34 people are reported to have died in the Syrian city of Latakia as a military assault in the region enters its fourth day.
Syrian tanks opened fire on poor Sunni districts of the northern port city today, residents said, with the aim of crushing protests demanding an end to 41 years of Assad family rule.
President Bashar al-Assad, from Syria's minority Alawites, an offshoot of Shia Islam, has broadened and intensified a military assault against towns and cities where demonstrators have been demanding his removal since the middle of March.
The Syrian Revolution Coordinating Union, a grassroots activists' group, said six people were killed in Latakia yesterday, bringing the civilian death toll there to 34.
The crackdown coincided with the 1 August start of the Muslim Ramadan fast, when nightly prayers became the occasion for more protests against over four decades of Baathist party rule.
Syrian forces have already stormed Hama, scene of a 1982 massacre by the military, the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, the southern city of Deraa and several northwestern towns in a province bordering Turkey.
The Assads have been repeatedly warned by the United States, European Union and Turkey but the government is signalling to its critics that it will not bow to calls for change that have swept across the Arab world.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Mr Assad to halt such military operations now or face unspecified consequences.
Turkish leaders, which has a 75% Sunni majority, have grown frustrated after Mr Davutoglu held talks with the Syrian leader in Damascus only last week.
