Protesters burn an effigy of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad with an Iranian flag during a protest organised by Lebanese and Syrians living in Lebanon, in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, (Photo: Reuters).
Syrian security forces killed at least 20 people on Friday as they pursued a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters after activists called for a no-fly zone to protect civilians and soldiers deserting the army, a rights group said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fatalities were in the protest hubs of Hama, in the north, and Homs in the centre, and that security forces had encircled mosques and made arrests before and after Friday Muslim prayers.
"Eight civilians were killed in various neighbourhoods of Hama, 11 others in the city of Homs, and one civilian was killed in Qusayr in the region of Homs," the Observatory said in a statement received by AFP in Nicosia.
Hama and Homs are at the frontline of the anti-regime protests that have rocked Syria since mid-March. Since then, the UN estimates more than 3,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed by Syrian security services.
The army has been carrying out operations in Qusayr for several weeks, amid fighting there between troops and suspected army deserters, activists say.
"Despite the siege, the proliferation of checkpoints and the encirclement of mosques, people staged a mass demonstration in Kafr Nabl," a town in Idlib, near the Turkish border, demanding the "imposition of a no-fly zone," the rights watchdog reported.
People in the north-western town also marched "in support of besieged cities," said the UK-based watchdog, adding that security forces had also opened "heavy fire" and arrested five people.
That call was echoed in Homs, the focus of military raids in recent weeks, where demonstrators came out in "most of the city's neighbourhoods," the Observatory said.
Several protests rocked Homs as worshippers emerged from midday Muslim prayers. Around 20,000 people marched in the restive Deir Balaa neighbourhood, calling for the fall of President Bashar Al-Assad's autocratic regime, the Observatory said.
Meanwhile, activists said heavy gunfire and five explosions were heard in Qusayr, a restive town near the Lebanese border, where security forces sought to disperse demonstrators streaming out of several mosques.
Clashes were also reported in Hama between suspected army defectors and members of the regular army and the security forces.
Troops also raided the north-western town of Kafruma, arresting 13 people, including a woman and her 12-year-old son, the Observatory added.
In Maaret Al-Numan, also in Idlib, the funeral of a soldier who defected and was shot dead on Thursday by security forces turned into a rally demanding the fall of the Assad regime. Demonstrators further east in Deir Ezzor also came under fire as they streamed out of mosques.
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