Civil war imminent, protest leader says

Tel Kalkh, Syria: Calling himself Nisr min Tel Kalakh (the Eagle of Tel Kalakh), a young opposition leader, who could not be named for security reasons, says that he hopes the uprising remains peaceful. But he predicts that the intensifying crackdown by the Syrian security forces will plunge the country into a civil war.

"We are all expecting for Syria exactly what happened in Libya — a revolution against the regime, an armed struggle against the regime. It will happen soon," he says. Until then, he adds, the protesters are willing to die for their cause.

"We will defend ourselves by baring our chests to their bullets and fighting with our bare hands. Our cause is righteous. Even if we lose 2 or 3 million people, we are willing to put up with that high price to get what we want," he says.

After discreetly slipping some money into the hands of two unarmed but uniformed Syrian border soldiers on watch at the crossing, he scrambled down the steep bank and stepped gingerly across the causeway spanning the river to the Lebanese side.

"I use the internet to stay in contact with other activists around the country. It is difficult. Some of them I have not heard from in several days and I fear they are dead or arrested," the tall, soft-spoken, and relaxed-looking schoolteacher says.

As an opposition leader in contact with other cells, he has been following closely the escalating crackdown in nearby Homs, Syria's third-largest city, which lies just 25 miles to the east of Tel Kalakh. He said that eyewitnesses from Homs told him that during last Friday's demonstrations, protesters prepared a feast for soldiers in an effort to win them over.

Harsh response

The soldiers refused to eat the food and ignored the crowd's friendly calls. When the crowd rejected demands to disperse, reinforcements arrived and opened fire. According to ‘Nisr', witnesses reported some 300 people were gunned down.

One woman who arrived in Lebanon from Homs on Monday, who also cannot be identified for security reasons, said that bodies of people shot by security forces in the city were being mutilated and left in the street so that the authorities could blame ‘Salafists'.