Syrian forces shoot 24 dead at major demonstrations

SYRIAN forces shot dead as many as 24 protesters as tens of thousands called on President Bashar al-Assad to step down in some of the biggest demonstrations since the uprising began in March.

The Local Co-ordination Committees, a group of grassroots activists, said three demonstrators were shot dead in the central city of Homs, three in the northern province of Idlib, two in Damascus suburbs and one in Latakia.

Defying Assad’s military crackdown, demonstrators took to the streets again after Friday prayers across the country, from towns near the western Lebanese border to the desert regions near Iraq in the east.