At Least 22 Dead as Tens of Thousands Flood Syria Streets

Syria's security forces killed at least 22 protesters as tens of thousands swarmed the streets after Friday prayers, activists said, piling pressure on President Bashar al-Assad after Western leaders demanded he step down.

Fifteen people, including two children, were killed in separate shootings on protesters in the southern province of Daraa, while three were killed in the central city of Homs and two in the Damascus suburb of Harasta, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The shootings come a day after Assad told the U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon that his security forces ended operations against civilians.

Russia and Turkey meanwhile dismissed growing calls for Assad to quit, which were led on Thursday by U.S. President Barack Obama, offering the embattled Syrian leader rare support even as he faced tougher international sanctions.

On the political front, a group of "revolutionary blocs" formed a coalition vowing to bring down the regime and paid tribute to more than 2,000 civilians killed in crackdown on protesters since the uprising began mid-March.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 15 people were killed and 16 others wounded in the southern province of Daraa, epicenter of the anti-regime protests that erupted March 15.

But the official SANA news agency gave a different version of events, saying a policeman and a civilian were killed in Ghabagheb, in Daraa, by "armed men" and six security force members wounded.

Around 20,000 people also flooded the streets of al-Khalidiyeh, a neighborhood of the central city of Homs, where protesters demanded the fall of the regime, the Observatory said, adding there were huge demonstrations elsewhere in the city.

It also reported that pro-regime militias known as “shabbiha” pounced on worshippers as they emerged from a mosque in the coastal city of Latakia to disperse them.

Gunfire rattled Qadam neighborhood in Damascus, while soldiers and security forces conducted arrests in another city hotspot, Qaboun, to prevent protests from spilling into the streets after the weekly Muslim prayers.

In Hajar al-Aswad neighborhood of Damascus demonstrators defied Assad, openly chanting "the people want the fall of the president" and other slogans in support of the cities of Hama and Deir al-Zour which saw bloody crackdowns.

Outside the capital security forces fired teargas grenades and live rounds to break up a demonstration in Daraya without causing any casualties, the Observatory said adding that gunfire was also heard in Kisweh.

In Deir al-Zour, a strategic eastern oil hub, security forces opened fire to prevent rallies from being held and ringed several mosques, the Observatory added.

Facebook group The Syrian Revolution 2011, one of the drivers of the protests, said Friday's rallies were being held under the slogan "Friday of the beginnings of victory."

The civilian death toll from the security force crackdown on the protests has now passed 2,000, U.N. under secretary general B. Lynn Pascoe told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.

Frustrated that international calls for a halt to the bloodletting were being snubbed by Damascus, U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday called for Assad to quit for the first time since the protests broke out.

"We have consistently said that President Assad must lead a democratic transition or get out of the way. He has not led. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside," Obama said.

His call was quickly echoed by the leaders of Britain, France and Germany while Spain followed suit on Friday.

But Russia and Turkey disagreed.

"We do not support such calls," Russia's Interfax news agency reported, citing a foreign ministry source who added that Assad's regime must be "given time to implement all the reform processes which have been announced."

A government official in Ankara agreed and told Agence France Presse a call for Assad's ouster must come from the Syrian people themselves.

"First and foremost the people of Syria must tell Assad to go. This has not been heard in the streets of Syria," the official said. "The Syrian opposition is not united and we haven't seen yet a collective call from Syrians to tell Assad to go, like in Egypt and Libya."

The opposition, admitting the lack of unity, announced Friday the creation of the so-called Syrian Revolution General Commission comprising 44 "revolution blocs" due to "the dire need to unite the field, media and political efforts" of the pro-democracy movement.

The long-term aim of the coalition is also to build "a democratic and civil state of institutions that grants freedom, equality, dignity and respect of human rights to all citizens," the coalition said in a statement.

Meanwhile the United Nations said that a much-delayed humanitarian mission would go to Syria this weekend after the Security Council was briefed on a shoot-to-kill policy against protesters, stadium executions and children feared killed in Syrian government custody.

A Russian delegation was also due to visit Syria for talks with Assad and members of the opposition, senator Aslambek Aslakhanov told Interfax news agency.