Anti-government protests spread in Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria, April 13 (UPI) -- The uprising in Syria is spreading, with reports of members of the president's family tribes joining in the movement seeking his ouster, observers said.

In response, President Bashir Assad mobilized military and security forces, ordering them to shoot to kill and not allow ambulances to collect the wounded, DEBKAfile.com, a Web site run by former members of Israel's military intelligence, reported Wednesday.

Tuesday, members of the Knaan tribe, part of the Assad family's Alawite tribe, indicated support for the opposition. Also, more than 10,000 protesters marched in Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub, sources told DEBKAfile.com.

DEBKAfile.com reported Druze were rebelling in Syria's mountain region, as were protesters in the Kurdish town of Kamishli and the Shammar tribes of southeastern Syria.

Sources told the intelligence site Damascus University has been under siege for four days.

The military have blocked main roads linking northern Syria to central and southern points, witnesses said. Telephone, Internet services and food deliveries in many places have been disrupted.

Reports of troops firing on demonstrators and denying medical care for the wounded drew sharp criticism from the Obama administration. In a statement issued in Washington, the administration expressed deep concern about the reports.

"The escalating repression by the Syrian government is outrageous, and the United States strongly condemns the continued efforts to suppress peaceful protesters," the statement said. "President Assad and the Syrian government must respect the universal rights of the Syrian people, who are rightly demanding the basic freedoms that they have been denied."