Syrian security forces killed two anti-regime protesters near Damascus and deployed tanks in a town near Turkey's border, activists said on Monday, as the authorities eyed the recapture of Hama. More than 20 people were arrested on the outskirts of the flashpoint central city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that angry residents countered by burning tyres and hurling stones.
One resident told AFP that a 12-year-old child, Omar Khalluf, was shot dead in north-west Hama and between 20 and 25 other people were wounded, two of them seriously, during the sweep. Agents in their cars "shot in the air to terrorise residents," he said, while warplanes overflew the city, emitting sonic booms.
Earlier, Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory said: "Two demonstrators were killed and eight wounded on Sunday night as security forces opened fire to disperse a protest in Hajar Aswad" in Damascus province. Activists said another eight people were wounded early on Monday in an army operation in Idlib province, north-west Syria.