Machine gun fire and shelling was heard across the city of one million people, they told Reuters.Protests, which began in Deraa on March 18, erupted on Friday across Hauran, a strategic agricultural area bordering Jordan to the south and the Golan Heights to the west.At least eight tanks moved into the town of Tafas around 6 a.m. (0300 GMT). Residents said they heard gunfire and that army and forces broke into houses to arrest youths after occupying the center of the town of 30,000 people.Tanks also encircled the adjoining town of Dael near the main highway to Jordan as the army intensified its presence across the Hauran region having partly pulled out of Deraa this week and re-deployed in nearby rural towns, witnesses said."We knew they will not forgive us for our solidarity with Deraa. They are also targeting Tafas because it is harboring lots of the youth who escaped the attack on Deraa," one of the residents said.Tens of thousands of villagers from Hauran converged on Tafas on Friday and chanted slogans demanding Assad's overthrow.Prevented from entering Deraa, still encircled by tanks after nearly two weeks, they staged one of the largest demonstrations in Hauran despite the heavy security presence in the plain, witnesses said.
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