DAMASCUS, Aug 19, (Agencies): Syrian forces killed at least 23 protesters as tens of thousands flooded the streets after Friday prayers, activists said, despite President Bashar al-Assad’s assurances that assaults on anti-regime protesters had ended.
Meanwhile, Russia and Turkey dismissed growing calls led by US President Barack Obama for Assad to quit, offering the embattled Syrian leader rare support despite a damning UN report on his “apparent shoot to kill” policy.
On the political front, a group of “revolutionary blocs” formed a coalition vowing to bring down the regime and paid tribute to more than 2,000 civilians killed in a crackdown on protesters since mid-March.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 15 people were killed, including an 11-year-old and a 72-year-old, in the southern province of Daraa, epicentre of the anti-regime protests that erupted March 15.
Six were killed in the central city of Homs, one in the Harasta suburb of Damascus and another in the capital’s suburb of Douma.
The Observatory said security forces opened fire on protesters, also wounding 25 people, in the Ghabagheb, Inkhil, Al-Herak and Nawa neighbourhoods in Daraa, but the official SANA news agency blamed the shooting on “armed men.”
SANA said a policeman and a civilian were killed in Ghabagheb and six security forces wounded.
People poured into the streets of major towns as they emerged from the weekly prayers, with the largest anti-regime demonstration reported in Homs.
Around 20,000 in Al-Khalidiyeh demanded the ouster of Assad, said the Observatory, which also reported rallies in the eastern oil hub of Deir Ezzor, and in the northern cities of Latakia and Banias.
Some 10,000 people marched in the predominantly Kurdish cities of Qamishli and Amuda, according to an activist at the scene, while other protests took place in and around Damascus and in Hama in central Syria.
The Observatory said troops and security forces deployed in several areas to prevent protests from taking place, including in Latakia where pro-regime “shabiha’ militias pounced on worshippers as they emerged from a mosque.
Security forces opened fire and conducted arrests to prevent protests from spilling into streets in Damascus neighbourhoods.
Friday’s rallies put to the test a commitment given by Assad to UN chief Ban Ki-moon the previous day that his security forces have ended operations against civilians.
The Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook group, one of the drivers of the protests, had called for the demonstrations under the slogan, “Friday of the beginnings of victory.”
A humanitarian mission is readying to visit Syria at the weekend, the United Nations said, as European powers press the UN Security Council for tough sanctions against the regime for its brutal crackdown.
As a UN official announced the long-delayed mission, President Bashar al-Assad’s envoy accused the West of waging a “humanitarian and diplomatic war” against the government in Damascus, which has been blamed for at least 2,000 deaths since protests started in mid-March.
More than 40 Syrian “revolution blocs” have forged a coalition to unite their efforts against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, according to a statement received Friday by AFP.
The so-called Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC) said the coalition was formed due to “the dire need to unite the field, media and political efforts” of the pro-democracy movement launched in mid-March.
Forty-four groups signed up to join the SRGC as part of “merging all visions of all revolutionaries from all coalitions and coordinators mutually focusing primarily on toppling the oppressive and abusive regime.”
Radical anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Friday rejected Western calls for Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to quit, calling the embattled leader a “brother” who stood in opposition to the United States.
For the first time Thursday, US President Barack Obama and Western leaders said that Assad must step down.
“We reject Obama’s interference in Syrian affairs,” Sadr said in a statement released by his office in the holy Shiite city of Najaf in south Iraq.
Sadr said he supported revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt that overthrew despots there, but added that “there are many differences between the popular revolutions and what is happening in Syria.”
Turkey believes it is too soon to call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, a government official told AFP on Friday.
“We are not there yet,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“First and foremost the people of Syria must tell Assad to go. This has not been heard in the streets of Syria,” the official said.
“The Syrian opposition is not united and we haven’t seen yet a collective call from Syrians to tell Assad to go, like in Egypt and Libya.”
On Thursday, US President Barack Obama made the first explicit call for Assad to resign over his regime’s attacks on protesters, which was swiftly echoed by the leaders of France, Germany and Britain.