At Least 7 Killed as Syrian Protesters Take to Streets
Syrian security forces killed at least seven people as demonstrators took to the streets after Muslim prayers in flashpoint cities such as Hama, where shelling by government troops has reportedly killed more than 100 people since Monday.
The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said two people were killed in the central province of Homs, two in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, one in the northern province of Aleppo, one in the central province of Hama and one in the Damascus suburb of Douma.
The LCC said a massive demonstration began at Sayid Ahmed Mosque in Damascus' Qadam district on Friday, with security forces firing on it and making arrests.
It also said several people were injured in the eastern oil city of Deir Ezzor after security forces opened gunfire to disperse a demonstration.
Opposition figure Walid al-Bunni said the accord drawn up by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan was likely to fail because it obliges Syria to allow free demonstrations.
"If the Annan plan which provides for peaceful demonstrations is applied, millions of Syrians will take to the streets and the regime will fall," he told Agence France Presse in Cairo.
The truce, which has never witnessed a day without violence, is to be monitored by 300 U.N. observers due to arrive in Syria in the coming weeks. A small advance team is already on the ground, and will be doubled to 30 by month's end, a U.N. official said on Friday.
"It is clear the Syrian regime cannot implement the Annan plan," said Bunni, adding the violence carried out by pro-government forces "is planned".
Violence across Syria on Thursday killed 22 people, including 16 civilians who died at the hands of government forces, and six regime loyalists killed in fighting in Aleppo, the country's second-largest city, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Overnight clashes between troops and rebels in the central city of Homs killed at least one army deserter and wounded another 15, it said in a statement.
More than 9,000 people have died since a popular uprising erupted against Assad's regime in March 2011, the U.N. says, while non-governmental groups put the figure at more than 11,100.
Source: Agence France Presse
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