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Edition: U.S. Article Comments (2) Slideshow Video Full Focus Photos of the week Our top photos from the past week. Full Article Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Worst heatwave in years grips Midwest, moving east 17 Jul 2011 Japan had "something bigger" on its side: Solo 17 Jul 2011 L.A. "Carmageddon" that never was ends early | 17 Jul 2011 Democrats, Republicans still at odds on debt ceiling | 1:11am EDT News Corp shares slide as hacking scandal deepens 3:08am EDT Discussed 102 Obama and lawmakers regroup to seek debt deal 100 Obama asks lawmakers to gauge support for debt deal 59 Obama eyes more deficit talks with no deal in sight Watched Flying sphere goes where man fears to tread Thu, Jul 14 2011 Highway project in Los Angeles Sun, Jul 17 2011 Coalition forces raid Taliban stronghold Sun, Jul 17 2011 Syria forces besiege town after defections: residents Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Syrian opposition forms council to counter Assad Sat, Jul 16 2011 32 killed in Syria protests, Damascus moves-activists Fri, Jul 15 2011 Crackdown escalates in Syria, 2 protesters killed Thu, Jul 14 2011 Syrian military kills four in renewed assaults Wed, Jul 13 2011 Clinton says Syria's Assad has lost legitimacy Tue, Jul 12 2011 Analysis & Opinion On the Afghanistan-Pakistan border : cutting off the nose to spite the face Asia – A week in pictures July 10, 2011 Related Topics World » Syria » Iraq » Related Video A rally for Assad in Syria Sun, Jul 17 2011 Syria cracks down on protests Funeral for protesters in Syria Largest yet protest in Syria 1 of 3. Demonstrators march through the streets in Hajar al-Aswad in Damascus July 17, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Handout By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN | Sun Jul 17, 2011 10:12pm EDT AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian tanks surrounded a town near the border with Iraq's Sunni heartland on Sunday after thousands of people, emboldened by defections among security forces, took to the streets there denouncing President Bashar al-Assad, residents said. Assad, from the minority Alawite sect, has sent troops in to towns across the country to try to end four months of protests against his rule. But activists say discontent is growing within the mostly Sunni army rank and file. Killings, mostly carried out by ultra loyalist units, are leading to limited defections within the military, which is controlled by mostly Alawite officers who ultimately answer to Assad's feared brother Maher, activists say. Syria's fractured opposition is also taking steps to unite, forming a 25-member National Salvation Council composed of Islamists, liberals and independents at a meeting in Istanbul on Saturday and agreeing to work toward a democratic vision. More than 1,400 civilians have been killed since the protests began in March, human rights organizations say. Some 1,000 troops and security forces backed by tanks and helicopters surrounded Albu Kamal overnight, a poor eastern border crossing with Iraq, a day after Military Intelligence agents there killed five protesters, including a 14-year-old boy, residents said. The killings drove thousands into the streets, overwhelming soldiers and secret police. Residents said around 100 Air Force Intelligence personnel and the crew of at least four armored vehicles joined the protesters. An activist in the region, who declined to be named for fear of arrest, said tribal figures were working on a compromise with the army to return weapons and armored vehicles seized by protesters in return for troops not entering the town, which has a population of 150,000 people, together with the surrounding villages. "The protesters returned several army personnel carriers today as a sign of good will. The regime knows it will meet tough resistance if it attacks Albu Kamal, and that Iraqi tribes on the other side of the border will rush to help their brethren," he said. Another activist said: "The whole of Albu Kamal went to the streets after the killings. Several armored personnel carriers moved into the center of the town to stop them, but ended joining sides with the human wave." The official state news agency said "armed terrorist groups" killed three security personnel in Albu Kamal on Saturday. POVERTY AND LACK OF INVESTMENT Albu Kamal is on the eastern-most edge of the province of Deir al-Zor where hundreds of thousands protested on Friday. The center of Syria's 380,000 barrels per day of oil output, the region is still among the poorest in the country with little of the oil revenue invested in the area. A water crisis in the last six years, which experts say is largely caused by mismanagement of resources and corruption, has also decimated agricultural production. Authorities had forged alliances with several tribes in the region and allowed them to arm to counter the Kurdish minority living to the north, but those deals have broken down. The newly formed opposition council held its first meeting in Istanbul on Sunday. Members said there were ongoing consultations with Syrian opposition inside the country on setting up several committees to lobby the West to isolate Assad and drum up financial support to help the uprising. "We are in the process of forming committees that will support the Syrian revolution from inside in every way," Haitham al-Maleh, a prominent opposition figure told Reuters. He said there will be one committee to collect financial support from Syrians abroad to help the families of "martyrs" and prisoners in Syria. "Another committee will lobby with the international community to put pressure on the regime to leave without more bloodshed and victims, he added.. In the resort town of Zabadani, on the foothills of the Anti-Lebanon Mountain range, security forces and army units in armored personnel carriers raided houses overnight on Sunday and arrested 70 people, residents said. "They shoved them into buses. The arrests were arbitrary. Many did not have anything to do with demonstrations. A disabled man and his 15-year-old son were taken away," a doctor in Zabadai told Reuters by phone. Syrian troops also arrested on Sunday the prominent writer Ali Abdallah, a fierce critic of the state's use of violence. "Ten soldiers entered my father's house around 9:00 a.m. in the Damascus suburb of Qatana and took him. He just had heart surgery three weeks ago," Abdallah's son Mohammad told Reuters by phone from exile in Washington. Abdallah, a 61-year-old secular thinker, was released in May after spending four years in prison because of his membership of the Damascus Declaration, a pro-democracy group of intellectuals and opposition figures, and his criticism of Assad's alliance with Iran's clerical rulers. (Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi and Simon Cameron-Moore in Istanbul; Editing by Myra MacDonald) World Syria Iraq Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (2) rusman wrote: one bomb dropped on Assad and the parliament will solve all problems Jul 18, 2011 1:57am EDT -- Report as abuse Invictuss wrote: Pokes nato…what about Syria??? Ohh forgot no oil nothing there screw it then let them kill each other… Jul 18, 2011 2:46am EDT -- Report as abuse See All Comments » Add Your Comment Social Stream (What's this?) © Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters Editorial Editions: Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom United States Reuters Contact Us Advertise With Us Help Journalism Handbook Archive Site Index Video Index Reader Feedback Mobile Newsletters RSS Podcasts Widgets Your View Analyst Research Thomson Reuters Copyright Disclaimer Privacy Professional Products Professional Products Support Financial Products About Thomson Reuters Careers Online Products Acquisitions Monthly Buyouts Venture Capital Journal International Financing Review Project Finance International PEhub.com PE Week FindLaw Super Lawyers Attorney Rating Service Reuters on Facebook Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

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