At Least 29 Protesters Killed in Syria

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  BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian security forces shot dead 29 people Friday in some of the country’s most restive locales, in yet another round of bloodshed that has led some there to fear Syria’s six-month uprising may be headed toward an even more violent turn.

The crackdown on the revolt in one of the Arab world’s most authoritarian countries has continued unabated, with the United Nations saying government forces have killed more than 2,600 people and diplomats estimating that arrests may number in the tens of thousands. Though Syria’s government stands more isolated than at any time in decades, it has managed to maintain cohesion within the security forces and leadership.

 The deaths occurred in regions that have witnessed some of the largest protests: Homs, in central Syria; Dara’a, a southern town where the uprising began; the suburbs of the capital Damascus; and the outskirts of Hama, Syria’s fourth-largest city, according to the Local Coordination Committees, an activist group. Though recent Fridays in Syria unfailingly witness violence, the toll marked one of the bloodiest in weeks.

Activists also said military campaigns, with tanks and armored vehicles, continued around Hama and in northwest Syria, a rugged region near the Turkish border.

 The Syrian government has cast the unrest as an insurgency, funded from abroad and driven by religious sentiments. In a visit to Moscow this week, Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to President Bashar al-Assad, discounted the United Nations’ estimate of deaths, saying 1,400 people had been killed. She said 700 of them were soldiers and 700 insurgents, apparently suggesting no civilians had died in the protests and crackdown.

 But international criticism has mounted, with the United States and European countries demanding that Mr. Assad step down. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who once counted Mr. Assad as a friend, has signaled growing anger with Syrian rebuffs of Turkey’s pleas to undertake reform. In Tripoli, Libya, where Mr. Erdogan visited Friday as part of a tour of Arab countries, he warned Syrian officials of their fate on Friday.

 “Do not forget this: Those in Syria who inflict repression on the people will not be able to stand on their feet,” he told a cheering crowd in a square in Tripoli.

Later at a news conference, Mr. Erdogan used more explicit language. “Who comes with injustice cannot rule,” he told reporters. “Anyone who sends tanks against his own people cannot rule. He must be held accountable for what he has done.”  Mr. Erdogan made clear that he was referring to Mr. Assad.

  Since they erupted in mid-March, the protests have demonstrated a remarkable resilience, persisting despite one of the region’s most ferocious bouts of repression. Some activists have acknowledged that, given the violence, the demonstrations may have lost some momentum in past weeks, though they don’t see the flagging numbers as decisive.

To many, fear is driving them to continue.

“Protesters are telling authorities that they have the patience of Job,” said Iyad Sharbaji, an activist in Damascus. “They have faith and believe that, if the protests stop, there will be revenge and killings that no one will survive from.”

“That is why people are insisting to continue until the end,” he added.

Across the country, activists, diplomats and analysts have worried that as the toll mounts, and international pressure fails to force concessions from Mr. Assad’s government, protesters may take up arms. There are growing reports that some already have in places like Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, and the outskirts of Damascus.

“The suppression is becoming even more brutal,” said a Syrian activist in the capital who gave her name as Hanan. “My biggest concern is the transformation of this peaceful movement into another form — a violent reaction, for instance.
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