SYRIAN troops in armoured vehicles and tanks yesterday stormed the southern town of Daraa and opened fire, witnesses said.

Syrian security forces detained dozens of opposition activists and others in raids today launched less than a week after President Bashar Assad’s regime abolished emergency laws used for decades to crush dissent, a human rights activist said.

Syrian security forces fired on funeral processions that drew tens of thousands, one day after the bloodiest crackdown so far in the uprising against President Bashar Assad.

A human rights group said the death toll from two days of violence in Syria has reached 120.

Syrian security forces fired bullets and tear gas at tens of thousands of protesters across the country, killing at least 75 people in the bloodiest day of the month-long uprising and signalling that the authoritarian regime was prepared to turn more ruthless to put down the revolt against President Bashar Assad.

Syrian security forces fired bullets and tear gas at pro-democracy demonstrations across the country today, killing at least 49 people – including a young boy – in the bloodiest day of the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s authoritarian regime, witnesses and a human rights group said.

Syrian security forces have fired live ammunition to disperse a funeral march for some of the 37 people killed a day earlier in the single bloodiest day of the country's three-week anti-government uprising.