Syrian troops entered the coastal city from three directions, advancing into Sunni districts but not Alawite neighborhoods, said the campaigner. Most communications with Banias have been cut but the campaigner was able to contact some residents, he said.

The new raids come just hours after the European Union agreed to place sanctions on Syrian officials in a bid to halt a government crackdown against protesters, which human rights groups say has killed more than 580 people.

Among thousands of protesters who demonstrated after Friday prayers in cities across the country, from Banias on the Mediterranean coast to Qamishly in the Kurdish east, rights campaigners said.

On Friday, Syrian security forces shot dead at least 26 protesters as thousands rallied on a “Day of Defiance” against the Assad regime. At the same time, 10 Syrian soldiers and policemen were killed in the central city of Homs by “terrorist” groups, said a military spokesman quoted by state news agency SANA.

Friday’s bloodiest confrontation was in the city of Homs where 15 protesters were killed, activist Ammar Qurabi said.

State news agency SANA said on Saturday that “terrorist groups” had killed 11 soldiers and policemen in Homs, listing the names of those dead. The figure was put at 5 on Friday.

Wissam Tarif an activist outside Syria said witnesses told him nine soldiers defected in Homs to the protesters and may have clashed with other troops.

Four protesters were killed by security forces in Deir Al-Zor, a local tribal leader said, the first deaths reported from the region which produces most of Syria’s 380,000 barrels per day of oil in seven weeks of unrest.

A protest leader said earlier this week that Syrian forces and gunmen loyal to Assad had moved on Tuesday into areas of central Banias that had been under the control of pro-democracy demonstrators for weeks.

The coastal city has witnessed some of the most persistent demonstrations since an uprising erupted in the southern city of Daraa seven weeks ago demanding political freedom and an end to corruption.

Mostly Sunni districts of Banias have been under the control of demonstrators since Assad loyalists, known as “al-shabbiha,” fired at residents from speeding cars on April 10, after a large demonstration that demanded the “overthrow of the regime.”

Assad belongs to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, and Alawites occupy most senior positions in the army and security apparatus.

“Residents are reporting the sound of heavy gunfire and seeing Syrian navy boats off the Banias coast. Sunni and mixed neighborhoods are totally besieged now,” said the rights campaigner, who did not want to be identified.

Six civilians were killed that day, according to residents and human rights campaigners.

Authorities described Banias as a “center of Salafist terrorism” and said armed groups had killed soldiers near the city. Civic leaders in Banias issued a statement denying the accusation and saying the authorities were trying to spread fear among the Alawites.

“They are targeting Sunnis. I regret to say that the propaganda that Assad is spreading that the Alawites will not survive if he is toppled is receiving an audience among our Alawite neighbors, although the demonstrations have been for freedom and unity, regardless of sect,” Protest leader Anas Shughri said earlier this week.
 

As agreed by EU envoys in a meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday, the European Union will freeze the assets of 13 Syrian government officials and ban them from traveling anywhere in the European Union. The sanctions, however, will not apply to Assad as the EU pursues a gradual approach.

“I strongly support today’s agreement to impose tough sanctions on those responsible for the violence we have witnessed in Syria,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said. “The EU is sending a clear message that we will act against those who brutalize peaceful protesters and seek to repress their legitimate aspirations for reform.”

France’s Foreign Ministry also hailed the decision, calling the move “a first step.” “We are going to work without delay with our EU partners to enlarge the list of people targeted, including the highest Syrian leaders, given the current developments,” the ministry said in a statement.

“France is extremely worried about the continued repression in Syria... These massive attacks on human rights are unacceptable.” At the United Nations, Britain, France and Germany again pressed the UN Security Council to respond to the Syrian government’s deadly crackdown on protesters, stressing the regional implications of the violence.

Britain’s deputy UN ambassador Philip Parham said “we pointed out that the situation is in danger of having a serious effect on the wider region.” But he said Britain has not yet decided how to pursue Hague’s instruction for British diplomats at the UN to begin discussions “to seek UN condemnation of the situation.” Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters earlier Friday, as thousands joined demonstrations across the country calling for an end to Assad’s regime, witnesses and activists said. Rights groups say the security forces have repeatedly fired on protesters around the country in the past week, killing scores.

Since mid-December, a wave of protests and upheavals have taken place across the Middle East and North Africa, driving the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt from power. A civil conflict continues to rage in Libya, and Bahrain and Yemen have also been the subject of uprisings.

Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000, appears determined to crush a revolt that has become the gravest challenge to his family’s 40-year dynasty. He has tried a combination of brute force, intimidation and promises of reform to quell the unrest, but so far his attempts have failed.
 

Meanwhile, the United States, reacting to the killing of protesters by Syrian security forces on Friday, threatened to take new steps against the Syrian government unless it stopped killing and harassing its people.

“The United States believes that Syria’s deplorable actions toward its people warrant a strong international response,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.

“Absent significant change in the Syrian government’s current approach, including an end to the government’s killing of protesters ... the United States and its international partners will take additional steps to make clear our strong opposition to the Syrian government’s treatment of its people.”

The United States imposed sanctions of its own last week against some figures in the Syrian government.

International criticism has mounted against Assad, who has gone on the offensive to maintain his family’s four-decade grip on power in the country of 20 million and crush demonstrators demanding freedom.

Last week, Assad ordered the army into Daraa, cradle of the uprising that began with demands for greater freedom and an end to corruption and is now pressing for his removal.

An ultra-loyalist division led by his brother Maher shelled and machinegunned Daraa’s old quarter on Saturday, residents said. The United States condemned the assault as “barbaric.”

Syrian authorities said on Thursday the army had begun to leave Daraa, but residents described a city still under siege. A Western diplomat said 7,000 people had been arrested since the demonstrations broke out on March 18 in Daraa, where an ultra-loyalist division led by Assad’s brother Maher shelled and machinegunned the old quarter last Saturday, residents said.

The United States condemned the assault as “barbaric.”

Human Rights Watch cited figures from Syrian rights groups saying 350 people had been killed there.