Mass demonstrations of Friday the day of kneeling

Demonstrations against Syrian President Syrian protesters were preparing for massive demonstrations on Friday under the title “We will not bow except for God,” as Syrian forces killed at least 24 people in raids near the Lebanon border and in the country’s Sunni tribal heartland, activists said, pursuing a military campaign to crush street protests against President Bashar Al Assad. President Assad’s forces have intensified assaults on towns and cities across the country since the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan to subdue mounting dissent against the ruling family, despite threats of new US sanctions and calls from Turkey, Syria’s powerful northern neighbor, and Arab nations, to halt the attacks.

“Assad remains convinced that the military solution is working, ignoring the fact that as soon as he contains demonstrations in one town they erupt in another,” a Western diplomat in the Syrian capital said, according to Reuters.
“At one point he may not have enough loyalist troops capable of exerting control over simultaneous centers of protests,” he added. Mr. Assad belongs to Shiite Islam’s minority Alawite sect.

The security force operations came in defiance of warnings to Syria by the United States that it will face further sanctions if it does not stop killing protesters. A man was killed early Friday while trying to flee when security forces began arresting residents in the Damascus suburb of Saqba, according to Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.  The second death, that of a woman, occurred when security forces launched an operation at dawn in the town of Kahn Sheikhun in northwestern Idlib province.

"Dozens of tanks, troop carriers and civilian cars were used in the dawn assault on Kahn Sheikhun," Abdel Rahman said. "Intense gunfire was heard."  At least 16 people were killed in a crackdown on dissent in other hubs of protest across Syria on Thursday, according to rights activists. Activists and rights campaigners said 13 civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed on Thursday when troops and tanks swept into Qusair, 135 km (85 miles) north of Damascus, after overnight protests calling for President Assad’s removal.

In nearby Homs, activists said on Friday that five people, including a nine-year-old boy, were killed in an overnight raid on the Byada residential district after protests in the city. Nightly Ramadan prayers, or ‘tarawih,’ which follow the breaking of the fast, have given more Syrians a focus for daily protest marches against 41 years of President Assad family rule over the country of 20 million, activists said. Syrian authorities have expelled most independent journalists since the five-month-old uprising began, making it difficult to verify reports from both sides.

In the east of the country, troops and military intelligence personnel, backed by armoured vehicles, stepped up their assault on Deir al Zor, capital of an oil-producing province bordering Iraq's Sunni heartland. Four civilians were killed in house-to-house raids in Deir al-Zor on Thursday and several shops belonging to families of prominent dissidents in the city were burned down, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. About 14 tanks and armoured vehicles swept into Saraqeb, a town on Syria's main north-south highway that has seen daily demonstrations, and security forces arrested 100 people, residents said by telephone.

The tanks later withdrew and residents staged a night-time rally in the town's streets, but security forces fired at the demonstrators, injuring four. The Observatory said on its website that a total of 2,150 people have been confirmed dead since the protests began in mid-March, including 1,744 civilians and 406 members of the security forces. Syria says 500 soldiers and police have died in the bloodshed, which it blames on armed gangs and terrorists. Protesters were expected to flood Syrian streets again after midday weekly prayers, setting the stage for further confrontation.

Facebook group The Syrian Revolution 2011, a driving force behind the anti-regime protests, said in a message posted on the Internet: "We only kneel before God." It also urged Syrians to pursue anti-regime rallies throughout the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan which started August 1, saying "every day in Ramadan is a Friday." US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called for wider international sanctions on Syria as the government's violent crackdown on dissent continues. Mrs Clinton said China and India in particular could increase pressure because of their energy investments.She said the US did not want to call for Mr Assad to stand down without getting the backing of other countries."What we really need to do to put the pressure on Assad is to sanction the oil and gas industry," she said, citing Europe, China and India as powers with energy investments in Syria and adding that the US also wanted Russia to stop selling arms to the Assad regime.

When asked why Washington has not called yet outright for Mr Assad to stand down, Mrs Clinton said the US was focusing on "building the chorus of international condemnation". "Rather than us saying it and nobody else following, we think it's important to lead and have others follow as well." The White House said President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed during a phone call Thursday on the need for a "transition to democracy" in Syria. The Obama administration has been steadily ratcheting up pressure on Assad, who has been deaf to growing international calls to stop the crackdown. As part of the crackdown, Abdel Karim Rihawi, head of the Syrian League for the Defence of Human Rights since 2004 and a key source of information for international media, was arrested on Thursday, activists said.

Syrian authorities have expelled most independent journalists since the five-month-old uprising began, making it difficult to verify reports from both sides. Meanwhile Facebook group The Syrian Revolution 2011 urged Syrians to pursue anti-regime rallies throughout the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan which started August 1, saying "every day in Ramadan is a Friday." Friday - the weekly day of rest when key Muslim prayers are held  has become a focal point of anti-regime protests in Syria, with hundreds of thousands pouring on to the streets each week to demonstrate. Another activist group, the Local Coordinating Committees, said nine detainees had died from torture in detention over the last 10 days in Damascus, Homs, Deraa and Damascus suburbs.