39 Dead as Syria Protesters Defy Crackdown to Mark '82 Massacre

Protesters flooded towns and cities across Syria defying a brutal government crackdown on Friday to commemorate the notorious 1982 massacre in the city of Hama that killed tens of thousands.

At least 36 people were reported killed on Friday, including 11 soldiers and three army deserters, activists and a rights group said.

Security forces killed seven people in the flashpoint northwestern province of Idlib, three in the central protest hub of Hama, 10 in the Damascus suburbs of Darayya and Rankous, five in the northern province of Aleppo, two in the central opposition bastion Homs and one in the southern province of Daraa, the cradle of the uprising, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said.

In Hama's central neighborhood of Junub al-Malaab, security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing at least one and wounding three more, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It reported two more killed by security force fire in Darayya in Damascus province and said at least another five people were killed -- among them two children -- across the country.

The Britain-based group said the 11 soldiers were killed in clashes in the southern Daraa province and the central Homs province with fighters of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), made up of defectors and sympathizers.

Another soldier was also killed earlier in the village of Jasem, also in Daraa province.

Protesters emerged from Friday prayers in the port of Latakia where security forces opened fire to disperse them, the Observatory said, reporting a similar demonstration in Yabrod in Damascus province.

Under the slogan "Hama, forgive us," regime opponents had urged protesters to wear black and march in honor of the estimated 10,000 to 40,000 people who died in the massacre ordered by Hafez, father of President Bashar al-Assad.

Demonstrators turned out in their thousands in Hama itself, Idlib in the north, Daraa in the south and in Damascus province.

"Hafez is dead, Hama is not! Bashar will die and Syria will not!" read placards brandished by protesters in the al-Qadam district of Damascus, according to an Internet video posted by militants.

"Collective punishment won't work this time!" read another.

Rallies were also staged on Thursday in memory of the Hama victims as Western and Arab countries sought to reach agreement on a draft U.N. resolution to pressure Syria to end its almost 11-month crackdown on dissent.

The latest text being considered by U.N. Security Council members does not explicitly call on Assad to step down or mention an arms embargo or sanctions, but "fully supports" an Arab League plan to facilitate a democratic transition.

Washington is "cautiously optimistic" Russia will support the draft resolution, a senior State Department official ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking by phone to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"This is the kind of resolution the entire council should support and the secretary and Ambassador Susan Rice are working the phones, working the halls to get a strong vote in the coming hours and days," said the official.

Diplomats said on Thursday that the new draft took into account concerns by Moscow, a staunch ally of Damascus.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the U.N. wrangling was harming the Syrian people.

"All those still hesitating must recognize that their hesitation is no longer tolerable for the people who are suffering from this violence and repression," he said in a clear swipe at Russia.

"The international community must negotiate. It must find common language."

Relations in the Security Council between Russia and the West were badly strained over a resolution last year that authorized the use of force to protect civilians during Libya's uprising.

The violence in Syria has killed at least 6,000 people since it erupted in March, rights groups estimate.

The ruthless crackdown and the mounting death toll have not deterred protesters, however. Demonstrations are held almost daily, and in recent weeks have reached the doorstep of Damascus itself.

Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Friday that children as young as 13 are a particular target in the "rampant" use of torture by government forces battling opposition protests.

While the United Nations says hundreds of children have been killed in the crackdown, HRW highlighted cases of children shot in their homes or on the street, or grabbed from schools.

It documented 12 cases of children being tortured in detention centers and said many more may have suffered similar treatment.

"In many cases, security forces have targeted children just as they have targeted adults," said Lois Whitman, children’s rights director at the New York-based organization.

"Children, some as young as 13, reported to Human Rights Watch that officers kept them in solitary confinement, severely beat and electrocuted them, burned them with cigarettes, and left them to dangle from metal handcuffs for hours at a time, centimeters above the floor," said the report.