Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addresses parliament on March 30, 2011 in Damascus, Syria. Al-Assad ordered a committee to conduct an investigation into the deaths of protesters and also to study the lifting of emergency laws. UPI |
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DAMASCUS, Syria, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Security forces shot and killed 29 people Friday in the continuing government crackdown on participants in Syria's six-month old revolt, activists said.
The Local Coordination Committees, an activist group, said the killings were in regions with the strongest protests, including Homs in central Syria, Daraa, the southern city where the uprising began, the suburbs of the capital of Damascus and the outskirts of Hama, the country's fourth-largest city.
The renewed violence came as Syrian opposition groups are forming a council to coordinate policies against President Bashar Assad's regime, protest leaders said.
The killings led to fears violence may escalate in the uprising against what is considered one of the Arab world's most authoritarian regimes, The New York Times reported.
"After completing the first level of consultative meetings, groups of revolutionary youth, political movements and personalities, activists and technocrats decided to found the Syrian National Council," opposition spokeswoman Basma Qadmani said.
The meetings were conducted Thursday in Turkey.
The council is to have 140 members.
An activist told the BBC representatives from Syrian minorities were included in response to concerns about what could happen after the ousting of Assad, a member of the Alawite minority.
The United Nations said more than 2,600 people have died since anti-government protests began more than five months ago.
The Assad government says it has a political reform program in place and deployed troops to protect citizens from what officials call thugs and foreign-backed terrorists.
The New York Times reported the direction of the uprisings remains unknown, but some observers and political activists said if the protests and brutal government crackdown continue the stalemate in cities across the country probably would yield to more civil strife and sectarian tension.
"The future depends on the situation on the ground," said Louay Hussein, a political activist in Damascus who has held talks with government officials. "The more oppressive the regime becomes, the greater the chances of violence."
