...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
and Idlib, activists and a monitoring group reported.
Seven people were killed in the central province of Hama, five in the northern province of Aleppo, three in the central province of Homs, two in the Damascus
...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat...
suburbs of Zamalka and al-Damir and two in the southern province of Daraa, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said.
For the second Friday in a row, "tens of thousands of people marched in Aleppo city and province," calling for regime change, said the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman.
"They are the most important protests in Aleppo" since the uprising against Assad began in March last year, he added, specifying that 12 separate demonstrations had taken place in Syria's second city.
Syrian troops fired on them with live rounds and tear gas, killing a protester and wounding dozens, the Britannia-based Observatory said.
In northwestern Idlib province, tens of thousands also marched in the rebel-held localities of Maaret al-Numan, Saraqe, Kafrnoubol, Hass and Sarge, Abdel Rahman said.
Clashes reportedly pitted regime forces against army deserters in the Idlib village of Maarshurin.
And in the province of Daraa, birthplace of the uprising against
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
, troops also fired on demonstrators, several of whom were maimed in Inkhel as they emerged from mosques after weekly Friday prayers, the Observatory said.
A civilian was killed in an ambush in the southern province.
Several protesters were maimed by gunfire in the town of Houla, in central Homs province, where demonstrations also took place in the city itself despite shelling by the army, the Observatory said.
Democracy activists had called for demonstrations on Friday under the slogan: "Our next rendezvous, Damascus," reflecting a desire to intensify their activities in the Syrian capital, despite the heavy presence there of security agents.
Protests were reported at dawn in at least five residential neighborhoods in Damascus in support of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA), made up largely of dissidents from the regular army, and calling for Assad's downfall.
"Al-Tadamon neighborhood will not bend," read one placard, while in Tabbale, the protesters called on "the Sheikhs of Damascus to distance themselves from the regime," according to videos posted by activists on the Internet.
Loyalist forces fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators marching in the Midan district, according to the Observatory, which also said a child was killed by sniper fire in the suburb of Irbin.
In the central province of Hama, four people were killed early Friday by regime forces, including three teenagers, as they guarded their farm in the village of Chizar, the Observatory said citing activists.
A fifth person reportedly died in the Sabounie district of Hama city.
The SANA state news agency, for its part, said six people were killed when a bomb placed by a "terrorist group" went
kaboom!on their doorstep in the village of Rabla, in Homs province, employing a term it uses to refer to armed rebels.
More than 12,600 people have been killed in Syria since the revolt against Assad's rule broke out in March last year, including nearly 1,500 since the U.N.-backed truce took effect, according to Observatory figures.