1,000 Syrians Rally in Jordan against Assad

Nearly 1,000 Syrians demonstrated Friday in the Jordanian capital against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, demanding "freedom" in the neighboring country.

"We will not bow. God damn you Bashar," read a banner carried by the demonstrators, outside the Syrian embassy in western Amman.

"The Baathists lost their minds when we demanded freedom. Freedom to all Syrians," they chanted.

They waved revolutionary flags -- the old Syrian flags between independence in 1943 up until Baath came to power in 1963.

"We must support and arm the Free Syrian Army, which protects us from the Syrian regime," Sheikh Ahmad Sayasneh of Daraa, birthplace of Syria's year-long revolt, told the demonstrators outside the embassy.

The Muslim cleric, who delivered a sermon after Friday midday prayers added: "Everyday, regime forces raid homes, kill people and carry out indiscriminate bombardment. We need help."

Sayasneh, a blind Sunni cleric who was smuggled into Jordan in January, has been delivering fiery sermons against the Syrian regime, urging people to demonstrate.

More than 9,100 people have died in the revolt since last March, while tens of thousands have fled Syria.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday launched an appeal for 84 million dollars (63 million euros) to help Syrian refugees.

Turkey has taken in some 17,000 refugees, Lebanon 16,000, Jordan about 8,500, with Iraq welcoming an unknown number, it said in a statement.

The UNHCR, along with other agencies, said it was already assisting some 110,000 people inside Syria. But it expects the number of those fleeing abroad to increase and is making contingency plans for looking after 100,000 abroad.