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At least five people have been killed by security forces in Syria, activists say, as protesters take to the streets in support of the flashpoint city of Hama on the first Friday of the month of Ramadan.
Security forces fired at demonstrators in Irbin, near Damascus, killing five people and wounding many others, Abdel Karim Rihawi, head of the Syrian League for the Defense of Human Rights, an opposition group, told the AFP news agency in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Another Syrian activist, Rami Abdel Rahman, said 20 people were wounded, seven of them seriously as security forces opened fire in the Ter Maala district of the central city of Homs.
Communications were completely cut off as the army stepped up an operation to crush dissent in Hama, north of Damascus, where security forces killed at least 30 civilians and wounded dozens more earlier in the week.
"Thousands of demonstrators marched in Deir ez-Zor, Daraa and Qamishli in support of the city of Hama despite the extreme heat," Rihawi said.
He said they numbered 30,000 in Deir ez-Zor alone.
Abdel Rahman said that "more than 12,000 people" also marched in Bench, in Idlib province, "to demand the fall of the regime and express their support for Hama and Deir ez-Zor".
"Hundreds of people came out of the Al-Mans Uri mosque in Jablah, chanting 'God is with us'," he said.
State television said two members of the security forces were shot and wounded by armed men posted on rooftops in Douma, a suburb of Damascus.
The call for Friday's protests came from activists on Facebook group The Syrian Revolution 2011, a driving force behind the demonstrations calling for greater freedoms since mid-March.
Latest crackdown
Rights activists say Assad has sought to crush the democracy movement with force, killing more than 1,600 civilians and arresting thousands of dissenters.
Its latest crackdown has centered on Hama, where at least 45 people were killed on Wednesday by tanks shelling the city centre.
The city was isolated on Friday, and the military continued the operation.
The crackdown on Hama has prompted harsh words from Washington and Moscow, with Russia hinting at a possible change of heart after stonewalling firm UN action against Syria, its ally since Soviet times.
The White House said the deadly crackdown has put Syria and the Middle East on a "very dangerous path," as Washington extended a raft of recent sanctions to include a businessman close to Assad and his family.
The US administration appeared to be moving toward a first direct call for Assad to go, a step it has so far resisted, following the escalation of violence in Hama.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said the US would urge the Europeans, Arabs and others to do more to press Syria to stop its deadly crackdown.
Clinton said Assad's government was responsible for the deaths of more than 2,000 people, repeating that the US believes the Syrian leader has "lost his legitimacy to govern."
PHOTO CAPTION
A military tank on the streets of the city of Hama, Syria, on the third day of Ramadan
Al-Jazeera
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