More shooting in city where Syrian uprising began

Updated 1:26 p.m. ET

BEIRUT - Tanks rolled into the northern port of Latakia — a key city in the heartland of Syria's ruling elite — and security forces opened fire on anti government demonstrators, while heavy shooting rang out again Thursday in the southern protest hotbed of Daraa, witnesses said.

In a further blow to President Bashar Assad, more than 200 members have quit Syria's ruling Baath Party in the southern province at the center of the uprising to protest the Assad regime's brutal crackdown on opponents, a human rights activist said.

A witness said six tanks rolled into Latakia on Wednesday night and security forces fired on pro-democracy demonstrators, wounding four.

Unrest in Latakia is significant because the province has strong historical ties to Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Latakia is home to a diverse mix of religious groups, with mostly Sunni Muslims in the urban core and Alawites in the countryside. At least 14 people died in clashes in the city during the earlier days of the uprising, raising fears that the violence could take on a sectarian tone in coming days or weeks.

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However a witness and human rights groups say there have been clashes between Syrian army units Daraa -- a possibly significant turn since Assad's army has been seen as a bastion of support for the regime.

Ausama Monajed, a spokesman for a group of opposition figures in Syria and abroad, said Thursday that his group has received reports of the clashes this week since President Bashar Assad sent the army into Daraa on Monday. The deployment was a clear escalation in his crackdown on the uprising.

The reports were corroborated by two witnesses and an activist who spoke to The Associated Press. They both asked that their names not be used for fear of reprisals.

Upheavals in Egypt and elsewhere turned in favor of demonstrators part in because of troops that ignored orders, refused to fire on crowds and even defected to join the pro-democracy movements.

The infighting is significant because Assad has tried to crush the revolt — the gravest challenge to his family's 40-year ruling dynasty. More than 450 people have been killed across Syria in the crackdown, with 120 dead this past weekend alone.

In the Damascus suburb of Douma, security forces strengthened their control, fortifying their checkpoints on all roads leading to the area and setting up sand barriers, a resident said.

"Security is so tight around Douma that even birds can't go in," he said, adding that security forces with lists of wanted people continued to detain residents in the area.

Troops were using heavy machine guns in a military operation in Daraa on Thursday, said resident Abdullah Abazeid. He added that snipers shot and killed more people and that 43 have died since the military descended on Daraa on Monday.

The latest deaths include a 6-year-old girl, hit by a sniper Wednesday on the roof of her parents' apartment. He added that pro-government gunmen known as "shabiha" damaged a large numbers of shops in the city.

Abazeid said they were still hiding the bodies of the dead because the cemetery was occupied by Syrian forces belonging to Unit Four, considered the fiercest and most violent of the troops in the town.

The city was still without telephones, electricity and water and lacked food and infant formula, he said, adding that some parents were giving their children water and sugar for lack of powder milk.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference, which represents 57 Muslim nations, said its Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu spoke with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem by telephone and "expressed his profound sorrow at the large number of deaths and injuries."

It added that Ihsanoglu renewed the OIC stand in favor of restraint and nonviolence along with early implementation of the reforms announced by the Assad government and a prompt engagement in a constructive dialogue with the national forces.

In neighboring Lebanon, customs officials and witnesses said hundreds of people crossed the border, fleeing violence in the Syrian town of Talkalakh. Residents of areas near the border heard gunfire overnight.

In addition to the 200 Baath Party resignations, human rights activist Mustafa Osso said another 30 resigned in the coastal city of Banias. Most who quit were lower-ranking members, he said.

Even though the resignations are small in scope — the party counts more than 1 million members in Syria — such walkouts were unimaginable before the uprising began.

A resident of the city of Daraa said most of the resignations came from among Baath members in the town of Inkhil. He spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals.

Syria's uprising against Assad's authoritarian regime started in Daraa, the provincial capital, on March 15.

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said the latest death toll was 454. He also said 68 soldiers who also died in the violence.

Since Wednesday, security forces carrying lists of wanted people have detained dozens around the country, he said. One of those detained was Rasim Atassi, a senior member of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, according to Syrian rights groups.

The revolt began with calls for modest reforms, but protesters emboldened by the violence are now increasingly demanding Assad's ouster.

Assad has blamed most of the unrest on a "foreign conspiracy" and armed thugs, not true reform-seekers.

Syria has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted access to trouble spots since the uprising began, making it almost impossible to verify the dramatic events shaking one of the most authoritarian regimes in the Arab world.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Al-Jazeera TV suspended its operations in Syria indefinitely in response to restrictions and attacks on its staff. It quoted producer Hassan Elmogummer Taha as saying that the satellite broadcaster's Damascus office has been pelted with eggs and stones for three days, while plainclothes security men have harassed and intimidated its employees.

Two residents in Daraa said Wednesday that at least five army officers had sided with demonstrators, and conscripted soldiers sent into the city were quietly refusing orders to detain people at checkpoints and were allowing some people through to get scarce supplies. But the Syrian government denied that there had been any splits in the military, which is seen as fiercely loyal to Assad. The army also denied any defections.

Eyewitness accounts from Syria have caused world leaders to step up criticism of the Assad regime. The governments of five European nations summoned Syrian ambassadors Wednesday in a coordinated demand that Assad stop shooting at his people.

Turkey, which has close ties with Assad, sent envoys to Syria to convince him to show restraint. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey does not want to see an "an authoritarian, totalitarian, imposing structure," in Syria.

European countries threatened sanctions if the crackdown didn't end. U.S. officials have said Washington has begun drawing up targeted sanctions against Assad, his family and his inner circle.

However, the U.N. Security Council failed to agree Wednesday on a statement circulated by Britain, France, Germany and Portugal condemning the violence in Syria. Several members — including Lebanon — indicated they were opposed, council diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed. Security Council statements to the media must be approved by consensus.

Britain, meanwhile, revoked a royal wedding invitation to the Syrian Ambassador Sami Khiyami because of the unrest.

The government said ambassadors from 185 countries with which Britain has "normal diplomatic relations" had been invited to Friday's wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, and that an invitation did not condone regimes' behavior.

But the Foreign Office said Thursday that "in the light of this week's attacks against civilians by the Syrian security forces, which we have condemned, the foreign secretary has decided that the presence of the Syrian ambassador at the royal wedding would be unacceptable and that he should not attend."