Protesters in the southern Syrian city of Deraa shouted slogans today denouncing Maher al-Assad, brother of the Syrian president and head of the Republican Guard, a witness said.
"Maher you coward. Send your troops to liberate the Golan," thousands chanted as they headed to the main square in the city after the funeral of at least five protesters killed by security forces this week. Israel occupied the Golan Heights in 1967.
Maher al-Assad, who keeps a low profile, is the second most powerful man in the country after Mr Bashar.
A leading Syrian opposition figure called on the international community on Friday to intervene to stop "the massacres against civilians by President Bashar al-Assad's regime" in protests across Syria.
"There are killed and wounded and those who are arrested in all the provinces," he told Reuters by telephone from Canada, referring to protests that spread beyond the southern town of Deraa challenging Mr Assad's rule.
Criticism of Syria's ruling elite was taboo until protests erupted in Deraa a week ago demanding political freedom and an end to corruption.
Up until now, protesters had directed their wrath mainly at Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of Bashar al-Assad who owns large businesses and is under specific US sanctions for what Washington terms as public corruption.
Today, protests erupted in other Syrian cities in support of Deraa, including in Hama, a city in which late president Hafez al-Assad had sent in troops to quell a 1982 armed revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood, killing thousands.
Reuters