Syrians prepared on Saturday to bury at least 12 protesters shot dead by security forces as Washington warned the government’s “continued brutality” may delay but will not reverse the process of change.
Rights activists said protests broke out after the main weekly Muslim prayers on Friday as the army pressed its campaign against northern towns and the number of refugees fleeing across the border into Turkey neared 10,000. A senior US administration official put the toll at around 19 dead. Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, said five people were killed in the flashpoint central city of Homs.
