41 Killed as One Million March Across Syria

Five Months In, Another Deadly Crackdown

At least 41 protesters were killed today and another 120 wounded as security forces opened fire on marchers in several areas around Syria. The deaths were the highest single day toll in weeks.

But so too was it the biggest march yet, with estimates that around one million Syrians took part in demonstrations nationwide. The largest rally was in Hama, where 500,000 took part in the rally.

The largest crackdowns were in and around Damascus, with reports that the most killings happened in central Damascus and the largest number of wounded were in the suburb of Duma.

In addition to the usual calls for free elections, today’s rally also centered around demanding that the Assad regime release the tens of thousands of people it has detained since demonstrations began five months ago.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.