Gangs of young men, some armed with swords and rifles, roamed Sunday through the streets of Latakia, a seaside city, closing alleys with barricades and roughly questioning passers-by in streets scarred by days of anti-government unrest.
Whether the gangs were government supporters or anti-regime protesters was not clear.
Syria has been rocked by more than a week of demonstrations that began in the south and exploded nationwide Friday, with security forces opening fire in at least six places and killing dozens of people.
President Bashar Assad is expected to announce Tuesday that he is lifting a nearly 50-year state of emergency.
LIBYA: Alleged rape victim released.
A woman who rushed into a Tripoli hotel to tell foreign reporters that troops had raped her is free and with her family, the government said Sunday, but it offered no proof.
Iman al-Obeidi was tackled by waitresses and government minders as she told her story to journalists Saturday at the hotel where many are staying. She said troops detained her at a checkpoint, tied her up and led her away to be gang-raped.
The government says four men were interrogated in the case, including the son of a high-ranking state official.
A government spokesman claimed the woman is a prostitute who refused a medical examination and that she is with her sister in Tripoli.
YEMEN: Islamists seize arms factory.
Islamic militants seized control of a weapons factory, a strategic mountain and a nearby town in the southern province of Abyan, say a witness and security officials. A stalemate between President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the protest movement seeking his ouster is causing security to unravel around the fragile country.
JORDAN: Man killed during protest mourned.
Jordanians mourned a 55-year-old man who died in a violent protest two days earlier. Khairi Saad was the first person to die in nearly three months of protests.
The government claims Saad died of a heart attack, while the opposition and his brother say he was a follower of the Muslim Brotherhood who was beaten to death by police.
