DAMASCUS - Syria's scattered opposition faced a harsh security crackdown Sunday aimed at preventing rallies marking one year since the first nationwide demonstrations of the country's uprising. Activists said security forces and pro-government thugs swiftly dispersed an anti-regime rally in the capital Damascus and arrested opposition leaders. They said the deployment of government snipers and tanks, as well as clashes between rebels and regime forces, deterred major demonstrations in some other parts of the country. The anniversary falls after government offensives against rebel enclaves in the central city of Homs, the northern town of Idlib and the uprising's birthplace in the city of Daraa. The spotty turnout shows how armed confrontation has largely eclipsed the mass popular demonstrations that originally drove the uprising. Many activists consider March 18, 2011, the start of the popular uprising seeking to oust authoritarian President Bashar Assad. Thousands took to the streets in cities across Syria on that day, and security forces killed marchers in Daraa. Since then, Assad's security forces have violently sought to crush all signs of dissent, and protest and international condemnation have spread. Many in the opposition have taken up arms to defend themselves and attack government forces as the increasingly militarized conflict has become one of the bloodiest of the Arab Spring. The UN says more than 8,000 people have been killed. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on an activist network in Syria, said the Syrian army and pro-government thugs fired guns and arrested leaders while breaking up a rally of hundreds of marchers in Damascus. The Local Coordination Committees said the rally took place in the central Fahameh Square and that rights activist Fayiz Sara was arrested along with at least one other leader, Mohammed Sayid. Neither group reported injuries. Throughout the uprising, Damascus has remained an Assad stronghold, with many in the country's business class and minority communities standing by the president. Tens of thousands rallied in support of him last week. On Saturday, three suicide bombings in the city killed 27 people. The government blamed them on the opposition, which it says is made up of ‘terrorist' groups acting out a foreign conspiracy. Some opposition leaders accused the regime of complicity in the attacks to tarnish the uprising. No group has claimed responsibility.
