At least 18 Syrian protesters killed on Friday

AMMAN (Reuters): In an attack by Syrian security forces on tens of thousands of protesters demonstrating against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad killed at least 18 civilians on the very first Friday of Ramadan, said activists.

A six-day tank assault on the central city of Hama to crush pro-democracy demonstrations there has killed at least 300 civilians, the Local Coordination Committees, an activists’ group, said, citing refugees from the assault.

The Syrian Revolution Coordinating Union and the Local Coordination Committees, two main activists’ groups, said Assad’s forces shot dead two protesters and wounded 12 after evening Ramadan prayers in the Maydan district of Damascus, which has become a focal point of demonstrations despite the deployment of ultra-loyalist Republican Guards in the area.

Security forces killed a 17-year old boy in Nahr Aisha district on the edge of Damascus and one protester in the city of Homs, they added. Residents said security forces also fired at people protesting after evening prayers in the capital’s suburbs of Harasta, Douma and Daria who demanded Assad’s removal and shouted slogans in support of the city of Hama.

Tanks shelled Hama for a sixth day. Hama residents feared higher casualty figures than the 300 estimated killed since the military assault began on Sunday on the city of 700,000 people in central Syria.

The Syrian protesters are defying a bloody military crackdown on uprisings that began in March against some 41 years of Assad family domination.

U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to consider further steps to pressure Assad over his crackdown, the White House said, without elaborating on the measures to be taken.

The continued military assaults against civilian unrest ignored rising international condemnation over the attacks that Washington said had killed 2,000 people during the revolt.