24 die as Syrian forces open fire on cheering activists chanting ‘Bashar, your time is coming’

Inspired by scenes of euphoria in Libya, Syrian protesters poured into the streets yesterday and shouted that President Bashar Assad’s regime will be the next to unravel.

Syrian forces responded by firing on protesters, killing at least 24 people, activists said, most of them in the central city of Homs, a hotbed of dissent. “Gaddafi is gone, your turn is coming, Bashar,” protesters shouted.

The Syrian uprising has proved remarkably resilient over the past seven months, but has shown some signs of stalling in recent weeks as the government forges ahead with a bloody crackdown that the UN estimates has killed more than 3,000 people. Although the mass demonstrations in Syria have shaken one of the most authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, the opposition has made no major gains in recent months, it holds no territory and has no clear leadership.

Now the armed uprising in Libya that drove Gaddafi from power, with air support from Nato, appears to have breathed new life into the Syrian revolt.

“Our souls, our blood we sacrifice for you, Libya!” Syrian protesters chanted on Friday.

Others held signs linking Assad’s fate to those of other deposed Arab leaders. Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been driven into exile, and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak is in jail and facing charges of complicity in the deaths of more than 800 protesters in his country’s uprising. “Ben Ali fled, Mubarak is in jail, Gaddafi is killed, Assad …?” read one banner.

In many ways, the Syrian uprising has taken cues from the Libyans recently. Syria’s opposition formed a national council like the Libyans’ National Transitional Council, hoping they could forge a united front against Assad that Syrians and the international community could rally behind.

And with the successes of armed Libyan revolutionaries present in their minds, many Syrian protesters say they are starting to see the limits of a peaceful movement. Some Syrians are now calling on protesters to take up arms and inviting foreign military action, hoisting signs asking, “Where is Nato?”

For the most part, Syrian opposition leaders have opposed foreign intervention. There is no central call to arms and the opposition is disparate and fragmented, with various parties vying for power as they seek an end to more than 40 years of iron rule by Assad and his late father, Hafez.