Diplomatic roadblocks, a complex social make-up, and a densely distributed population combine to render the Syrian uprising more complex than that of Libya, writes Alastair Macdonald

Syrian troops attacked rebel strongholds in Deraa where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad erupted nearly a year ago, and the UN chief said crimes against humanity had almost certainly been committed in Syria.

Two suicide car bombers struck Syrian security compounds in the northern city of Aleppo yesterday, killing 28 people officials said, while in besieged Homs, opposition areas endured another day of bombardment by President Bashar al-Assad’s troops.

Syrian soldiers killed 19 people in fighting to retake Damascus suburbs from rebels, activists said, a day after the Arab League suspended its monitoring mission in Syria because of mounting violence.

SYRIAN forces killed 111 people ahead of the start of a mission to monitor President Bashar al-Assad’s implementation of an Arab League peace plan, activists claimed.

PRIME Minister Adel Safar urged Syrians to vote in local elections to save the nation from “conspiracies against us”, but activists struggling to oust President Bashar-al Assad rejected the ballot as irrelevant at a time of violent unrest.

AT least a dozen Syrian secret police have defected from an intelligence compound, activists said, in what appeared to be the first major desertion from a service that has acted as a pillar of President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

SYRIAN forces shot dead 20 protesters despite a pledge by President Bashar al-Assad that a crackdown was over, activists said as thousands marched across Syria, spurred on by US and European calls for him to step down.

Syrian president Bashar Assad replaced his defence minister with the army chief of staff in the midst of a brutal military crackdown on a five-month-old uprising, the state-run news agency said.

SYRIAN security forces shot dead seven people during clashes in two cities between President Bashar al-Assad’s loyalists and protesters demanding his removal, an activist said.

THE G8 leaders promised $20 billion (€14bn) in aid to Tunisia and Egypt yesterday and held out the prospect of billions more to foster the Arab Spring and the new democracies emerging from popular uprisings.

A SYRIAN mother-of-six who opened the door to a secret policeman in the border town of Deraa just had time to scream “Israelis are more merciful than you” before he shot her dead, relatives said.

EUROPEAN governments have urged Syria to end violence against demonstrators after President Bashar al-Assad sent tanks to crush opposition in the city of Deraa where an uprising against his rule first erupted.

THOUSANDS of Syrians called for the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad yesterday at a funeral for protesters killed by security forces in the southern town of Nawa, a witness 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.

SYRIAN security forces killed at least three protesters in a Damascus suburb yesterday, witnesses said, as thousands turned out in pro-democracy marches despite a reform gesture by President Bashar al-Assad.

A scenic seaside city echoed with gunfire as protesters defied government forces in Syria’s second day of nationwide unrest, burning tyres, attacking businesses and setting the offices of the ruling party aflame.

Protesters against the government of Syria set fire to offices of the ruling party today while hundreds of political prisoners were released in a bid to appease the rioters.

Syrian security troops have stormed a protest sit-in near the capital Damascus, arresting about 200 people in the midnight raid, according to activists.

Troops opened fire on protesters in cities across Syria, and pro- and anti-government crowds clashed in the capital’s historic old city today.

THE main hospital in the southern Syrian city of Deraa has received the bodies of at least 37 protesters who were killed in a confrontation with security forces, a hospital official said.

SYRIAN forces killed six people yesterday in an attack on protesters in a mosque complex in the southern city of Deraa, and later opened fire on hundreds of youths marching in solidarity, witnesses said.

Protests have erupted in three part of Syria in the gravest unrest in years in one of the Mideast’s most repressive states, reports say.