streets in the main districts
for the first time today, that is why the regime resorted to more
killings," said one activist by telephone from Damascus. He declined to be
named for fear of being arrested.

The killings prompted the opposition to cancel their planned National
Salvation conference in Qaboun neighborhood of Damascus on Saturday after
security forces killed 14 protesters outside a wedding hall where the
conference had been due to take place, opposition leader Walid al-Bunni
told Reuters.

"Secret police also threatened the owner of the wedding hall. We decided
to cancel the meeting to save lives," Bunni said by telephone from
Damascus.

Bunni said prominent opposition figures and activists would still hold a
separate conference in Istanbul on Saturday.

The rest of those killed in Damasacus were in Barzeh, where one protester
had died, and in Rukn al-Din quarter of the city, where security forces
fired protesters killing eight people.

Two protesters were killed in the southern suburb of Qadam, said the Local
Coordination Committees.

Assad, facing the greatest challenge to 40 years of Baath Party rule, has
sought to crush demonstrations that broke out in March. But although
rights groups say some 1,400 civilians have been killed, the protests have
grown.

"These are the biggest demonstrations so far. It is a clear challenge to
the authorities, especially when we see all these numbers coming out from
Damascus for the first time," said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights.

Activists and witnesses said police fired live ammunition and teargas in
the capital Damascus and suburbs. They killed four in the southern city of
Deraa, the cradle of the uprising.

Three protesters were shot dead in the northwestern province of Idlib,
near the Turkish border, where troops and tanks have attacked villages,
the witnesses and activists said. Two people were also killed in the city
of Homs.

A witness in the Rukn al-Din district of Damascus said hundreds of young
men wearing white masks resisted security forces with sticks and stones.

"Down, down Bashar al-Assad", they chanted.

In the city of Hama, scene of a 1982 massacre by the military, live video
footage filmed by residents showed a huge crowd in the main Orontos Square
shouting "the people want the overthrow of the regime".

At least 350,000 people demonstrated in the eastern province of Deir al
Zor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Syrian forces shot dead
two pro-democracy protesters there on Thursday, residents said.

ALLIANCE WITH IRAN

Assad, from Syria's Alawite minority sect, an offshoot of Islam, is
struggling to put down widening demonstrations in outlying rural and
tribal regions, as well as Damascus suburbs and cities such as Hama and
Homs.

Mass arrests and heavy deployment of security forces, including an
irregular Alawite militia known as shabbiha, have prevented demonstrations
in central neighborhoods of Damascus and the commercial hub of Aleppo,
which are generally better off than the rest of the country.

Activists estimate the number of secret police on the streets of Damascus
has more than doubled since protests started but the economy has stagnated
and the Syrian pound is coming under pressure, with the exchange rate
rising to 53 pounds to the dollar, compared with 46 pound to the dollar
before the uprising erupted.

To counter that, Syria's main ally, Iran, is considering offering $5.8
billion in financial help, including a three-month loan worth $1.5 billion
to be made available immediately, French business newspaper Les Echos
said, citing a report by a Tehran think-tank linked to Iran's leadership.

International sanctions are targeted at Syria's leaders, not at its banks
and companies. But France and the United States are pressing for tougher
penalties, and a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the
crackdown, following attacks on both countries' embassies in Syria.

(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny and Oliver Holmes in Beirut and
Andrew Quinn in Istanbul; Writing by Jon Hemming, Editing by Maria
Golovnina)