BEIRUT - Syrian security forces searching for an alleged high-profile defector from President Bashar Assad's regime killed two people after storming a northern village Saturday, raising the death toll from the past two days to at least 19, activists said.
A day earlier, security forces trying to crush almost six months of demonstrations against the authoritarian leadership fired on thousands of marchers, killing 17 people, most of them in suburbs of the capital Damascus.
The crackdown has drawn international criticism and sanctions. The European Union announced Friday it was banning oil imports from Syria, which will cost the embattled regime millions of dollars each day.
While Assad brushed off earlier condemnation as foreign meddling, the oil embargo is significant because Damascus gets about 28 per cent of its revenue from the oil trade and sells fuel to France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Some analysts believe Syria is getting financial assistance from Iran, which would cushion the EU blow.
The U.N. estimates some 2,200 people have been killed since March as protesters take to the streets every week, despite the near-certainty that they will face a barrage of bullets and sniper fire. The regime is in no imminent danger of collapse, leading to concerns violence will escalate.
In the Damascus suburb of Douma on Saturday, thousands of mourners marched behind the body of a man killed by gunfire Friday near a mosque. Mourners seen on video posted online by residents shouted "freedom!" and "God is great." Thousands of people marched Friday under the slogan: "Death Rather Than Humiliation."
Activists said troops on Saturday raided a village near the town of Maaret al-Numan in the northern province of Idlib, killing two people.
The Local Coordination Committees activist network and the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the deaths.
The Observatory, which has a wide network of activists on the ground in Syria, cited a local activist saying troops taking part in Saturday's raid in Idlib, an area close to the Turkish border, were searching for Adnan Bakkour, attorney general for the central Hama province, who appeared in two videos Wednesday declaring his resignation to protest the crackdown.
Bakkour's alleged resignation appeared to be a high-profile defection, but authorities said that "terrorists" had kidnapped him and forced him to make the recording. Bakkour denied that in one of the videos.
One activist said there were attempts to smuggle Bakkour out of Syria to Turkey through Idlib. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Elsewhere, activists reported the death of a 30-year-old man from Qseir village in the central Homs province who was detained for more than a month. It quoted activists in the village saying that the man's family had refused to take delivery of his body after authorities asked them to sign a paper saying that terrorist groups had killed him. His body was found outside the family home Saturday with torture marks on his body, they said.
Syria has banned foreign journalists and restricted local coverage, making it difficult to independently confirm events on the ground.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its president, Jakob Kellenberger, will meet Assad for talks on issues including caring for the sick and wounded during a two-day visit to Damascus that starts later Saturday.
The Red Cross says the latest trip's aim is to review progress following an understanding reached during a visit by Kellenberger in June to give it "enhanced access" to troubled areas and hold negotiations on ICRC visits to detainees.
