By KHALED OWEIS | REUTERS
AMMAN: Fighting erupted on Friday between Syrian military intelligence agents and residents in the eastern city of Deir Al-Zor after the killing of five protesters, witnesses said, in what appeared to be a serious armed challenge to President Bashar Assad.
Popular unrest against four decades of repressive rule by the Assad family, now in its fifth month, is taking on sectarian overtones with protesters pitted against minority Alawites dominating the power elite.
Military intelligence, in charge of securing loyalty to Assad among the army’s rank and file, has been spearheading a crackdown in Syria’s tribal east, a strategic oil-producing region near the border with Iraq.