Tension grips Syria on another Friday of protests
(CNN) -- Three Syrian security personnel were injured by "militants" in a Damascus suburb, the government＇s state-run TV said, the first report of violence on another tense Friday of mass protests erupting across the nation.
The Syrian government has consistently blamed the protest casualties on "armed gangs" and the TV report said the injuries occurred when the perpetrators opened fire in Al-Qaboun, just outside the capital.
Protests unfolded in several towns big and small across the country, including the Damascus area, Latakia, Homs, and Hama, where thousands of people took to the streets, according to Rami Abdelrahman, of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
There were reports of detained demonstrators and the military deployment of tanks. There were reports of gunfire in Banias, a coastal city, but there have been no casualties so far, Abdelrahman said.
Nearly 1,000 people in the Lebanese city of Tripoli gathered on Friday after prayers "in a demonstration in support for the Syrian people," the country＇s National News Agency reported.
And as international powers urge Syria to initiate serious reforms and stop its bloody crackdown against demonstrators, Rami Makhlouf, the powerful head of the Syriatel phone company and part of the regime＇s inner circle, has announced that he plans to quit his business and go into charity work.
Makhlouf, who is the cousin and confidant of President Bashar al-Assad, is widely unpopular among protesters and is a symbol among many citizens of the regime.
His move, announced on Thursday, is seen by some observers as an effort to placate anti-government sentiment. Abdelrahman said he thinks Makhlouf＇s decision came as a result of this week＇s talks between Turkey and Syria to find a solution to the crisis and stem the Syrian refugee flow to Turkey.
"The people are aggravated by his control over the economy," Abdelrahman said.
Makhlouf＇s name reverberated at one of Friday＇s mass demonstrations. A crowd chanted "No to Makhlouf, no to Assad -- we just want Syria free," according to an Arabic-language news network.
Mass protests with specific themes have been held every Friday for weeks after Muslim prayers.
Opposition leaders on Friday planned demonstrations dubbed "Friday of Saleh al-Ali," referring to a prominent Alawite who commanded one of the first rebellions against the French mandate of Syria in the early part of the 20th century.
Some opposition activists said they hope the name prompts the powerful minority ruling class, which is composed primarily of Alawites, to join the demonstrations demanding the fall of the al-Assad regime.
They also say the name sends the message that their demands are not directed against Alawites, but against the regime. The majority of Syrians are Sunni Muslims, and the Alawite faith is an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Al-Assad is an Alawite.
Demonstrators began protests three months ago in the southern city of Daraa and immediately were greeted by a tough government response. Anti-government sentiment caught fire and protests spread across the country, leaving more than 1,100 dead and thousands more incarcerated.
Many Syrians fleeing the violence continued to pour across the Turkish border.
Actress Angelina Jolie, who is a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency, went to southern Turkey on Friday to visit the refugees, a trip to shine a spotlight on the plight of civilians in the country. She was headed to a camp in Altinozu.
Turkey＇s state-run Anatolian Agency reported Jolie＇s arrival at the Hatay airport. Officials greeted her amid tight security, and provincial officials arranged vans for her transportation to the Altinozu refugee camp.
"Toys unloaded from the plane were loaded to one of the vans in her convoy," the report said.
Refugees there are housed in warehouses at an old tobacco factory, and they staged a demonstration at the camp. They held up signs that said "Our military is killing its own people, please make it stop," "U.N., help us please" and people chanted "stop killing children" and other anti-regime slogans.
The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey now stands at 9,693, according to a provincial Turkish official. Many of them escaped a security crackdown in and around the town of Jisr al-Shugur, and many took refuge in Syrian locations near the border.
Gunshots rang out near the border, according to Mohammed, an activist and resident of Jisr al-Shugur based along the border, and people think the Syrian army might be a few miles away.
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