OnIslam.net

DAMASCUS – Paying no respect for the holy month of Ramadan, the Syrian forces committed another massacre, murdering at least 15 civilians in attacks on peaceful protesters, drawing worldwide condemnations of the heavy-handed crackdown.

"Seven people were killed in Irbin, two in Damir, and one in Maadamiya, all near Damascus, and five in Homs" during Friday's rallies, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Group told Agence France-Presse (AFP) by telephone.

He said more than 50 people were seriously wounded, while the body of a man with signs of torture was found in front of his home in the Qabun district of the capital after he was allegedly detained by security forces.

In the central city of Hama, a hub of anti-regime protests, a six-day tank assault has killed at least 300 civilians, the Local Coordination Committees, an activists' group, said, Reuters reported.

"They are hitting (Hama's) al-Hader district and neighborhoods around the Aleppo road. Electricity is still cut off," one resident told Reuters in a call via satellite phone.

A witness told Al Jazeera that the army had banned protests in Hama and was not allowing people to gather in mosques in case they would start marching from there after prayers.

The Syrian Revolution Coordinating Union and the Local Coordination Committees, two main activists' groups, put the number of the Friday toll at 18, including a 17-year old boy.

As tanks shelled Hama for a sixth day, residents feared higher casualty figures than the 300 estimated killed since the military assault began on Sunday on the city of 700,000 people in central Syria.

“Today we are alive, but tomorrow we don’t know,” a resident, who gave his name as Fadi, told The New York Time by telephone.

“The humanitarian situation is getting worse day by day.”

Activists said demonstrations were staged also in the eastern tribal province of Deir al-Zor where tanks assembled at the gates of the provincial capital, and in the coastal cities of Jableh and Latakia as well as the capital Damascus.

"We are not scared, God is with us!" protesters shouted.

They also chanted in support of Hama and called on Assad to go.

"You Syrian raise your hand, we do not want Bashar!" they chanted in live footage broadcast on Al Jazeera television.

The Syrian protesters are defying a bloody military crackdown on an uprising that began in March against some 41 years of Assad family domination.

Condemnation

The escalation of the regime crackdown drove world leaders to consider new steps against Assad's regime.

"The leaders condemned the Assad regime's continued use of indiscriminate violence against the Syrian people," said a White House statement cited by AFP after US President Barack Obama spoke separately to France's Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"They welcomed the August 3 presidential statement by the UN Security Council condemning Syria's actions, but also agreed to consider additional steps to pressure the Assad regime and support the Syrian people."

The telephone consultations came as Washington appeared to be moving towards a direct call for Assad to leave, after saying this week his presence was now fomenting instability and leading the Middle East down a dangerous path.

Obama has been under rising pressure from both Syrian dissidents and Congress to add to several layers of sanctions against the Assad government which have already been unveiled.

Washington has already imposed a raft of measures against Assad, his family and associates of the regime, but the lawmakers called on him also to ban all US businesses from operating in Syria.

They requested Obama also to halt any Syrian property transfers under US jurisdiction and to sanction any foreign firm that transferred goods or technology that could help Damascus develop nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, or ballistic or cruise missiles.

In Geneva, UN human rights investigators said Syrian forces must stop using excessive force against peaceful protesters that has resulted in executions and other crimes punishable under international law.

In a joint statement, the independent experts called on the Syrian authorities to halt their violent crackdown, including the "indiscriminate use of heavy artillery."

Syrian authorities blame armed groups and Islamists for the violence and say 500 soldiers and police have been killed and say Syria is under a foreign conspiracy to divide it.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Group said more than 1,649 civilians were killed since the uprising began five months ago.