Defiant Syrians hold huge protests

Syrian protesters braved gunfire and tanks to take to the streets in the tens of thousands around the capital and across the country on Friday, signalling their popular protest movement continues in the face of a bloody crack down by the regime.

The protests marked the first major demonstrations since an offensive in the city of Hama began six days earlier, the LA Times reported. It is reported to be a show of solidarity with the heavily embattled city of Hama.

"We think to date, the (Syrian) government is responsible for the deaths of more than 2,000 people of all ages," U.S. Secretary of State Clinton told reporters yesterday.

At least 14 people were killed, 11 of them in the capital, Damascus, and its outskirts, according to the Local Coordination Committee in Syria. President Assad's forces are also said to be increasing their grip on the city of Hama, which has seen some of the biggest demonstrations, the BBC reported..

Security forces deployed in the streets countrywide, trying to stave off the expected swell of protests on the first Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, the LA Times reported.

The protests in Hama in recent weeks had drawn hundreds of thousands of people, according to activists, turning the city into a symbol of possibility for people struggling to gain momentum for the protest movement elsewhere in Syria.

"At least 10 tanks were positioned in Hama’s central al-Assi square, where the massive protests had previously been centered, and residents said they were trapped indoors for a third consecutive day by rooftop snipers who opened fire on anything that moved," the Washington Post reported today.

President Bashar Assad, whose family has ruled for more than 40 years, launched a military offensive Sunday in Hama that is reported to have killed at least 200 people. The move was seen as an effort to block the country's popular uprising from surging out of control during Ramadan.

Gauging the protests today, it appears to not have had the intended effect.

The U.S. State Department is urging Americans to leave Syria while commercial transportation is still available, the AP reported today.

On Friday, the State Department urged U.S. citizens who must remain in Syria to limit travel and warned U.S. citizens not in the country to avoid traveling there for now.

The Syrian government has severely restricted the travel of diplomats within Syria, limiting their ability to provide assistance to Americans outside the city of Damascus.