Clinton Says Syria's Use of Force 'a Sign of Weakness' as Regime Crushes Dissent ‘Town by Town’

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday blasted Syria's use of strength as "a sign of remarkable weakness" at a news conference in the Greenland capital.

Syria's repression of protests "is a sign of remarkable weakness," Clinton told reporters at an Arctic Council meeting, stressing Syria continued with "a brutal crackdown" on demonstrators despite overwhelming international condemnation.

"Relying on Iran as your best friend ... and your only strategic ally is not a viable way forward," she said of Syria.

Clinton said that since the start of the Syrian uprising in mid-March, hundreds had been killed and that unlawful detentions, torture, and denial of medical care to the wounded had taken place.

"There may be some who think that this is a sign of strength but treating one's own people in this way is in fact a sign of remarkable weakness," she said, reiterating U.S. President Barack Obama's and her own condemnation of Syria.

"The recent events in Syria make it clear that the country cannot return to the way it was before," she said.

"Syria's future will only be secured by a government that reflects the popular will of all of the people and protects their welfare."

Clinton warned Assad that he faced "increasing isolation" over his government's actions, but gave no sign Assad himself would be sanctioned, as members of his regime already have.

"We will continue to work with our international partners in the EU (European Union) and elsewhere on additional (ways) to hold Syria responsible for its gross human rights abuses," she said.

"We are working with our international partners to make as strong a case as possible to sanction those who are leading and implementing the policies that are coming from the government," Clinton said.

"I think it's fair to say that we are going to hold the Syrian government accountable. Now how that happens and what the timeline is something we are working on as we speak," said the top U.S. diplomat.

"The United States along with Denmark and our other colleagues are going to be looking for ways to increase the pressure," she said.

U.S. lawmakers have been calling for tougher U.S. actions on Syria, saying the approach has been softer than the one taken toward other Arab leaders facing popular uprisings.

Syrian security forces on Thursday kept crushing dissent town-by-town and rounding up opposition leaders, activists said, in an unrelenting crackdown that Washington has slammed as "barbaric."

The army and security services arrested dozens of people in the flashpoint coastal city of Banias and the neighboring villages of al-Beyda and al-Qariri, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The London-based group said lawyer Jalal Kindo was among those detained on Thursday in the Mediterranean city of Banias, where security forces have been hunting down dissidents and protest organizers.

The Syrian Revolution 2011, a Facebook group organizing protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, called for a "Free Women Friday" in support of women demonstrators in custody.

"On May 13, we will demonstrate for the dignity of our arrested sisters," the group said.

Several female protesters have been arrested in recent weeks, particularly in Damascus and Banias, where women marched calling for the release of their detained relatives and an end to the army's assault on protest hubs.

Four women were killed during May 7 protests, activists said.

Late on Wednesday, thousands of students defied the crackdown to stage a protest in Syria's second-largest city Aleppo before being dispersed by baton-wielding loyalists and security force personnel, a rights activist said.

At least 19 civilians were killed on Wednesday as troops and unidentified gunmen assaulted protest hubs across the country, firing on some and encircling others with tanks, according to accounts by human rights activists.

Among the dead was an eight-year-old boy, the head of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, Ammar Qurabi, told Agence France Presse.

Sniper fire killed 13 people, including the youngster, in the village of al-Hara, near the protest center of Daraa, south of Damascus, Qurabi said.

Tank fire killed five people in the Baba Amr district on the outskirts of the central industrial city of Homs. Another civilian died in Jassem, near Daraa, he added.

Two soldiers were killed and five others wounded in clashes with "armed terrorist gangs" in the protest hubs of Homs and Daraa, state news agency SANA reported.

Between 600 and 700 people have been killed and at least 8,000 arrested since the start of the protest movement in mid-March, human rights groups say.

The Syrian authorities insist they are pursuing "armed terrorist gangs."

On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department denounced the crackdown as "barbaric."

Syrian authorities "continue to extend their violent actions against peaceful demonstrators," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

"These repressive measures -- namely the ongoing campaign of arbitrary arrests, the denial of medical care to wounded persons, the inhumane conditions of detainees -- are barbaric measures that amount to collective punishment of innocent civilians."

Toner added that "we don't throw the word 'barbaric' around here very often" but that in this case, "the window is narrowing for the Syrian government to shift focus from its outright repression towards meeting the legitimate aspirations of its people."

Russia, a traditional Damascus ally, has rejected calls for a special U.N. Security Council meeting on Syria to condemn the crackdown.

Protesters are demanding free elections, the release of political prisoners, constitutional changes that would strip the ruling Baath party of its domination of Syrian political life and remove restrictions on other parties and the media.

Last month, under pressure from the international community, Assad lifted nearly five decades years of emergency rule but the iron-fisted crackdown on protesters has continued unabated.