- BEIRUT: Activists say thousands of Syrians are protesting and security forces are carrying out arrests in cities that have seen the most serious government crackdown on dissent in recent weeks.
The activist group called the Local Coordination Committees says protests erupted Friday in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour and Idlib province near the Turkish border.
The government is trying to crush a five-month-old uprising that has seen regular Friday protests. Human rights workers say more than 2,200 people have been killed since March.
