Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters in the western coastal city of Banias after Friday prayers, causing an unknown number of casualties, rights activists said.
The latest violence came amid demonstrations across the country, as the army stormed northern towns and France said it wants tougher EU sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime because of the harsh crackdown.
“There was intense firing to disperse the demonstrations in Banias and there were casualties” among protesters, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, told AFP in Cyprus by telephone.
He also reported demonstrations in the central city of Homs, Daraa province in the south and Jableh in the west, with protesters chanting anti-regime slogans and showing “solidarity with towns besieged” by the army. The military pressed ahead with its crackdown, sending tanks and troops into the northwestern town of Khan Sheikhun and surrounding villages, activists and witnesses said.
The deployment follows military operations against protest centres in the northern province of Idlib, where forces have targeted Ariha, Maaret al-Nooman, Jisr al-Shughur and its surroundings.
Witnesses told AFP at the Turkish-Syrian border that Shughur al-Kadima was one village attacked on Thursday.
“The army came… with tanks and positioned snipers in the area. They started shooting at anyone,” said Abu Nuuar, a driver from Shughur al-Kadima.
“We left with nothing, absolutely nothing. We just took some clothes for the children,” said 32-year-old Abu Ahmed, declining to give his surname.
He arrived at the border with his six children, wife and sister’s family after a dawn army crackdown. “The army shot randomly with tanks and light weaponry. We walked through mountains and valleys and arrived here,” he told AFP.
Halid, a neighbour of Abu Ahmed, fled to the border six days ago, fearing an attack. “Our crime was to take part in protests. All around the world people can demonstrate but not us. It has been forbidden for 40 years. We protested and now that’s the price we have to pay,” said the father of two.
The Syrian army also attacked Janudiyeh, a few kilometres (miles) from the Turkish border, a Syrian activist helping the displaced people on the other side of the border told AFP by phone.
A young woman who fled her home in Janudiyeh said: “The army came in from all sides. They started to shoot in the middle of the village. People were wounded but we don’t know what happened to them.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara would supply humanitarian aid to thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing the violence.
“There are at present more than 10,000 people just over our border, on the other side of the barbed wire,” he told journalists. “We have decided to help our Syrian brothers to meet their urgent needs for food,” Davutoglu said after visiting Red Crescent refugee camps in Hatay province. In what is being seen as an attempt to defuse some of the anti-government anger, telecoms tycoon Rami Makhluf, Assad’s cousin who is on a list of 13 Syrians facing US and EU sanctions, said he will allocate profits from his businesses to charity. “Profits from the shares I own in Syriatel will be allocated to charity, humanitarian work and development projects,” Makhluf said in a statement obtained by AFP. It said Makhluf owns 40 percent of Syriatel, the country’s largest mobile phone operator.
“I will not engage in any new projects that can generate personal gain and I will devote myself to charity and humanitarian work,” Makhluf said.
