- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 04:19 05:39 12:19 15:45 18:53 20:13
Palestinian youths stage a sit-in late on August 14, 2011 in the West Bank city of Ramallah to protest Syria's brutal crackdown on Syrian anti-regime protesters. (AFP)
Syrian forces raked Latakia with heavy machinegun fire and pressed a crackdown in the port city, activists and residents said. The regime remains defiant of international pressure asking President Bashar Al Assad to quit.
As the regime escalated its crackdown on pro-democracy protests, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Assad is "fast losing the last shreds of his legitimacy."
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meanwhile urged Arab heavyweight Saudi Arabia and Syria's neighbour Turkey to press the embattled Assad to step down, after military operations in Latakia killed dozens and sent Palestinian refugees fleeing.
But in another move Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Tuesday that Turkey is opposed to any foreign intervention in Syria.
Since Sunday, 30 civilians have been killed in Latakia in an offensive during which Syrian gunboats went into action for the first time since the start of pro-democracy revolts in mid-March, activists said.
The military assault on Latakia has drawn sharp Arab and international condemnation.
Syria's Deir Ezzor cheers army on exit
Syrian troops pulled out from the flashpoint protest city of Deir Ezzor on Tuesday, capping a 15-day operation to expel "terrorists," an AFP reporter on a government-sponsored tour said.
Hundreds of residents cheered as they withdrew from the city in a military convoy bearing a banner that read "Soldiers of Assad."
"The people and Deir Ezzor want (President) Bashar Al Assad," and "We will sacrifice our blood and soul for you," the soldiers chanted in honour of the embattled leader.
Rights groups say a brutal crackdown on dissent by Assad's security forces has killed more than 1,800 civilians since mid-March, while 416 security forces have also died.
According to activists, the operation in Deir Ezzor, the largest city in eastern city, cost 30 lives.
Syrian troops last week withdrew from another hotbed of dissent, Hama, after a 10-day operation that fuelled outrage abroad.
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