Syrian army starts crackdown in northern town

Syrian state television says the country's army has begun operations in Jisr al-Shughur, a restive northern town near the Turkish border, as anti-government protests are held in cities across the country.
The government said the operation on Friday aimed to restore security in the town, where authorities said 120 security personnel were killed by "armed groups'' last week.
"Our correspondent in Jisr al-Shughur told us now that in response to people's calls, units from the Syrian Arabic Army started its duties in Jisr al-Shughur ... to arrest armed members," the television report said.


The reporter accompanying the army said troops backed by tanks were on the outer edges of the town, ready to enter.
A resident of Jisr al-Shughur who fled the town on Friday morning, making his way towards the Turkish border to seek refuge, denied the government's claims that there were armed gangs in the town.
"All the accusations of residents sheltering gangs are false," he told Al Jazeeera. "And we never asked the army for help or to enter our city. It is them firing on us."
The resident said he had seen the army shooting at fleeing villagers with machine guns.
"They have burned down all the crops in surrounding fields and the villagers are fleeing to the nearby mountain."
Deaths reported
Protests erupted in many cities across Syria after Friday prayers.
Security forces shot dead at least two protesters when they fired at a rally in the Qaboun district of Damascus, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"It seems that it was a big demonstration, given the direct use of live ammunition," the group's director Rami Abdelrahaman said, adding that the information came from witnesses.
Other activists said security forces fired automatic rifles, some from rooftops, at the demonstration, which demanded the removal of President Bashar al-Assad.
Security forces also shot dead two civilians in a village in the southern Hauran Plain, residents said.
"There was a demonstration of 1,000 people when the 'Amen' [security police] fired from their cars," one of the residents of Busra al-Harir village said, giving the names of the dead protesters as Adnan al-Hariri and Abdelmuttaleb al-Hariri.
Syrian state television said a member of the security forces, whom the television described as "preservers of peace", was shot dead by gunmen in Busra al-Harir, but residents say no policemen were killed and that the demonstration was peaceful.
A fifth protester was shot dead in the Mediterranean port city of Latakia, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In the north of the country, more than 8,000 protesters marched through three Kurdish towns to demand political reform and in solidarity with Jisr al-Shughur, activist Hassan Berro said.
"With our blood and our soul, we sacrifice ourselves for Jisr al-Shughur," the demonstrators chanted in Ras al-Ain on the border with Turkey. Protests were also taking place in Qamishli and Amuda