n their faces was wiped off, however, by bloody events that took place on Friday, March 25. Violent demonstrations broke out in the midland city of Horns, in the coastal city of Latakia, and in Sanamein, near Daraa, where 12 people were killed (10 of them from the Syrian security forces). Overall est

north of Damascus on the Orontes River and was the central link between the interior cities and the Mediterranean coast. Previous to the Syrian war, Horns was a major industrial center, and with a population of at least 652,609 people in 2004, it was the third largest city in Syria after Aleppo to the

March 3 saying that he had received "grisly reports" that Syrian government forces were arbitrarily executing, imprisoning and torturing people in Horns after retaking control of the Baba Amr district from insurgents. Did he really believe this; or was he just "saying it"? "One of the defining bifu

ho face the threat of starvation this winter. Negotiations have focused on providing supplies to civilians trapped in three areas: the old city of Horns, in central Syria; the town of Darayya, about six miles southwest of Damascus; and the town of Moadamiyeh, about eight miles southwest of the capit

rican intelligence official, said the Assad government was using Russian-supplied Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters to carry out the barrel-bomb attack in Horns. Russia, he said, is most likely providing spare parts such as engines, transmissions and rotors, which may explain Mr. Kerry's specific reference

is the country's s=cond-largest city. But Tripoli, staunchly Sunni, with an Alawite minority, has always been within the orbit of the S=rian city of Horns. So it is no mystery that a deadly conflict now rages in=Tripoli between Sunni and Alawite neighborhoods, rendering the place ungov=rnable. Sunni j

dia showed staged footage of arms being found in a mosque in Dara'a, the southern city where protests first broke out, and warned that a sit-in in Horns ... was an attempt to erect a mini-caliphate. This manipulation of Syrians meant the regime was confident that the threat of civil war would force

s and the mountain villages and coastal towns that make up the Alawite strongholds. The violence in the Syrian uprising has been most pronounced in Horns, the country's third-largest city, because of its explosive demographics -- two-thirds Sunni, one-quarter Alawite, one- tenth Christian. Sectarian

ange of groups opposing Mr. Assad, the council has yet to seriously address melding itself with the increasingly independent internal alliances in Horns and other cities across Syria trapped in an uneven battle for survival, they said, warning that the council runs the risk of being supplanted. "Th

nority. The latest grim warning came on Sunday and Monday, when the United States estimates that 15 to 30 Syrians were killed in ethnic fighting in Horns. A White House official called those reports "really worrisome." The strategic stakes are high in Syria partly because Assad is allying himself ev