Syrian Uprising | featured news

Syrian security forces shot dead at least five people in Hama on Friday, according to a rights group, as hundreds of thousands staged protests across the country.

Syria's leading opposition movement warned Friday of an impending government "massacre" designed to crush activists in the city of Homs, a metropolis that has emerged as a center of anti-regime unrest.

Syria is now in a state of civil war with more than 4,000 dead and increasing numbers of defecting soldiers taking up arms against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, the top United Nations human rights official said on Thursday.

A U.N. investigation released Monday accused Syrian forces of killing and torturing children and other crimes against humanity.

The Arab League has approved sanctions against Syria to pressure the regime to end its deadly eight-month crackdown on dissent.

"They're asking for RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) in al Bayadah," said the young fighter, naming another district in Homs. "Assad's armoured vehicles are coming and they have nothing to stop them." "Give them five or six of ours. God willing we will find some more," replied the man in charge, sitting cross-legged on the floor.

An Arab League committee has given Syria 24 hours to agree to allow an observer mission into the country or it could face sanctions. Thursday’s threat comes as international pressure mounts on President Bashar Assad to stop the brutal crackdown on an uprising against his regime. The U.N. says 3,500 people have been killed in the crackdown since March.

Syrian troops stormed a central town and a northwestern region in search of opponents of the government, activists said.

Arab League foreign ministers on Wednesday gave Syria's government three days to agree to end its crackdown on protesters and allow in teams of observers, but did not say what would happen if Damascus failed to comply.

Turkey threatened to cut off supplies of electricity to its neighbor Syria on Tuesday, as the Damascus regime found itself under growing pressure from Arab, Turkish, European and North American governments for its ongoing lethal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.