BEIRUT, Lebanon — Thousands of Syrians took to the streets on Tuesday after prayers that signaled the end of the holy month of Ramadan, defying a broad deployment of security forces across Syria that has made August one of the bloodiest months of the uprising.
Activists said that at least seven people were killed in southern and central Syria when troops loyal to the government of President Bashar al-Assad opened fire on worshipers emerging from mosques.
The popular uprising in Syria, which started in mid-March, is the most serious challenge to Mr. Assad’s rule that he has faced, and his effort to violently suppress it has drawn international condemnation. Activists say that protests have grown more frequent lately, apparently encouraged by the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya.
In an escalation of the international pressure on Mr. Assad, the United States Treasury Department added to its sanctions blacklist of top Syrians on Tuesday, freezing the assets of three prominent officials: Walid al-Moallem, the foreign minister; Ali Abdul Karim Ali, the ambassador to Lebanon; and Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior presidential adviser who has often served as the Assad regime’s liaison to the outside world.
In an interview more than three months ago, when Mr. Assad’s regime was expressing confidence that its tactics against the protesters were working, Ms. Shaaban said: “I think now we’ve passed the most dangerous moment. I hope so, I think so.”
The expansion of the United States sanctions was announced a day after European diplomats said sanctions might be imposed on Syrian banks as well as energy and telecommunications companies within a week, along with a planned embargo on Syria’s oil exports.
At least 2,200 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the unrest, by the United Nations’ count. An activist group, the Syrian Revolution Coordinating Union, said on Tuesday that 551 people were killed during Ramadan alone. The group said 130 others were killed on July 31, the eve of Ramadan, in an attack on the city of Hama, which was also the scene of a ferocious crackdown in 1982.
On Tuesday, four people were killed in Hara and two others in Inkil, two towns in Dara’a Province, according to the Local Coordination Committees, another group of activists who document demonstrations. Dara’a, a poor region in the southern steppe, became a flashpoint of protests after security forces arrested and tortured 15 teenagers there who were caught scrawling antigovernment graffiti on walls.
“They don’t want us to have any peaceful day,” Um Mohammad, a mother of two from Damascus, said of the security forces. “We are grieving this Id, and we were not going to celebrate, so they didn’t have to kill more people today,” she added, referring to the feast of Id al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan.
“Everybody is sad,” said Nashwan, a father of three from Homs who asked that his surname not be published. “No one is celebrating, not even between family members. It is a sad city.”
The activists said that one person was killed in Homs, in central Syria, where large protests have been mounted against the leadership of Mr. Assad, who came to power in 2000, succeeding his father. The activists said that heavy gunfire was heard across the city, and phone lines were cut early Tuesday.
The Local Committees also reported a heavy presence of troops and secret police near mosques to deter people from praying on Tuesday. Since the beginning of the uprising in March, mosques have been used as places where protesters organize, and many mosques have been attacked and closed during the crackdown.
Activists said that after security forces shut the Imam al-Nawawi mosque in Nawa, another town in Dara’a, worshipers gathered outside to chant anti-Assad slogans, and the security forces opened fire to disperse them.
In Dael, which is also in Dara’a, children covered with shrouds marched in an antigovernment demonstration, activists said; ordinarily children in Syria wear festive new outfits on the holiday.
Residents also reported protests in several neighborhoods in and around Damascus, the capital, and in Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city; Deir al-Zour, an eastern tribal region bordering Iraq; the northwestern province of Idlib; the port city of Latakia; and Qamishli in the north.
Mr. Assad’s government has repeatedly blamed foreign-sponsored armed groups for the unrest, and said they have killed at least 500 policemen and soldiers.
Source: nytimes.com
Chiara 
Roberto Iglesias presentará la semana próxima su jingle de campaña, en el que pide a los votantes que corten boleta a su favor, ya que, sostiene, Cristina Kirchner «ya ganó». El candidato a vicepresidente de Udeso, Javier González Fraga, dijo que es «una decisión realista».
Felipe 
