One person is dead and others are wounded after government forces raided a village in northern Syria.
The residents of Sarameen in the northern province of Idlib were targeted by President Bashar al-Assad due to repeated anti-government demonstrations in their village.
Assad's forces also raided the village of Heet, located in western Syria near the border with Lebanon for similar reasons.
In addition, the centrally-located town of Rastan was also raided, according to the Associated Press, which described the community as a “hotbed of dissent” against the Assad regime.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned in a televised speech late Sunday that Assad, who thus far has managed to survive the groundswell of protests against his regime, may not last in power much longer.
“We've seen the consequences of those who chose not to pick this path (of ending deadly crackdowns against civilian protesters), in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya,” Erdogan said pointedly. “Immediately silencing guns and heeding public demands are the only way out. A regime can't survive with force – by killing unarmed people on the streets with heavy weaponry.”
At least 15 people were killed Sunday and 400 others were arrested by government forces, according to Homs-based activist Nitham al-Siraj, who spoke with Bloomberg News by telephone. Thousands have been arrested and “disappeared” since the protests began in March.
The massive arrests have not deterred Syrians from protesting, nor has the death toll, which human rights organizations said has reached 2,400 since the protests started about five months ago.
Even as troops surrounded Rastan, demonstrations continued today (Monday, Aug. 29) in Homs, Deir al-Zour, Idlib and the suburbs of Damascus and Aleppo, according to the director of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, Mahmoud Merhi.