Syria makes random arrests as protests spread

Army allegedly begins arrests of professionals in major cities Security forces shot dead at least 11 people, including a child aged seven, in a swoop on the town of Kanaker near Damascus early Wednesday, a human rights activist said. "The security forces raided homes at dawn on Wednesday and during the operation 11 people were shot dead and more than 250 arrested," said Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organisation for Human Rights, reached by telephone from Nicosia.
He said the operation in Kanaker, a town of 25,000 people, was backed by "a bulldozer and army tanks" and targeted people aged between 15 and 40.
According to Qurabi, the raid was an "act of vengeance" because inhabitants had supplied provisions to anti-regime protesters in the southern city of Daraa, the main hub of protests against President Bashar al-Assad's hardline rule, when it was besieged by troops earlier this year.
The authorities have used deadly force to quell dissent, with at least 1,486 civilians reported killed since the uprising began mid-March, thousands arrested and thousands more fleeing the country, human rights groups say.
Government officials blamed the some of the violence on "terrorists," according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). SANA reported Tuesday that the "terrorists" killed three security officials and two civilians.
But protests have continued, according to videos posted on YouTube, which purports to show large crowds of women gathering in various cities Monday night calling for the release of detained family members. Another video shows a funeral Tuesday of a person allegedly killed by security forces. However, no independent agency has been able to confirm the authenticity of these videos.
The random arrests of doctors and lawyers in Aleppo in the past two days could mark a turning point in the 130-day-old Syrian uprising.
Until today, the relatively calm streets of the two major cities, Damascus and Aleppo, in which half the Syrian population lives, had placed enormous pressure on protesters in Homs, Hama and Deir Al Zour.
"Aleppo's rise as a protester stronghold might tilt the balance in favour of the uprising. The regime will not be able to easily control protesters if Aleppo actively joins the uprising," Dr Ammar Qurabi, Secretary-General of the Conference for Change in Syria, said. "The unprovoked attack on the Jurists Association on Friday and the arrest of three lawyers have resulted in a great shift in public opinion against the regime," Qurabi said.
The United States released a strongly worded statement Monday condemning the ongoing violence in Syria and accusing the government of targeting civilians.
"The behavior of Syria's security forces, including other such barbaric shootings, wide-scale arrests of young men and boys, brutal torture, and other abuses of basic human rights, is reprehensible," the U.S. State Department statement said. "President (Bashar al-) Assad must understand that he is not indispensable, and we believe he is the cause of Syria's instability, not the key to its stability."