Syrian authorities detain hundreds in fresh raids

BEIRUT: A rights activist says Syrian security forces are conducting house-to-house raids across the country, detaining hundreds of people as part of a widening crackdown on anti-government protests.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says the arrests are zeroing in on the demonstrations’ organizers and participants.

Abdul-Rahman says Monday’s raids are focused in the central city of Homs, the coastal city of Banias, some suburbs of the capital Damascus and villages around the southern flashpoint city of Daraa.

The continued crackdown suggests that Assad’s regime is determined to crush the uprising by force and intimidation, despite rapidly escalating international outrage and a death toll that has topped 630 civilians since the unrest began in mid-March, according to rights groups.