"Freedom, freedom, freedom. One, one, one. The Syrian people are one," mourners chanted as they carried the bodies of eight people draped in Syrian flags through the streets of Douma, a suburb of the capital Damascus.
Witnesses said on Friday that security forces opened fire on protesters in Douma, which has become a gathering point for people descending on Damascus from outlying provinces. Syria has blamed the violence in Douma and other cities on "armed groups."
The protests, inspired by Arab uprisings which have toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, pose the biggest threat to Assad's 11-year rule in Syria, which has been governed by emergency law and one-party rule since 1963.
Before the protests Assad had succeeded in eroding years of Western isolation while maintaining an anti-Israel alliance with Iran, hosting militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, and holding intermittent and indirect peace talks with Israel.
Activists and witnesses say more than 60 people have been killed in two weeks of protests in Syria. Statements by authorities suggest a toll nearer 30.
On Sunday, Assad named Adel Safar, agriculture minister in the government which resigned last week, to form a new cabinet.
Under his watch at the agriculture ministry, a water crisis that experts largely attribute to corruption and mismanagement, intensified and led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Syria became a net grain importer.
LIMITED REFORM
Safar's government will replace the outgoing cabinet of Naji al-Otari, whose resignation Assad accepted on Tuesday. Two days later the president made a series of limited reform pledges, including setting up studies into replacing emergency law with anti-terrorism legislation, and addressing Kurdish grievances.
Ministers have little influence in Syria, where power is held by Assad, his family and the security apparatus.
Safar will have no say in how authorities react to protests which have intensified in Douma, where rights activists said security forces fired on Friday at protesters demanding political freedoms and an end to graft.
Some 50 wounded arrived in secret police cars around midnight in Municipality Square, a witness said.
Secret police agents gave the names of 25 people in hospital with serious injuries, a witness in Douma said, adding that the authorities had promised to deliver the bodies to their families before noon prayers.
"Society figures made it clear to the authorities that Douma wants its dead. We are expecting 15," one resident said.
Friday's protest in Douma was one of several across the country. Thousands took to the streets in major cities after Friday prayers, defying the security forces who fired teargas and live ammunition and used batons to try to disperse protesters who have dismissed reform gestures by Assad.
"Douma is boiling. Syria as a nation may no longer keep sitting idly and let a historic chance for freedom pass by," one of the activists said of the area some 15 km (10 miles) north of the city, which links the countryside north of Damascus to the capital.
In Deraa, where protests started before they spread to Damascus, the coast and areas in between, security forces dispersed a sit-in on Saturday at Serail Square and arrested at least 20 people, witnesses said.
"Our demands are same, same: freedom, freedom," the protesters, who numbered 200 to 300, chanted.
HAMAS SUPPORT
More than 2,000 ethnic Kurds took to the streets of the northeastern city of Qamishli on Friday, despite a promise by Assad to look into granting citizenship to Kurds who are in Syria without Syrian passports, Kurdish sources said.
"Our demands are freedom, not just citizenship," chanted the protesters, who were not confronted by security forces.
Syria's second city Aleppo has been protest free, despite being inhabited mostly by Sunni Muslims who generally dislike the fact that the minority Alawite ruling elite have been amassing wealth and power widely seen as unchecked.
The turmoil could have wider repercussions since Syria, bordered by Lebanon, Israel, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq, is in the thick of the Middle East conflict.
Hamas lent its support to Syria's ruling hierarchy and said the unprecedented protests against Assad's rule must not compromise Syria "rejectionist" stand against Israel.
There had been doubts whether Hamas, which has built a reputation as a liberation movement among Palestinian constituents, would back Syrian authorities against protesters.
The United States, which has designated Syria as a "state sponsor of terrorism" since 1979, and the United Nations, condemned the latest escalation in violence.
Commenting on the protests last week, Assad played down the possibility of any fundamental transformation to Syria's autocratic political system, which he has kept intact since succeeding his late father, President Hafez al-Assad, in 2000.
The Turkish-American ‘Everything for Turkey Platform’, left a black wreath which read "The Turkish public will never forget CNN’s manipulations” in front of the CNN building in New York on Saturday. 
A foundation entitled the “Every Thing for Turkey Platform” (Her şey Türkiye İçin Platformu) has announced they will be holding a demonstration in New York aimed at preserving Turkey’s best interests.
Muhammed Alabasy, who has been working for Iran’s Al Alam television station for the past eight years of his 36-year career in journalism, has resigned due to being pressured to use the term “Turkish Spring” in reference to the nationwide protests in Turkey. 
Prime Minister Erdoğan, whose trip took him to Algeria criticized Assad stating that “His father massacred Humus. His son is doing far more. These workings are not forgivable.”
Syrian President Assad has announced that they have reaceived the initial delivery of S-300 missiles from Russia. Russian Defense Minister Shoigu stated “Russia may deliver new assault weapons to Syria.
A meeting between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the upcoming second Geneva Conference which aims to find a political solution to the crisis in Syria failed to reap a precise date for when the summit will actually take place. 
After a marathon negotiating session of EU Foreign Ministers, a ban on arming the Syrian opposition in order to protect the innocent public has in effect been lifted. England’s unyielding stance in favor of the embargo’s expiration was influential in the decision-making process. 
Iran has issued a four billion-dollar worth credit to Syria. 
The allegations the Syrian regime is using chemical warfare against the opposition, which have been put forth by Turkey, the United States and Israel, have now been confirmed. Reporters from Le Monde which spent months on the opposition front lines say the weapons are being masked by tear gas to make detection that much harder. 
Myanmar opposition leader and pro-democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi condemned on Monday a policy by a district government to limit Muslim Rohingya families to two children in an effort to curb their population growth, calling it both discrimination and going against human rights.
President of the Syrian National Council George Sabra says they are not hopeful regarding Geneva II and that there is no way they will attend a conference while the situation in Syria remains as it is. “You win a war on the battlefield and not at the table,” says Sabra. 
Days after Prime Minister Erdoğan called on U.S. President Obama to take action against the ongoing massacres suffered by Muslims in Myanmar, during a meeting held in the Oval Office of the White House, the U.S. leader hosted Myanmar President Thein Sein for a meeting in the very same location. 
It has come to light that the United States and Russia have agreed on having Manaf Tlass, the most influential commander to turn his back on the Assad regime, to preside over the transitional period in Syria. Tlass, will be brought on to take command of the rebel forces under the United States and Russia’s control to undertake negotiations with the Assad regime.
Upon a stern warning by Iraqi Kurdish Regional leader Barzani, the PKK’s Syrian offshoot, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), has released 75 Kurdish politicians from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) that were abducted by the organization last week. 
