They said most employees stayed home and most shops closed in the city of one million, and the strike was observed in wide swaths of the countryside around Homs and cities and towns in the northwestern province of Idlib near Turkey.

“Public employees participated for the first time. A few food shops have remained open,’ said a resident of Homs, who gave his name as Omar. Youtube footage showed shuttered shops on both sides of a main street in the nearby rural region of Houla.

Two protesters were reported killed in the Idlib town of Maarat Al-Numaan on the Damascus-Aleppo highway, where businesses had shut down, anti-Assad activists said.

“Everyone closed shop and a crowd of thousands assembled near the mosaics museum in the center of the town, where they came under fire. The AMN (security police) are still firing at random to break the strike,” a local resident said.

He was speaking by phone. The sound of machine gun fire was heard in the background.

Last week, businesses closed in the southern province of Daraa, which borders Jordan, in signs of expanding civil disobedience against 41 years of Assad family rule. The popular revolt is now in its eighth month.

“Their is total closure. The streets of Daraa are empty, even the few butcher shops and pharmacies that were open are now closed,” said Jasem Masalmeh, a resident of Daraa town.