AMMAN - A man shot by gunmen loyal toSyrian President Bashar al-Assad this week died of his wounds onSaturday, a rights group said, adding to tension in the coastalcity of Banias where the army was deployed to contain protests.
Osama al-Sheikha, 40, was among a group of men, somecarrying sticks, guarding a mosque in Banias on Sunday aftermass protests against Assad's 11-year rule. Loyalists, known as"al-shabbiha", fired at them with AK-47 rifles from speedingcars, witnesses said.
Some mourners at his funeral on Saturday chanted "freedom,freedom ... the murderers must be held accountable," witnessessaid. His funeral was being held at the Abu Bakr al-Siddiqmosque, which he was guarding when he was shot. His death added to the tense atmosphere in Banias, which hasalso witnessed sectarian tension between its majority Sunnipopulation and Alawite residents following the demonstrations. Assad, from Syria's minority Alawite sect, a secretiveoffshoot of Shi'ite Islam, has said mass pro-democracy proteststhat erupted in the southern city of Deraa more than a month agoand spread across large parts of Syria were a foreign conspiracyto sow sectarian strife. But the warning -- Assad's father, the late President Hafezal-Assad, used similar language when he crushed a leftist andIslamist challenge to his iron rule in the 1980s -- has failedto quell the tide of protests. The demonstrations swept into the capital Damascus on Fridayfor the first time. Thousands of protesters marched elsewhere inthe country despite a crackdown and vague political concessionsannounced by Assad in an attempt to quell the unrest. Shouting "God, Syria, Freedom", protesters repeated the samedemand for democratic reform and freedoms across many cities. PATTERN OF DEFIANCE In Damascus, security forces used batons and teargas toprevent thousands of protesters marching from several suburbsfrom reaching the main Abbasside Square. "I counted 15 mukhabarat (secret police) bus loads," onewitness said. "They went into the alleyways just north of thesquare chasing protesters and yelling 'You pimps, youinfiltrators, you want freedom? We will give it to you'." As the protests entered their fifth week, the biggest andmost bloody have taken place after Friday prayers, often indefiance of concessions announced by authorities the day before. Al-Jazeera television channel aired footage on Fridayshowing Syrian security forces beating with sticks, kicking andwalking over detained protesters in the coastal city of Baida.It said the pictures were shot several days ago. Baida and Banias have kept up defiance against Assad despitethe deployment of the army, secret police and Assad's loyalistgunmen. Shiekha was the father of two boys and two girls. He workedat the Banias oil refinery, one of two in Syria.His deathbrings to five the number of civilians killed in Banias sincethe protests began, according to the Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights, an independent organisation. A deal was reached last week under which the army patrolledBanias in exchange for freeing people detained by securityforces in the city and not harming residents. A source in the city said the deal was not going smoothly,with residents opposing army deployment in a square that hasbeen the main sites of the protests. An estimated 200 people have been killed during thedemonstrations, mostly when security forces attacked protesters,according to rights campaigners. The authorities said unspecified armed groups and"infiltrators" were responsible for the violence and police andsoldiers have also been killed, including a policeman in thecentral city of Homs on Friday.
