Mass protests staged across Syria, 13 killed

Syrian security forces opened fire on Friday killing at least 13 people as thousands of anti-regime protesters rallied in flashpoint cities after the Ramadan weekly prayers, rights activists said.

As the West grapples with ways to pressure Damascus into ending the bloodshed, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged countries to stop trading with Syria.

“We urge those countries still buying Syrian oil and gas, those countries still sending Assad weapons ... to get on the right side of history,” Ms Clinton told reporters.

In an interview with CBS News, she suggested that China and India impose energy sanctions on Syria, and urged Russia to stop selling arms to Damascus, which has bought weapons from Moscow for decades.

In Syria, yesterday’s hail of lead against protesters came in defiance of warnings by the US that Syria will face further sanctions if it does not stop killing protesters.

A man was shot dead in a dawn assault on the Damascus suburb of Saqba while a woman died when troops opened fire in the town of Kahn Sheikhun in northwestern Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

As thousands poured out of mosques after the noon prayers in the central city of Hama, security forces sprayed them with gunfire, killing a civilian and wounding three others, the Britain-based observatory said.

“Thousands of people marched in Hama despite a higher presence of security forces. We left from the mosque to the Al-Manakh Square and they shot at us. People were wounded and several others were arrested,” an activist said.

Hama has been the scene of some of the bloodiest clashes since an uprising began in mid-March against the authoritarian rule of President Bashar al-Assad. At least 100 people died when troops backed by tanks stormed the city on July 31, the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

State TV streamed images showing Assi Square – nerve centre of protests in Hama – completely empty, saying: “Life is back to normal in Assi Square, there are no armed forces.”

One other man died in sniper fire yesterday near a mosque in Homs, another central city which has witnessed relentless blood letting in past weeks.

And a man was killed in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, an activist at the scene said.

Security forces also shot to disperse demonstrators in two neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Damascus – Harasta and Douma – where they killed five people, an activist at the scene said.

Three more were killed and one wounded in Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, where security forces again fired to disperse protesters, the Observatory said.

Meanwhile, state TV said “two security agents were shot dead by armed men in Douma.”