Syrian security forces killed two protesters in Deir Ezzor on Thursday, an activist said, as the West keeps up pressure for UN action against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. At least five more people were wounded in the shooting in the eastern city, said Abdel Karim Rihawi of the Arab League of Human Rights, who added the mood was “tense and residents are observing a general strike.”
The Syrian Revolution 2011, a Facebook page that has been a driving force behind almost four months of anti-regime protests, has called for nationwide strikes on Thursday. On Wednesday, security forces killed four civilians in the Jebel al-Zawiya region of the northwestern province of Idlib, where the army deployed two weeks ago to crush the revolt, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
And Abdel Karim Rihawi said security forces wielding batons dispersed 250 intellectuals and writers in Damascus’s Midan district on Wednesday as they gathered, sang the national anthem and chanted “God, Syria, Freedom.” Four people were arrested, he said. Human rights groups say Syrian forces have killed at least 1,300 civilians and arrested more than 12,000 in a sweeping crackdown on dissent following a wave of protests across the Arab world.