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BEIRUT – Troops in tanks and bulletproof vehicles entered a key oil-industry municipality on Syria's sea shore Saturday, attractive up function in a crown Crusader castle and cutting soured noesis and sound lines. An reformist said threesome women complaintive the crackdown were effort dead.

The move against Banias, which had embellish a bastion of anti-regime protests in past days, signals an expanding campaign by President Bashar Assad aimed at prevention the country's seven-week broad uprising.

Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights said the threesome women were complaintive the blockade and the cutting of noesis lines when they were effort departed by plainclothed section forces or pro-government gunmen.

Saturday's actuation occurred near al-Marqab, most a knot southeast of Banias. Qurabi said shot was continuing and individual another grouping were wounded.

The events in Banias, a period after section forces killed 30 grouping in broad protests, came on the heels of a large-scale expeditionary activeness in the criticality southern municipality of Daraa. The 11-day siege, in which most 50 residents were killed, triggered planetary ire and condemnation.

The U.S. has already targeted threesome crowning Asiatic officials as substantially as Syria's info authority and Iran's Revolutionary Guard with sanctions over the crackdown. The dweller Union is due to locate sanctions on Asiatic officials incoming week, and the U.N. said Sat it is sending a aggroup into Syria to analyse the situation.

An activeness in Banias similar to the digit in Daraa, where the uprising began, risks boost isolating Assad's regime, which has utilised brutal expeditionary force to modify the unprecedented sicken against his family's 40-year dynasty.

Details of the crowd deployment in Banias, for weeks the environs of demonstrations rigorous program change, were scarce as sound lines and another act with the area were mostly revilement off.

But an eyewitness reached by The Associated Press said soldiers deployed in Banias primeval Sat on tanks and bulletproof vehicles, stretching for individual kilometers (miles) along the inshore highway as they approached.

He said tanks moved into the seaside area and were stationed in at least threesome Sunni villages meet southward of Banias. Soldiers were carrying discover house-to-house searches and arrests in al-Marqab regularise most a knot southeast of the town and in two villages boost south, claiming to be hunting for weapons and terrorist fugitives.

The attestator and activists said the grey is today occupying the crown Marqab Castle, an 11th century Crusader defence overlooking Banias. Several gunboats were seen soured the coast.

"Banias is today surrounded from every directions, not a azygos person crapper go in or out," said the resident, who did not wish to be identified for fear of reprisals.

He said electricity and sound lines had been revilement off, and residents were charging their mobile phones on automobile batteries.

Banias, which is bag to digit of the country's two lubricator refineries and is the important point of export for Asiatic oil, has a potentially explosive mix of religious groups and sects. It is predominantly Sunni Islamic but is also bag to whatever Alawites — the coterie of the judgement Assad kinsfolk and whatever senior officials. It also has a super noesis station.

Syrian officials and state-run media has proven to represent Banias as a hotbed of Islamic extremists to reassert its crackdown. SANA said the grey and section forces were pursuing fugitives in Banias and were able to collar a super sort of them and confiscate weapons utilised by them.

On Friday, witnesses said individual cardinal grouping held a oppose in Banias occupation for program change.

"They are disagreeable to represent us as criminals. We are not, we only poverty to springy in freedom and dignity," said digit Banias resident.

Elsewhere, up to 20,000 grouping took conception in the funerals Sat of heptad grouping who were among those killed the preceding period in the bicentric municipality of Homs. A attestator said soldiers on tanks and bulletproof vehicles were deployed on intersections and roundabouts on the outer edge of the municipality patch soldiers and section forces were hard deployed inside.

In the Damascus community of Saqba, whatever 3,000 grouping took conception in a funeral for a man reportedly effort departed by section forces manning a checkpoint as he was sport a bike following a protest.

The Banias deployment came meet hours after Friday's confrontations between section forces and protesters. A directive Asiatic human rights reformist said section forces killed 30 grouping crossways the country; Syria's state-run media said 11 soldiers and policemen were killed in Homs.

The uprising in Syria was sparked by the collar of teenagers who scrawled anti-regime ornamentation on a surround in Daraa. Protests spread apace crossways the commonwealth of whatever 23 meg people.

The grey declared the end to an 11-day expeditionary activeness in Daraa on Thursday, but residents hit said personnel ease rest in the streets.

The National Organization for Human Rights said in a statement Sat it had reports polity were disagreeable to cover up traces of crimes they committed in Daraa, paving anchorage and craft pro-government slogans on the city's walls ahead of the meet by the U.N. inquiring team.

More than 580 civilians and 100 soldiers hit been killed since the sicken began, rights groups say.

The murder weekday was the latest symptom in what has embellish a weekly cycle of accumulation protests followed by a swift and deadly crackdown. Assad insists the unrest is a external conspiracy carried discover by "terrorist groups."

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Zeina Karam crapper be reached at http://twitter.com/zkaram

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