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Mass protests expected in response to regime’s sustained crackdown as 10 people die in raids on Qusayr and Deir Ezzor Pro-democracy protesters in Syria pledged defiance on Thursday as security forces killed at least 10 more people in raids and repression continued, despite widespread international condemnation. Mass demonstrations are expected across the country on Friday – being called a day of “not kneeling” by organisers. The Facebook group The Syrian Revolution 2011 said in a defiant message on the internet: “We only kneel before God.” Seven died after tanks entered Qusayr, near the border with Lebanon, and three others in Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria – both incidents reported by the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Tanks and troop carriers were also seen moving into the town of Saraqeb in northwestern Idlib province bordering Turkey, it said. Activists used Twitter to describe a mass rally in Idlib, with calls for the overthrow of the Assad regime. There was no sign of a let-up in a security crackdown that started on the eve of Ramadan 11 days ago. The opposition Local Co-ordination Committees said it had counted 257 dead since then – one person killed every 50 minutes. The US has estimated that 2,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in March. Syrian state media sought to convey a very different impression, showing pictures of troops leaving Hama after “restoring order” in the third largest city. On Wednesday, security forces reportedly shot dead 18 people in the Baba Amro area of nearby Homs, where heavy machine gun fire was heard on Thursday. A video posted on YouTube , an important means of communication for the Syrian opposition, showed four local men lying dead or badly injured on a street. Others showed a man said to have been run over by a tank and two men with horrific injuries. Residents reported all communications with the city had been severed. In Qusayr, security forces and Shabiha militiamen were described as looting and destroying shops while mosques were closed and calls for prayer banned. The latest attacks came a week after the UN security council called for an “immediate” halt to the Syrian violence. The council was told in a briefing on Wednesday that there had been no decrease in the deaths of protesters. Diplomats from western countries warned that the council would have to consider “further action” if events did not improve. The US is poised to demand explicitly and unconditionally that President Bashar al-Assad leave power. US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and UN envoy Susan Rice have said that Assad has lost his legitimacy to rule, but Washington has so far resisted issuing a direct call for him to step down. US and British diplomats were looking at detailed reports of Wednesday’s talks in Damascus between Assad and the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davotoglu, which lasted for nearly seven hours and covered many “substantive points” including the demand that Syrian security forces be withdrawn from cities. Ignoring international outrage, the Syrian leader has pledged a relentless battle against “terrorist groups” he says are fomenting a popular uprising. On Wednesday, Assad reportedly admitted that his security forces had made “some mistakes” in battling protests, during talks with the deputy foreign ministers of Brazil, India and South Africa, which have all opposed tougher UN action against Syria. Syria Middle East Protest Arab and Middle East unrest Bashar Al-Assad Ian Black guardian.co.uk