Syria protests challenge Assad's peace pledge

guardian.co.uk

• Nineteen people were killed across the country as security forces fired at protesters taking part in demonstrations called by the opposition, activists said. The majority of the deaths took place in Homs, which also bore the brunt of the violence yesterday, but the towns of Kanaker and Hama also saw several fatal clashes. The LCC opposition had called protesters onto the streets to test the Assad regime's commitment to the Arab League agreement, theoretically endorsed by Damascus on Wednesday.

• The violence provoked mounting scepticism about the effectiveness of the Arab League's "roadmap" to peace. But the International Crisis Group warned that, despite the bloodshed, the plan should be given time to work as it could be the last chance to prevent civil war. In a briefing (see 9.41am) it said that "every effort should be made to maximise the proposal's chances of success."

• The Syrian government has kept to its own, defiant, line today. Calling on "insurgents" to give themselves and their weapons up, the interior ministry said any citizen who had come into contact with arms but had not committed any crime should give themselves up. They would, added a message broadcast on state TV, be "freed immediately and it will be considered as a general amnesty."

• A member of the Ba'ath party has announced his resignation, telling supporters many of his fellow Ba'athists were willing to do the same. But Mohammed Ahmed al-Bakr's move remains rare. So far the most high profile civilian defection is that of the attorney general of Hama, Adnan Bakkour, in August. He hasn't been seen since denouncing the regime's crackdown. (See 1.51pm.)

• Activists have called for the immediate release of an 18-year-old woman whom they say was assaulted and detained by security forces yesterday. Witnesses say Yaman al-Qadri, a medical student at Damascus university, was arrested in front of her classmates. Her whereabouts are currently unknown. (See 5.10pm.)