Tens of thousands rally after Friday prayers

Anti-government protesters in Damascus face off with riot police on 6 June. Damascus - Arabstoday Citing the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), an activist network, Al Jazeera says dozens of people have been killed or injured in heavy shelling by tanks in Maarat al-Numan, 40km east of Jisr  al-Shughur, in the province of Idlib. State TV earlier said gunmen had opened fire on police stations in the town, causing casualties among security officials. The LCC said 22 protesters had been killed across the country.
An activist in Homs told Al Jazeera that tens of thousands of protesters had taken to the street Friday.
"Thousands of people were demonstrating today. In some neighbourhoods 20,000 people taking part in the protests. In other neighbourhoods 25,000 people.
"There were security forces. They fired live ammunition in the air to disperse the crowds. Now protestors went back to their homes, but there is very heavy security presence.
"They are cutting off the roads inside the towns and most internet connection has been lost."
Troops on Friday launched a long-feared crackdown in Jisr Al Shughur, as thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets across Syria and the US slammed the "slaughter of innocent lives".
"Army units  have started their mission to control Jisr Al Shughur and neighbouring villages and arrest the armed gangs," state television said, adding that the raid on the northwestern town had been launched "at the request of residents".
One witness to the Jisr Al shughur crackdown told AFP that "military forces bombarded the villages around Jisr Al Shughur in their advance on the town".
"Soldiers torched wheat fields in the village of Al Ziyara," 15km southeast of Jisr Al Shughur, he said.
Rights activists said that most of the 50,000 inhabitants of Jisr Al Shughur had fled - many to neighbouring Turkey - when tanks and troops began midweek converging on the northwestern town and that it was now largely deserted.
It had been reported earlier on Friday Syrian forces shot dead two civilians when they fired at a pro-democracy demonstration in a village in the southern Hauran Plain, cradle of the uprising against Baathist rule, residents said.
"There was a demonstration of 1,000 people when the "Amen" (security police) fired from their cars," one of the residents of Busra Al Harir village said giving the names of the dead protesters as Adnan Al Hariri and Abdul Muttaleb Al Hariri.
Earlier Friday it was reported Syrian troops backed by dozens of tanks massed outside a virtually deserted town near the Turkish border, preparing to move in after protesters and mutinous forces rose up against the rule of President Bashar Al Asad.
Thousands of residents who have fled into Turkey have depicted a week of revolt and mayhem in Jisr Al Shughour, saying Syrian police turned their guns on each other and soldiers shed their uniforms rather than obey orders to fire on protesters. Syrian state television said Friday the operation aims to restore security in the town, where authorities say 120 officers and security personnel were killed by "armed groups" last week.
Tanks were on the outer edges of Jisr Al Shughour, preparing to enter, an AP reporter accompanying Syrian troops on a government-organized trip said. He said the army announced the start of operations at around 5am Friday. Witnesses contacted by telephone said most residents had abandoned the town of up to 45,000.
Syria sharply restricts local media and has expelled foreign reporters, making it virtually impossible to independently verify reports about the uprising. The invitation to an AP reporter to accompany troops on the operation in Jisr Al Shughour appeared to reflect a Syrian government effort to counter negative publicity about its crackdown and show the existence of armed gangs.
The military was securing areas on the way to Jisr Al Shughour before bringing in a group of journalists to talk to residents.
"Now we feel safe," said Walida Sheikho, a 50-year-old woman in the village of Foro, near Jisr Al Shughour.
She and other residents offered food, water and juice to the Syrian troops and said the army was deploying in response to their appeals.
Syrian television said the operation to "liberate" the town from "armed gangs" came in response to the appeals of residents who were terrorised by the groups. The government has often blamed violence on gunmen and extremists, though there are widespread accounts of security forces firing on unarmed protesters.
Witnesses, however, have said Syrian police turned their guns on each other, and soldiers shed their uniforms rather than obey orders to fire on protesters.
Reports of an imminent operation by the military prompted an exodus of refugees to Turkey.
About 2,700 Syrian refugees have crossed into Turkey since the nationwide uprising against Al Asad began three months ago, with most fleeing in the last two days.
State television said armed groups set afire crops and fields of wheat in areas surrounding Jisr Al Shughour as the army approached.
But a man in the town blamed security forces for the crop-burning. He said the few remaining residents were collecting car and truck tires to set them on fire in an attempt to try to block the advance of the army. He said by telephone to an AP reporter in Beirut that a military helicopter had flown over the area Thursday night, firing flares on a possible reconnaissance mission.   Sources: gulfnews.com and Al Jazeera English