Residents said military helicopters also flew over the restive city in the early hours, where electricity and landline telephones were cut on Friday following demonstrations in which crowds had waved shoes in a sign of contempt for Assad.
“Bye-bye Bashar. See you in The Hague,” protesters chanted, referring to the Dutch-based international war crimes tribunal.
“We want revenge against Maher and Bashar,” others shouted, referring to the Syrian leader and his powerful brother — a military commander accused by diplomats and residents of attacking cities and cracking down on pro-democracy protests.
Assad’s forces killed 34 people, including four children, across Syria on Friday in Homs and the southern province of Daraa, where the popular revolt began in March, as well as in suburbs of Damascus and the ancient desert town of Palmyra, activists said.
International pressure on Assad ratcheted up this week after the United States and European allies called on the 45-year-old leader to quit, and imposed new sanctions.
A government owned Syrian newspaper on Saturday rejected US and European calls for Assad to step down, saying they revealed the “face of the conspiracy” against Damascus. The daily Al-Thawra newspaper, which speaks for the Syrian regime, rejected the calls and any kind of foreign intervention in Syria’s internal affairs, saying Damascus “will never permit anyone to do that.”
It also accused the West of trying to sideline Damascus from the Israeli-Palestinians conflict, which it said is a strategic aim for Israel, Washington and Europe.
Britain said it had not yet decided whether to back proposed European Union sanctions on Syrian oil, and is wary of measures that could hurt the Syrian people more than they hurt Assad.
The United States imposed an oil embargo on Syria on Thursday in protest against Assad’s crackdown on civil unrest that the United Nations says has killed around 2,000 people.
But the EU agreed on Friday only to expand the number of Syrian officials and institutions targeted, deferring discussion of an oil embargo until next week.
“We have not taken a decision on oil,” British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said in a BBC interview. “Our view is that sanctions must continue to be targeted on those who support the regime, and sanctions should be considered on the basis of what will have most effect on changing that situation or improving the situation of the Syrian people.”
Some EU governments are concerned about harming their commercial interests and long-term relations with Syria, where Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell and France’s Total are among significant investors.
Europe is a major consumer of Syrian oil exports, a big source of revenue for Assad’s government. However, some analysts say sanctions might drive Assad closer to Iran, while having little impact on the level of violence in Syria.
Encouraged by growing global pressure on Assad, the Syrian opposition in exile said it would set up a National Council in Turkey on Sunday to support the uprising and help fill any power vacuum should the protests oust the Syrian leader.
Similar initiatives in the past have failed to produce a robust umbrella group to unite the opposition, fragmented by 41 years of harsh rule by Assad and his father, Hafez Assad.
Assad told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this week that military and police operations had stopped. But activists say his forces are still shooting at protesters.
Syria has expelled most independent media since the unrest began, making it difficult to verify events on the ground.
