Syrian protesters brace for 'retaliation'

Syrian dissidents were Tuesday fearing a harsh crackdown after the authorities warned of a forceful response to what they said was a massacre of 120 policemen in the town of Jisr al-Shughur.

"Scores of military vehicles loaded with soldiers are travelling on the Harasta highway... They are probably headed to Jisr al-Shughur for a new massacre... Please be careful," the Syrian Revolution 2011, an anti-regime Facebook group spurring protests, posted Tuesday.

It advised pro-democracy activists in areas facing a crackdown by security forces and "gangs of the regimes" -- especially in the northern Idlib province -- to parry potential assaults by "burning tyres" and "blocking roads with stones and wood."

DAMASCUS BLAMES 'ARMED GANGS'

State television said on Monday the policemen were killed by "armed gangs" but rights activists said there had been a mutiny in the northwest Syria town where security forces had been carrying out operations for three days.

"The armed groups are committing a real massacre. They have mutilated bodies and thrown others into the Assi river," the state broadcaster said. "They have burned government buildings."

It said a total of 120 police were killed, including 80 at the town's security headquarters, without specifying the date of the incidents in Jisr al-Shughur.

Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar warned in a statement read on television that the authorities would hit back.

"The state will act firmly, with force and in line with the law. It will not stay arms folded in the face of armed attacks on the security of the homeland," he said.

Two activists who spoke by telephone to AFP in Cyprus said the town was calm on Monday, and spoke of a mutiny at a local security headquarters, where shooting was heard the day before.

"I think they executed policemen who refused to open fire on demonstrators. There was a mutiny in the security service," one said.

The other told AFP that "shooting followed by an explosion was heard in the military HQ, apparently after a mutiny."

'SNIPERS' ATTACK PROTESTERS

He said regime "snipers" had opened fire on protesters in the town, killing two. Demonstrators then gathered outside the headquarters and "shots and an explosion took place inside" the building, he added.

Monday's reports came a day after at least 40 people were killed, including 35 in Jisr al-Shughur, said the head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman.

He said 27 civilians and eight security agents were killed in the town as security forces pressed sweeps targeting anti-regime protesters in Idlib province.

Six human rights groups within Syria issued a joint statement condemning "the excessive use of force to disperse peaceful gatherings of unarmed Syrian citizens."

They urged the government to "stop the spiral of violence and assassinations in the streets of Syria," and demanded an independent and transparent inquiry to unmask those responsible.

WEST SEEKS RESOLUTION

In Washington meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said France and other western powers are ready to risk a veto by Russia at the UN over a draft resolution to condemn political violence in Syria.

"We think that it will be possible to get eleven votes in favor of the resolution and we'll see what the Russians will do," Juppe, on a visit to the United States, said of the 15-member UN Security Council.

The draft was drawn up by France, Britain, Germany and Portugal. It condemns violence at the hands of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and asks him to open Syrian cities to humanitarian teams.

Rights groups say more than 1,100 civilians have been killed and at least 10,000 arrested in Syria since anti-regime protests erupted in mid-March.

Damascus blames the unrest on "armed terrorist gangs" backed by Islamists and foreign agitators.

Foreign journalists are barred from travelling around Syria, making it difficult to report on the unrest or verify government and witness accounts.