Syrians flee as troops storm port city

Syrian troops stormed the port city of Latakia and sprayed it with gunfire yesterday, killing at least two people, activists said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two people were killed and 15 wounded, four of them critically, during a military operation in the southern Latakia area of Ramleh, a nerve centre of anti-regime protests.
"Phonelines and Internet were cut," said the Observatory.
The watchdog said earlier that military vehicles, including tanks and armoured personnel carriers, converged on Ramleh during a "large demonstration calling for the fall of (President Bashar al-) Assad's regime.
The Observatory said the arrival of troops sparked the exodus of a large number of residents, especially women and children.
Security forces raided the Asaliba district, also in the Mediterranean city, arresting "more than 70 people" in a door-to-door crackdown, it said, adding that women who resisted the arrest of their children were harassed and beaten.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council is to discuss human rights and the humanitarian emergency in Syria after at least 16 people were killed as thousands of protesters rallied after Ramadan weekly prayers.
The Security Council will hold a special meeting next Thursday, diplomats at the United Nations announced.
In a Twitter statement, France's UN mission said UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay and UN under secretary for humanitarian affairs Valerie Amos, will brief the meeting.
As the West grapples with ways to pressure Damascus into ending the bloodshed, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged countries to stop trading with Syria.
She also urged the Europeans to impose energy sanctions.
But she stopped short of explicitly urging Assad to step down -- a call which US officials have said President Barack Obama's administration has decided to make, although it has not finalised the timing.
Clinton also said the US ambassador to Damascus, Robert Ford, delivered a "clear message" when he met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Thursday.
Security forces backed by tanks have been crushing dissent city by city and town by town since pro-democracy protests erupted in mid-March.
The Observatory says 2,150 people have been confirmed dead since then -- 1,744 civilians and 406 members of the security forces.
Activists said at least 16 people were killed on Friday when security forces opened fire on thousands of anti-regime protesters who rallied in flashpoint cities after the Ramadan weekly prayers.