Damascus, Aug 2: Pressure at the United Nations and world capitals mounted on Tuesday on Syria's government as a fierce security crackdown on peaceful protests overnight left dozens of deaths, injuries and arrests.
 At least 24 people were killed, dozens were wounded, and more than 150 people have been detained across the country after Ramadan prayers late Monday night, Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of London-based human rights group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said.
 Those slain include 10 in the western city of Hama, six in the Damascus suburb of Irbeen, three in Homs province, two in Boukamal, two in Latakia on the coast and one in Madamaiya near Damascus, Abdul-Rahman said.
 Hama hospitals have been overwhelmed; patients were being treated in hallways and the morgues were overflowing, a doctor in Hama said. The bloodshed follows a violent weekend in the volatile city, where dozens of people were reported killed and hospitals overwhelmed.
 Syrian state-run media reported Tuesday that "armed groups" were behind an assault in Hama on Monday.
 But activists have consistently said security forces initiated the violence in Hama -- the scene of a brutal military crackdown in 1982 by the Alawite-dominated government led by Hafez al-Assad, the father of current president Bashar al-Assad.
 People in Irbeen have managed to smuggle some of the wounded to secret locations so they can be treated discreetly out of fear that security forces abduct them from hospitals, according to the Coalition of Free Damascenes for Peaceful Change. The coalition also said residents have spotted several snipers on a building overlooking a square in Irbeen.
 The latest violence coincides with the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, a religious period of fasting and spiritual reflection, and it comes as the U.N. Security Council plans to meet for a second day Tuesday to discuss the crackdown.
 Four European members of the Security Council -- Britain, France, Germany and Portugal -- on Monday revived a draft U.N. resolution that would likely condemn Bashar al-Assad's regime, diplomats said after the meeting.
 A group of Syrian human rights, civil society and political activists on Tuesday urged South Africa, Brazil, and India -- three of the non-permanent council members -- to back a resolution.
 They want such a measure to condemn the government's use of violence against peaceful protesters, urge accountability for crimes, demand an end to government violence, and call for access for U.N. investigators in Syria.
 Ambassadors from other nations, including China and Russia, have previously argued that U.N. action would risk further destabilizing the Middle Eastern country. It was not immediately clear whether they would support such a resolution.
 British Foreign Secretary William Hague welcomed the expansion of European Union sanctions against Syrian officials Tuesday, saying the "appalling crackdown" seen in Hama and other Syrian cities over the weekend "only erode the regime's legitimacy and increase resentment," he said.
 The latest sanctions, announced Monday, impose an assets freeze and travel ban on five Syrians "involved in or associated with the violent repression," but the EU did not identify the individuals concerned.
 Italy urged other EU nations to follow its lead after recalling its ambassador in Damascus in light of the "horrible repression of the civilian population," the country's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to meet Tuesday with a group of U.S.-based Syrian activists and representatives of the Syrian-American community "to discuss the urgent situation in Syria," acting spokesman Mark Toner said.
 In Baghdad, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the "violence needs to stop as quickly as possible," he told reporters.
 Anti-government protesters have taken to the streets for months to demand reforms or an end to the al-Assad's regime.
 The death toll in Syria since its uprising began in mid-March has reached 1,992, according to Abdul-Rahman. He said the dead include 1,618 civilians and 374 Syrian security forces.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 2 Aug 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 2 Aug 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 3 Aug 2011 00:00:00 IST