Security forces raid Damascus suburbThere were no immediate reports of violence in Hama on Friday. A day earlier residents blocked streets with burning tires, trying to keep out busloads of security forces, and dozens of families fled to a nearby town, activists said.In the Damascus suburb of Harasta, about 200 km (125 miles) south of Hama, security forces injured two people when they stormed the district, residents and a human rights group said.Overnight, about 300 security personnel entered the suburb, where there have been daily protests demanding political freedoms, and started firing from machineguns mounted on trucks and making house to house arrests, they said.Syrian human rights organization Sawasiah said in a statement that security forces also raided the main hospital in Harasta, a tactic used in similar assaults on cities and towns elsewhere in Syria, and abducted three injured protesters "whose lives are now in extreme danger."Some of the biggest protests against Assad's rule have been staged after Muslim prayers on Fridays.Activists say Bashar's forces have killed at least 1,300 civilians in the unrest. Authorities say 500 police and soldiers have been killed by "armed groups" whom they also blame for most of the civilian deaths.Syria has barred most independent media from operating inside the country, making it difficult to verify accounts from activists and authorities.It also largely has shut out the United Nations. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Damascus on Thursday to give UN aid workers immediate access to evaluate the needs of civilians caught up in the crackdown and to allow a team of UN human rights investigators to carry out their mission in Syria.
US, French envoys in Syria's Hama for protests
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Security forces raid Damascus suburbThere were no immediate reports of violence in Hama on Friday. A day earlier residents blocked streets with burning tires, trying to keep out busloads of security forces, and dozens of families fled to a nearby town, activists said.In the Damascus suburb of Harasta, about 200 km (125 miles) south of Hama, security forces injured two people when they stormed the district, residents and a human rights group said.Overnight, about 300 security personnel entered the suburb, where there have been daily protests demanding political freedoms, and started firing from machineguns mounted on trucks and making house to house arrests, they said.Syrian human rights organization Sawasiah said in a statement that security forces also raided the main hospital in Harasta, a tactic used in similar assaults on cities and towns elsewhere in Syria, and abducted three injured protesters "whose lives are now in extreme danger."Some of the biggest protests against Assad's rule have been staged after Muslim prayers on Fridays.Activists say Bashar's forces have killed at least 1,300 civilians in the unrest. Authorities say 500 police and soldiers have been killed by "armed groups" whom they also blame for most of the civilian deaths.Syria has barred most independent media from operating inside the country, making it difficult to verify accounts from activists and authorities.It also largely has shut out the United Nations. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Damascus on Thursday to give UN aid workers immediate access to evaluate the needs of civilians caught up in the crackdown and to allow a team of UN human rights investigators to carry out their mission in Syria.