BEIRUT - Syrian armored vehicles swept into the coastal city of Latakia on Saturday and gunfire was heard after protests against President Bashar al-Assad, an activist group said. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said around 20 tanks and armored personnel carriers deployed near the Ramle district of the Mediterranean city, where 10,000 people had demonstrated on Friday. "Heavy gunfire could be heard from 10.30 am until midday," the group's head Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding that large numbers of people were fleeing the area. He also reported that soldiers backed by loyalist gunmen, known as shabbiha, raided villages close to the northern town of Qusair near the Lebanon border, carrying out arrests. Eleven people were killed by security forces in Qusayr on Thursday, activists said. Syrian authorities have barred most independent media, making it difficult to verify events on the ground in the unrest, among a series of popular revolts against repressive power elites across the Arab world this year. Activists say at least 1700 civilians have been killed by Syrian security forces in five months of protests. Authorities say 500 soldiers and police have been killed by armed groups who they blame for the violence.
