DubaiL Syrian security forces locked down the protest flashpoint town of Baniyas and raked the nearby village of Bayda with gunfire yesterday, witnesses told AFP by telephone.
"The gunfire in Bayda is intense like the rain," a witness was quoted as saying. The army kept a stranglehold on the coastal town of Baniyas, 280 kilometres north of Damascus.
In focus: Unrest in the Middle East
"There is a shortage of bread in the city, electricity is cut and the majority of phone lines are too," a resident said.
Meanwhile, sources from a delegation meeting with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad told Gulf News that those killed in anti-government clashes in the city of Douma will be treated as martyrs and their families will be compensated with one million Syrian pounds (Dh80,000) and get government employment.
Human rights sources put the death toll in the month-long uprising in different parts of Syria at around 200 with hundreds injured.
Leading Muslim scholars in Homs sent Al Assad an open letter, which included a 16-point programme for reform. It seeks the return of exiled Syrians and the elimination of the role of Baath Party as a leading political party as per Article 8 in the constitution.
In Yemen, tens of thousands demonstrated in major cities rejecting a mediation proposal by Gulf countries because it does not provide for putting the president on trial.
The Gulf Cooperation Council on Sunday called on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down as part of a deal with the opposition. The deal, however, did not specify a timeframe for the transfer of power to his deputy and included immunity from prosecution for him and his family.
