Boy, 13, killed as brutal crackdown goes on

The three-day holiday is a time of introspection that many protesters had hoped would become a turning point in the five-month-old uprising. Instead, the government crackdown on dissent intensified and the conflict has become a bloody stalemate.

On activist from Daraa said: “They can shoot and kill as much as they want, we will not stop calling for regime change.”

Yesterday’s bloodshed was in the southern province of Daraa, the central city of Homs and the capital, Damascus. Amateur videos posted by activists online showed protesters calling for the downfall of the regime and even the execution of president Bashar al-Assad – a sign of how much the uprising against Mr Assad has grown in both size and anger over the past five months.

Anti-regime activist network the Local Co-ordination Committees called this week for Syrians to avoid taking up arms in their struggle against Mr Assad and advised against inviting foreign military action such as that which helped topple the government of Libya

In a statement, it said: “While we understand the motivation to take up arms or call for military intervention, we reject this position. Militarisation would … erode the moral superiority that has characterised the revolution since its beginning.”

The uprising began with modest calls for reform in Syria, an autocratic state that has been ruled by the same family for more than 40 years. But as the government crackdown escalated, so too did the protesters’ demands. Now, most are demanding nothing less than the downfall of the regime.

In the northern province of Idlib, a few hundred protesters marched with flower wreaths decorated with the Syrian flag and pictures of dead relatives. Many shouted: “Bashar, we don’t want you!”

The Local Co-ordination Committees – which have a wide network of sources on the ground across Syria – said six protesters were killed in Daraa province and one in Homs.

An activist in Daraa confirmed the six deaths in the province, saying four were killed in the village of al-Harra and two others in Inkhil.

The deaths in al-Harra included a 13-year-old boy, they said.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy gunfire in the Qaboun district of Damascus, with five people injured.

State-run news agency Sana said Mr Assad performed Eid prayers in the Hafez Assad Mosque in the capital, named after Mr Assad’s father, who ruled Syria with an iron fist for three decades until his death in 2000.

Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell said yesterday it would not stop producing oil in Syria unless it was directed to do so by the European Union, Netherlands national broadcaster NOS said.

The remarks to the broadcaster by Dick Benschop, head of the company’s Dutch arm, came after a private meeting with members of Dutch parliament, who have called for a boycott in protest over the Syrian government crackdown on an uprising the UN says has left 2,200 dead since it began in March.

Shell is the second-largest foreign oil producer in Syria after France’s Total, producing 7.3 million barrels of oil in 2010. The main buyers for Syrian oil are Italy, France, the Netherlands and Spain.

Elsewhere, the prime minister of Turkey, a former close ally, has again warned Mr Assad that his regime could face a demise like those in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya if the violent suppression of protests does not stop.

His comments were some of the bluntest warnings yet and were particularly biting because they came from a leader whose government had extensive diplomatic ties with Syria.

“The only way out is to immediately silence arms and to listen to the people’s demands,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his monthly address on Turkish television.

“We have been watching the fate of those who did not chose this path in the past few months in Tunisia, in Egypt, and now in Libya, as a warning and with sadness.”