Syrian security forces open fire; 15 killed

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian security forces fired live bullets and tear gas today on pro-democracy demonstrations across the country, killing at least 15 people — including a young boy — as the uprising against President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime defied a deadly security crackdown, witnesses said.

Protesters flooded into the streets after Muslim prayers in at least five major areas across the country, a sign that Assad's attempts to quell the monthlong protests with a deadly crackdown and promises of reform have all but failed.

"Bullets started flying over our heads like heavy rain," said one witness in Izraa, a southern village in Daraa province, the same region where the uprising kicked off in mid-March.

The protest movement has been the gravest challenge against the autocratic regime led by Assad, who inherited power from his father 11 years ago in one of the most rigidly controlled countries in the Middle East.

Tens of thousands of people were protesting in the Damascus suburb of Douma, the central city of Homs, Banias on the coast, the northeastern Kurdish region and the southern province of Daraa, where the uprising kicked off in mid-March.