9:02am #Syria Syrian writers issued a declaration on Monday denouncing the bloody crackdown on protesters, a sign of outrage surging through the intellectual elite as violence escalated dramatically in recent days.

Residents of Deraa, where a protest movement against president Bashar al-Assad first erupted last month, said security forces backed by armoured vehicles had entered the town overnight and were shooting. A Deraa resident named Mohsen told Al Jazeera by telephone:

They were firing. Witnesses have told me that there have been five deaths so far and houses have become hospitals.

Rights groups say security forces have killed more than 350 civilians since unrest began last month. A third of the victims were killed in the past three days as the scale and breadth of the popular revolt against Assad intensified.

@AJELive

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