Syria sends in Deraa tanks where the uprising began (Reuters)

AMMAN (Reuters) - the Syrian troops and tanks poured into Adraa Monday, seeking to crush the resistance in the city where broke first uplift for long months against autocratic 11 years of President Bashar al-Assad.

An activist said at least 18 people were killed in the first reported use of tanks in a centre of population since the beginning of peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in the city of the South, near the border with the JordanMarch 18.

The White House, deploring the "brutal violence used by the Government of the Syria against his people," said the President Barack Obama administration is studying targeted sanctions to clarify that "this behavior is unacceptable."

A U.S. official said that the measures envisaged include a freezing of assets and the prohibition of business U.S. relations.

Security forces have killed more than 350 civilians through the Syria since unrest erupted in Deraa, say rights groups. One-third of the victims were killed in the course of three days as the magnitude and the scope of a popular revolt against El-Assad grew.

Assad lifted State of 48 years of the Syria of emergency Thursday, but activists say that violence the following day, when 100 people were killed during demonstrations across the country, showed that it was not seriously to respond to calls for political freedom.

A leading human rights activist said of the security forces, which was also covered in the suburbs of Damascus agitated the Duma and Mouadhamiya, fire and to carry out arrests, were "a savage war designed to negate the Syria Democrats."

Raids on Monday suggested Assad, who took power when his father died in 2000 after having decided to Syria with a strong hand for 30 years, was determined to crush the opposition by force.

Militant opposition Ammar Qurabi, in contact with the Syrian opposition of Egypt, said at least 18 people were killed by artillery and tank bombardment in Deraa alone, with many more injured or missing.

News Agency State SANA said that the army penetrated Deraa in response to "calls for the aid" of residents and protect "extremist terrorist groups". He said clashes had led to the death of both sides, without giving details.

TANKS OUTSIDE MOSQUE

Earlier, a witness in Deraa told Reuters, he could see the body lying in a main street near the Omari mosque after eight tanks and two armoured vehicles were deployed in the old quarter.

"People are taking cover in homes." "I could see two-body near the mosque and nobody could come out and drag them later", the witness said.

Snipers were posted on government buildings and lattice of the army security forces had fired randomly in houses because the tanks moved in just after the dawn prayer, the witness said.

Tanks at the points of main entrance to Deraa has also shelled targets in the city, a resident named Mohsen said Al Jazeera, which showed images of a black cloud of smoke on buildings. "People cannot pass from one street to another because of the bombing."

Abdallah Abazaid, another activist, said Al Arabiya television he y "20 martyrs" and that the five officers and 10 soldiers refused orders to fire at residents.

"They have ceased to quit their positions because they found us with bare hands," said Abazaid. His comments about defection from the army could not be confirmed, but another witness said Al Jazeera as a unit commander and his troops fired on their side, apparently to allow people to drag the wounded from the street.

"I hope that Arab and Muslim nations to support the Syrian people." "The Syrian people is standing alone, unarmed and destitute, before arsenal," the imam of the mosque of Omari of Deraa said in the images broadcast by Al Jazeera.

Foreign journalists have mainly been expelled from the country, making it impossible to verify the situation on the ground. Macabre images displayed on the Internet by protesters the past few days appear to show the troops firing on unarmed crowds.

"THE OUTRAGEOUS VIOLENCE."

Assad has deepened alliance of his father Hafez Al-Assad with the Iran, onguiculé dos influence to the Lebanon and saved militants Hezbollah and Hamas, but he kept the front line of the Syria with calm Israel and held the indirect peace talks with the Jewish State.

Western critical of repression was initially muzzled, in part because of the fear that a collapse of his Alawi minority in the Sunni majority country could lead to sectarian conflict. But Friday Obama urged Assad to stop the "scandalous use of violence" to repress the demonstrations

Suhair al-Atassi, a leader of Syrian human rights activist, said authorities had launched "a savage war designed to negate the Syria Democrats."

"" President Assad's intentions were clear because he had publicly said it is ' prepared for the war "","Atassi said, referring to a speech from 30 March to the Parliament."

High Commissioner of the United Nations for the rights of man Navi Pillay called for detained activists and political prisoners to appear.

"The first step now is to immediately discontinue the use of violence, then conduct a full and independent investigation into the killings, including the murder of military and security officers and bring the perpetrators to justice."

The Organization of the United Nations, Great Britain, France, Germany and Portugal has asked the Security Council condemned the repression and urge adopted by the Government, the Council diplomats said, but it was not clear if the Russia and China would support the idea.

Why the Syria sees a threat coming from small Lebanon? (Time.com)

Syria long has been accused of stirring trouble in the territories of its neighbors by exporting unwanted people across porous borders - Kurdish separatists into Turkey, Sunni insurgents into Iraq and Palestinian militants and Al-Qaeda sympathizers into Lebanon. But with Syria reeling from the worst internal unrest since the ruling Baath Party took power nearly 50 years ago, it is Damascus' turn to complain about the alleged infiltration of foreign militants seeking to stir anti-regime violence. Amid President Bashar al-Assad's hard-soft campaign against the unrest (crushing violence against protesters on one hand; lifting the nearly half-century "emergency law" and promising reforms, on the other), the official media in Damascus is focusing on the threat from across its borders.

On Sunday, for example, a refrigerator truck filled with automatic weapons, grenade launchers, sniper rifles, night-vision goggles and ammunition was seized by Syrian customs were crossing into Syria from Iraq, according to Syria's SANA news agency. The driver, the report said, claimed to have been paid $20,000 by an Iraqi to deliver the weapons into Syria. (See Protests in Syria)

But the brunt of Syrian paranoia seems to be focused on Lebanon. Last week, Syrian state television area the alleged confessions of three members of the Muslim Brotherhood who claimed to have been planning to encourage protests and form armed groups on the instructions of Jamal Jarrah, a Lebanese parliamentarian belonging to the Future Movementa Sunni political block headed by Saad Hariri, the caretaker prime minister and the stupid black of Damascus. Jarrah has denied the charge, but the claim has ignited fresh tensions between the Syrian authorities and Lebanese opponents of the Syrian regime. "If any harm comes to syria, then Lebanon will be harmed," said Ali Abdel Karim Ali, the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon, in what many Lebanese interpreted as a threat.

Hizballah and other Lebanese allies of Syria have seized upon the charges to launch verbal attacks against their domestic political foes in the March 14 parliamentary coalition, which includes the Future Movement. March 14 retorted that the charges suggested was "dangerous conspiracy against Lebanon" and warned the Lebanese "against getting involved in a new plan aimed at creating strife among them."

A look at Lebanon's northern border with Syria, from the standpoint of Wadi Khaled, a remote impoverished village of black basalt homes scattered over a hillside, makes it immediately clear just how easy it would be to slip from one side to the other. The border here follows the Kabir river. Kabir may mean "great" in Arabic but this watercourse is barely larger than a small creek, flanked by dense Western of trees and lush verdant pastures.

"Yes, it is very easy to cross, especially in summer when the river is low," says Mohammed, owner of an electrical goods store a stone's throw from the river. He says smugglers charge $1,000 per head to cross one way or the other. Most people crossing the border are either economic migrant (Africans, for example) who hope to find jobs in Lebanon or Lebanese criminals on the lam who sneak into Syria until the heat has died down back home.

Purpose are the Lebanese sending co-operatives in subvert to Damascus? The political traffic seems to be the other way around. Rami Nakhle, a Syrian opposition activist, slipped across the border in Wadi Khaled in January to avoid being arrested by the Syrian authorities for his anti-regime activities. A Syrian smuggler in Homs charged him $1,500 for the trip. Rami agreed, but said he would only pay once in Lebanon. The two men rode motorcycles from Homs until they reached the border, then continued on foot. Purpose as they reached the river, they were ambushed by Syrian border guards. "They were firing in the air and we split up." "they chased but me I kept running into Lebanon," Rami says. (See pictures of Protests in Lebanon)

Although he lost his guide, Rami bumped into another Syrian smuggler on the Lebanese side of the border who offered to take him to Beirut for only $500. Rami presently is in hiding in Beirut and, operates under the nickname Malath Aumran, using the internet to help organize protests.

Smuggling activities have slowed since the uprising in Syria began five weeks ago. Syrian troops have reinforced their border positions and increased the number of foot patrols along this stretch of the frontier. Wadi Khaled and most of the neighboring villages are populated by Sunni and are fans of the Future Movement which, as far as the Syrians are concerned, is good reason to keep a wary eye open for possible infiltrators. "our blood belongs to saad hariri and we are with the Syrian uprising one hundred percent," says Ali, a young man sitting astride the ubiquitous Syrian-made motorcycles used for transport in the Wadi Khaled area.

Local residents say they are monitoring the border for possible Syrian infiltrators who they believe may attempt to create strife in Lebanon. Some members of Fatah al-Islam, an Al-Qaeda-inspired faction that fought a bloody three-month battle against Lebanese troops in a north Lebanon Palestinian refugee camp in 2007, Lebanon entered via the Wadi Khaled district. "we will let sunni refugees come here, but we will not allow any Alawites to enter," says Ali, referring to the minority Alawite sect, an off-shoot of Shi'ite Islam whose adherent form the backbone of the Syrian regime.

Although the Kabir river provides a clear geographical marker for the path of the border, the Lebanese-Syrian frontier is less well defined elsewhere. Much of the border is in dispute, with claims and counter-claims that both countries are encroaching on each other's territory. The fault for the ill-defined nature of the border rests with the French mandatory authorities who never properly delineated and demarcated the frontier when the modern state of Lebanon was established in the 1920s.

Syrian border security concerns run highest in areas adjacent to Lebanese Sunni populations, but a few miles to the east, in the remote Shi 'ite populated Hermel district of Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, a center of support for the Syria - allied Hizballah, the border restrictions are much more lax. It is through the rugged mountains of the eastern Bekaa that Hizballah is believed to bring much of its substantial arsenal of weapons from Syria. Locals allege that when the electricity supply is suddenly cut at night and cellphones lose reception, it means Hizballah's cross - border arms convoys are on the move.

At the tiny farming hamlet of Haush Sayyed Ali near Hermel, the border is marked by a concrete culvert and a narrow stream along which gushes icy snow melt from the mountains to the west. A Syrian border guard sitting in the entrance of a small concrete hut with the national flag painted on one wall stares curiously as a small group of people pass by a few yards away. A tractor carrying a trailer piled high with sacks of cement chugs down a steep ramp into the stream opposite the Syrian border post. The Syrian guard does not even glance up as the tractor driver follows the water course for about 50 yards before heading up another earth ramp onto the Syrian side.

"You have just watched someone smuggling cement into Syria," chuckles Hussein, a self-confessed smuggler and farmer.

On the other hand, the tractor's short trip may not have constituted an act of smuggling after all, because, according to standard maps of Lebanon, Sayyed Ali Haush lies almost one mile inside Syria. Just another weird anomaly along the porous and ambiguous Lebanon-Syria border.

Is Lebanon Being Sucked Into Regional Unrest?

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The Syria demonstrators take place

crowds were in the streets of Homs later Monday of thousands of anti-government demonstrators occupied the centre of the third Syria most city, Homs, insisting to they leave until they bring down the country's direction.

A woman has said to the BBC by a crowd of telephone were always of major later Monday.

Earlier, the funeral was held for some of those killed in the violence Sunday in the city, with the crowd calling for the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.

Ministry of the Interior the Syria said the amounts of disorders to armed insurrection.

Continue reading the main history

the course of the previous events... revealed that they are an armed insurrection by armed groups belonging to Salafist organisations, especially in the cities of Homs and Banias "

end Department statement cited eight inside people are dead in Homs Sunday after soldiers fired on crowds protesting the death of a leader" Tribal warning state.

The opposition says that the occupation of the city will continue until their political demands are met. These include the immediate lifting of the Syria long emergency laws and the release of political prisoners.

Activists say that control points have been created around the place to ensure that civilian from persons not armed.

A supporter of the opposition, who said that his brother was shot dead in protests on Sunday, said volunteers provide protesters with food and water.

Another, Najafi Tayyara, told the AFP News Agency: "more than 20,000 people took part in the dining place Al - Saa and we renamed it places Tahrir like Cairo."

"It is an open sit-in will continue until all our demands are met.".

The wave unprecedented protests in Syria shows no sign of abating, despite promises of reform by President Assad, says the BBC Kim Ghattas.

The persistence of the demonstrations and the number of people out of the street do demonstrations of the Syria even more striking, then, the other Arab uprisings, adds our correspondent.

"Ambush".

The Syria official news agency also reported on the events in Homs. He said three army officers including a brigadier general, with his two sons and nephew, were ambushed and killed on Sunday by "armed criminal gangs" which then mutilated the bodies with sharp tools.

The city of the Banias North also saw anti-Government demonstrations Sunday.

In a statement, the Ministry of the Interior stated: "" the course of the previous events... revealed that they are an armed insurrection by armed groups belonging to Salafist, especially in Homs and Banias. organizations ".

BBC Lina Sinjab said with the Salafist allegation is seen as a threat to peaceful demonstrations.

Many people fear that this means more violence by the authorities against the demonstrators on the pretext of combating terrorist elements, says our correspondent.

President Assad has promised reforms to try to calm down the weeks of protest, but protesters say that concessions are not sufficient.

Human rights groups say at least 200 protesters were killed in the past four weeks as security forces try to repress the most serious to Mr. Assad rule since he succeeded his father 11 years ago.

State of the Syria of emergency "in the end"

Bashar al-Assad said he believed that the Act would be thrown in a weekSyrian President Bashar al-Assad, that he expects a State of emergency to lift next week, after weeks of anti-Government protests.

He made the comments in a speech televised to his newly formed cabinet.

The lifting of the 48 years old emergency law has been an application key of the demonstrators.

On Friday, tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in the capital, Damascus, in one of the biggest turnouts since the beginning of the protests.

While he reiterated his view that his country was facing a plot, Mr. Assad said that did not believe the lifting of the State of emergency would destabilize the Syria.

The Syrian leader said the cabinet a legal commission was asked to consider the lifting of the law had come to its conclusions.

"I think that the commission completed its work on Thursday, and the recommendations will be provided to the Government so that they become law immediately." "I don't know how many days it will take you and I think that the maximum deadline for the lifting of the State of emergency will be next week", he said.

The law prohibits public gatherings in addition to five persons.

Continue reading the main story  Jim Muir BBC News,.

It is a different discourse of a President Bashar al-Assad delivered before an admiring Parliament on 30 March, two weeks after the outbreak by far the most serious internal problem, his regime was faced with.

Now, giving his new Government its marching, Mr. Al-Assad orders told ministers that their mission was to provide a raft of reforms, structural changes and a new partnership with the public which would make Syria, for example for democracy in the region.

His words will be without doubt greeted with skepticism by demonstrators who have lived in the month of the violent repression and the decades of ruthless control which preceded it.

But Mr. Assad came with a tangible promise to respond to one of their most vociferous claims - the lifting of the hated emergency laws in place since 1963 and under which security agents have detained and tortured people with impunity.

New security law would be introduced instead of the emergency law, he said, adding that the new Government should also consider ideas for a multiparty system and a greater freedom of the press.

The question now is whether if the measures will be sufficient to persuade the protesters to return to their homes, said the BBC Owen Bennett Jones in the neighbouring Lebanon, or if they will encourage all just more protests in the hope of securing reforms more.

Truncheons and tear gas

Demonstrations Friday in Damascus and other cities were among the most important in a month of disorders who have seen almost 200 people were killed.

The unrest is the greatest challenge to the rule of Mr. Al-Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000.

Security forces used tear gas and batons to disperse tens of thousands of protesters - some calling for reform, other appeal demanding the overthrow of Mr. Assad - Damascus.

Thousands of people have been demonstrated in a number of other Syrian cities - including Deraa, Latakia, Baniyas and Qamishli - where violence has been reported previously.

Mr. Al-Assad formed a new Government Thursday and pronounced an amnesty for an undetermined number of persons detained in the last month.

He has also sacked some local officials and citizenship Syrian to thousands of the Kurdish minority - meet a demand of long date.

The Organization of the United Nations and a number of Western Governments have decried use of President Assad force to try to quash the demonstrations.

Human rights activists say hundreds of people through the Syria were arrested, including activists, bloggers and personalities of the opposition.

Mr. Al-Assad accuse violence in recent weeks on not reform-seekers armed bands and has promised to put an end to more unrest.

US officials have said Iran help Syria to crack down on protests, a charge Tehran and Damascus have refused.

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