WarSclerotic

Syrian forces reportedly kill 17 as protests flare.

AMMAN – At least 17 people were killed in the southern Syrian city of Deraa on Friday, a hospital source said, after witnesses reported security forces opened fire to disperse demonstrators.

The state news agency SANA reported shooting in Deraa, but it said “vandals” had opened fire on mass gatherings, killing a policeman and an ambulance driver and wounding dozens of police and residents.

In the east, thousands of ethnic Kurds demonstrated for reform despite the president’s offer this week to ease rules which bar many Kurds from citizenship, activists said.

Security men opened fire on thousands of protesters in Deraa, where protests first erupted last month before spreading across the country over the past three weeks.

“The were snipers on roofs. Gunfire was heavy. The injured are being taken to homes. No one trusts putting his relative in a hospital in these circumstances,” he added. Many protesters fear they would be arrested if taken to clinics.

Protests also erupted in the western city of Homs and gunfire was heard in the Damascus suburb of Harasta. The suburb of Douma, where protests have been sustained in recent days, was largely out of contact due to phone lines being cut, local activists said. Media are heavily restricted in Syria.

Popular demonstrations calling for greater freedoms have shaken the country for the last three weeks. Assad has responded with a blend of force against protesters, and gestures towards reform, most recently aimed at ethnic Kurds.

In the northeastern city of Qamishli, Kurdish youths chanted: “No Kurd, no Arab, Syrian people are one. We salute the martyrs of Deraa”. Demonstrations have raised concerns that unrest could fuel ethnic and sectarian tensions in the country.

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