BEIRUT — Hundreds of thousands of protesters flooded cities around Syria on Friday in what activists described as the largest outpouring against the regime of President Bashar Assad and a powerful message of the opposition’s resolve. At least 14 people were killed in clashes, activists said.
The wildfire rage — flaring in dozens of places at the same time — further strained the resources of Assad’s security forces and military as they also try to choke off a refugee wave into Turkey.
The centerpiece of the latest protests — the central city of Hama — brings further complications for the government. Security forces moved outside Hama in early June after shootings that left 65 people dead. Now the streets appear fully under the sway of the opposition, with an estimated 300,000 people gathering Friday in the central square, activists said.
Crowd estimates and other details cannot be independently verified. The Syrian government has banned most foreign media from the country and restricted coverage.
But the protest surge Friday appeared to dwarf recent weeks as Assad’s forces tried to wear down the opposition with relentless force. Syrian rights groups say more than 1,400 people have been killed, most of them unarmed protesters, since mid-March. The regime disputes the toll.
In Hama, anti-government crowds staked their claim to the city, which carries important symbolism to the opposition. In 1982, Assad’s late father, Hafez Assad, stormed the city to crush an uprising, leaving between 10,000 and 25,000 people dead, rights groups say.
Syria-based activist Mustafa Osso estimated 300,000 people joined the rally in Hama without any sign of security forces, which stayed outside the city and appeared unwilling to risk major bloodshed.
It also could reflect fatigue in Assad’s core troops and the need to concentrate on what officials consider strategic fronts. Assad’s elite forces have waged nearly nonstop crackdowns across the country as new protest hotbeds emerged.
Now, they are mobilized in difficult terrain along the Turkish border in efforts to clamp down on refugees fleeing across the border. The regime is deeply embarrassed by the exodus and also fears the camps could become opposition enclaves beyond reach.
“Syrian security forces are exhausted,” Osso said. “There are demonstrations all over Syria, and they cannot cover these areas.”
In Lithuania, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on Assad’s regime to either begin a credible political-reform process or “continue to see increasingly organized resistance.”
“It doesn’t appear that there’s a coherent and consistent message coming from Syria,” Clinton told a news conference. “We know what they have to do. They must begin a genuine transition to democracy, and allowing one meeting of the opposition in Damascus is not sufficient action toward achieving that goal.”
Osso said huge protest crowds moved into the streets after the Muslim noon prayers in places across the country, including the capital, Damascus.
Activists said at least 11 people were killed by security forces across the country, including five in the central city of Homs and two in Damascus.
In separate clashes, three people were killed during a military operation seeking to halt refugees fleeing into Turkey.
