Thousands of Syrians defiant chanting "We are not afraid!" were welcomed by the security forces firing bullets and gas tear gas Friday to a repression of demonstrations throughout the country which caused the death of 42 people - many of them villagers trying to break up a blockade of the army of the city of the South where begins the six-week uprising.
Yet again, President Bashar Al-Assad triggered deadly force in an effort to crush the revolt, the most serious challenge to the dynasty in 40 years of his family.
Although still in control, it will be struggling to recover legitimacy and abroad, if he manages to stay in power. United States slapped three senior officials in his regime--including his brother - with sanctions and nations have agreed to launch an investigation by the United Nations for the Suppression of the Syria.
Human rights groups say about 500 people have been killed since the start of the insurgency.
Many 42 people killed Friday were in Dara, said the rights activist of human Mustafa Osso, the group focused on the Syria compiles lists of victims of repression. He told the Associated Press that the number of dead could rise,
Thousands of people on the outskirts of Dara attempted to break the military siege on the City Friday, but security forces opened fire, said focus groups and human rights.
A witness said Dara residents remained indoors because the city is under siege by the military since Monday, when thousands of soldiers backed by tanks and snipers from elite stormed in. People were too afraid even to venture outside mosques for prayers, the witness said.
"We are in our homes, but our hearts are in the mosques," the witness said, speaking by telephone by satellite and to request that his name be used for fear of reprisals.
A devastating image emerged from Dara - which has been without electricity, water and phones since Monday - as residents fled to neighbouring countries. The uprising started in Dara in mid-March, triggered by the arrest of adolescents who scribbled anti-Government graffiti on a wall.
"Nobody move (DARA)." They were snipers on high rooftops, "a resident told the AP using a satellite phone." "They are pulling everything."
On the Jordanian border with the Syrian, several residents of Dara who had crossed just said there was blood in the streets of the city.
"Shooting is heard across the city all the time," a man said, asking that his name be used for fear of reprisals. "To kill people in the streets snipers if they leave their homes."
An AP reporter at the border heard shots and light smoke rising from just across side of the border. Residents, said that the filming has been constant for three weeks.
The Syria has prohibited almost all the foreign media and limited access to the warm, making it almost impossible to verify if the dramatic events shake one of the most authoritarian regimes, of anti-occidentaux in the Arab world.
Large demonstrations were reported Friday in the capital of Damascus, the Centre of the city of Homs, Banias and Latakia coastal cities, the towns in the North of the city of Qamishli, near the Turkish border Raqqa and Hama Northeast.
Outside of Homs, thousands chanted "We will love you!" and "Bye-bye, Bashar!" We'll see you in the Hague! "as a noise of gunfire crackled in the distance.
