politics | Things heat up in Syria: (Reply)

Syrian forces shoot at civilians in Deraa

Syrian security forces shot dead at least 15 people when tens of thousands of protesters rallied for a "day of rage", defying warnings of a harsh crackdown, activists said.

In the protest epicentre of Deraa, rights groups said that security forces fired on thousands of protesters trying to enter the besieged city.

Al Jazeera's Rula Amin said that sources have revealed that "the situation in Deraa is dire".

"Deraa has been under siege since Monday morning. Residents from the surrounding villages were trying to break the siege as they tried to get supplies.

"They met with hostile security forces who fired at them and we know that at least 15 people were killed.

"One resident told me that that people do not have supplies, no communication, the situation is dire and they wonder what the security forces want from the town," or correspondent said.MORE

The death toll from the protests so far is apparently between 400-500 people depending on the news sources you read. As a result:

Syria crackdown: hundreds resign from Ba'ath party

But while the international community failed to condemn the violence, signs of dissent within government ranks started to grow as more than 230 members of the monolithic party that has ruled Syria since 1963 announced their resignation.
"Considering the breakdown of values and emblems that we were instilled with by the party and which were destroyed at the hand of the security forces … we announce our withdrawal from the party without regret," 30 party members from the coastal city of Banias said in a letter.

They accused security forces and pro-government gunmen of opening fire at homes, mosques and churches and inciting sectarian strife between the country's Sunni majority and President Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam.
The city – which sits near the Alawite's mountain heartland – has seen repeated street protests, which have been met with gunfire, raids and mass arrests by the security forces.

About 200 members from the southern Hauran region – which includes the besieged city of Deraa – also stood down, citing the Ba'ath party leadership's complicity with "crimes of the Syrian intelligence agencies".
Deraa, where protests against the Assad regime began six weeks ago, has been surrounded by troops for days, and residents are reportedly running out of food, water and medicine.MORE

EU to respond as death toll rises

European governments will meet on Friday to discuss imposing sanctions on Syria, responding to the repression by the Assad regime by possibly imposing travel bans and freezing the bank accounts of the president and his relatives, and of key government figures.

It comes as pressure on the Syrian regime increased after the resignation of hundreds of members of President Bashar al-Assad's Ba'ath party in protest at the bloody crackdown, now believed to have claimed at least 500 lives.

The situation is reported to be desperate in the southern city of Deraa, where the dissent began six weeks ago. It remains under siege from tanks of the ultra-loyal Fourth Mechanised Brigade, commanded by Assad's brother, Maher, as well as, residents say, snipers and machine guns.MORE