Deraa

Eyewitnesses from the city of Deraa said the security forces opened fire on thousands of protesters who were calling for freedom.

At least six people have been killed in Deraa since the unrest began on Friday; Syrian forces shot dead four on Friday and one on Sunday.

Protesters said the dead included an 80-year-old man shot near Homs as well as a young boy near Deraa, in the south.

Tanks rumbled down the streets of Deraa, trying to seize the city back from protesters.

And if such forces had a sound political judgment, Deraa would not be where it is now.

The military assault killed at least 35 people, dozens of them in Deraa, and sparked more condemnations of the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

The group said electricity, water and telecommunications were cut in Deraa and that supplies of blood at hospitals was starting to run low.

At least one civilian was killed in Rastan and two more in the southern province of Deraa, an epicentre for recent protests, activists said.

Ms Shaaban said the demands of Deraa's people were "justified" and under consideration.

Security forces in Syria have clashed with thousands of anti-government protesters in the southern city of Deraa for a third straight day.

With the fog of war descended on this once tranquil farming community, who exactly is engaged in the battle in Deraa remains far from clear.

AS RECENTLY as Thursday, few were willing to predict whether protests in Deraa would spread across the rest of Syria.

Meanwhile in Syria, thousands of mourners laid to rest protesters shot dead Saturday near the southern city of Deraa.

Residents of the Syrian city of Deraa say the army has seized control of a mosque associated with anti-government protesters.

In an ominous sign for the president, new protests have already been reported in Deraa and Latakia.

Even as the death-toll from the protests approaches 600, demonstrators in a dozen other towns have rallied to break the siege of Deraa.

A report by Human Rights Watch, a New York-based lobby, documents summary executions in Deraa, a southern city where the protests began.

Visas for foreign journalists are hard to come by; entering Deraa, except in rare cases with an official minder, has been impossible.

On Monday unconfirmed reports surfaced of Syrian military units clashing with each other in Deraa when soldiers refused to open fire.

In Deraa, on Syria's southern rim, where the revolt first erupted in March, clashes between loyal soldiers and defectors have become common.

The southern town of Deraa, where the protests began, remains under siege, with telephone communications and transport cut off.

Some say that military units in Deraa actually turned against each other. But a large-scale defection is unlikely.

Hundreds of people are thought to have been killed or injured in recent days, particularly in the southern city of Deraa.

The Syrian authorities have launched a heavy attack on the southern town of Deraa, the centre of anti-government protests.

More protests and sit-ins are reported across the country with anger fuelling protesters after the Deraa killing.

After the most recent bloody round of protests in Deraa, the nearby town of Sanamein erupted too: at least 15 people were shot dead.

Deraa, where Friday prayers were banned today, is the place where the protests began six weeks ago.

Heavy gunfire was heard in Deraa following an attempt by protesters to destroy a statue of the late President Hafez al-Assad.

Witnesses said soldiers began opening fire on civilians indiscriminately after arriving in Deraa, sparking panic in the streets.

Distressing, graphic video footage emerging from Deraa and Sanamein are casting Mr Assad's rule in a different, more brutal light.

Snipers and other gunmen have shot dead at least 13 people in Douma and Deraa in the past few days.

Residents of Deraa say the assault on the mosque involved sustained heavy gunfire, after which the army placed gunmen on the mosque's roof.

At least 87 people have died in the region around Deraa.

The clamour for change first heard in Deraa has now been thundering across Syria for five blood-drenched months.

Major protests first erupted in the southern city of Deraa and have since spread across the country.

Before the army launched its attack on Deraa, electricity and communications were cut off and outsiders banned from entering.

One of the worst-hit areas recently has been Deraa, in the south.

More than 20 people have been killed in clashes between riot police and protesters in the Syrian city of Deraa.

Deraa national hospital has become a military barracks that's being occupied by the army.

The dead and injured were taken to a nearby hospital outside Deraa.

April 25 - Syrian troops backed by tanks and heavy armour storm Deraa and Douma, resulting in many deaths and dozens of arrests.

I really hope the army are not involved now with what is going on in Deraa, this big crime.

As darkness fell across it, Deraa was a city under siege.

This weekend the unrest shaking the southern city of Deraa spread to Latakia, a port in the north.

The besieged city of Deraa has been in lockdown for a week.

Deraa is the hotbed of the Syrian uprising, and Al-Balad its core.

Some predict that Farouk Sharaa, the vice-president who comes from Deraa, may break with the regime.

Since March 18th Deraa, a city of around 100, 000 people some 100km (62 miles) to the south, has been a bubbling cauldron.

The shootings in Deraa suggest that the government has opted for repression. But this could backfire.

Elsewhere, scores of wounded were reported in the cities of Aleppo, Deraa, Idleb and Homs.

One witness in the southern city of Deraa said police conducted house-to-house searches and dragged more than 400 men from their homes.

However, one activist told Al Jazeera that some army officers have defected to fight alongside the people of Deraa against the government.

As reports of more shootings in Deraa and Latakia emerge, the government continues merely to hint at reform.

The unrest continued on Saturday and Sunday in some areas, including Deraa.

An activist says 18 people have been killed in Deraa alone.

People in other cities marched on the same "day of dignity" , but the unrest in Deraa persisted.

Hospital officials in Deraa, reported receiving 37 bodies, according to Reuters news agency.

Large crowds once again took to the streets in Deraa and the nearby town of Sanamein.

Deraa is returning to 'normal life, ' according to the agency.

There are signs the crisis in Deraa could be solved.

The regime has said it sent the army into Deraa on Monday in order to hunt down "extremist terrorist groups, " according to SANA.

In cities such as Deraa and Homs, tactical withdrawals were followed by a heightened use of force.

Of the 607 reported dead, 364 are from Deraa.

No one knows how many people have been killed, Deraa is cut off from the world.