Dozens of protesters arrested in Syria raids

BEIRUT - Syrian security forces detained dozens of oppositionactivists and fired from rooftops in a seaside town Sunday asauthorities turned to pinpoint raids after days of bloodshed broughtinternational condemnation and defections from President BasharAssad's regime.

The strategy, described by a rights activist, appeared aimed atrattling the opposition's leadership and showing that the state'sability to conduct arrest sweeps has not changed despite abolishingnearly 50-year-old emergency laws last week.

The rising level of violence - more than 120 people dead sinceFriday - brought calls from the watchdog group Human Rights Watchfor a U.N. inquiry. But Sunday's tactics also suggest a governmenteffort to head off the round of protest marches.

The police raids, which began late Saturday, concentrated aroundthe capital Damascus and the central city of Homs, a hotbed ofdemonstrations against Assad's authoritarian rule, said AmmarQurabi, head of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria.

"These people are not being arrested in a legal way. They arebeing kidnapped," Qurabi said, claiming the plainclothes securityagents did not have formal arrest warrants.

Qurabi did not have full figures for those detained, but said atleast 20 people were arrested in Homs. A resident in the Damascussuburb of Douma said at least five people were taken into custodyand authorities cut Internet and telephone lines.

Later, security forces moved into the coastal town of Jableh,claiming they were searching for weapons, said Qurabi. He citedwitnesses saying that police and army units opened fire fromrooftops even though there were no apparent threats and no protestsin progress. At least one person was killed and three wounded, hesaid.

"I am terrified ... People in the street are getting shot," aresident of Jableh told The Associated Press by phone.

The accounts could not be independently confirmed because Syriahas expelled journalists and restricted access to trouble spots.Witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Assad has blamed most of the unrest on a "foreign conspiracy" andarmed thugs trying to sow sectarian strife. The state-run newsagency SANA said 286 police officers have been wounded since theuprising began. It did not give further details.

But possible cracks could be emerging from within.

Two members stepped down from the provincial council in thesouthern region of Daraa, which has the highest death toll in thecountry. The resignations came a day after two lawmakers and areligious leader from Daraa also turned their backs on Assad indisgust over the killings.

Such internal rifts have added resonance since nearly allopposition figures have been either jailed or exiled during the 40-year dynasty of the Assad family.

"I pay my respect to the martyrs," said Bashir Mohammed al-Zoebi, one of two provincial council members who left their postsSunday.

More than 300 people have been killed since the uprising againstAssad's regime began five weeks ago, according to rights groups,which said that Friday was the deadliest day to date with 112killed.

"After Friday's carnage, it is no longer enough to condemn theviolence," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director for HumanRights Watch. "Faced with the Syrian authorities shoot-to-killstrategy, the international community needs to impose sanctions onthose ordering the shooting of protesters."

Earlier this month, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calledAssad to say he was "greatly disturbed" by the reports of violence.Many Western leaders, including President Barack Obama, havecondemned Syria's harsh tactics to quell dissident.

Britain's Foreign Office advised against all travel to Syriabecause of the violence. It added that "in light of thedeteriorating security situation, British nationals in Syria whohave no pressing need to remain should leave by commercial means."

In Jordan, 150 Syrians living in the kingdom protested outsidetheir embassy in Amman. "Out, out with the tyrant Bashar Assad,"shouted the group, which also burned a portrait of Assad.