Fears of violence increase in Syria, amid calls for protests

Fears increased Friday among Syrian activists and neighboring countries of violence spilling across the borders, as Syrian forces continued to chase activists near the Turkish and Lebanese borders. "The circle of violence is widening in Syria, and Syrian troops are now pursuing activists and army defectors in Turkey and Lebanon," Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told dpa. He warned that the unrest in Syria, which began in mid-March as peaceful protests against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, was turning increasingly violent in response to the government's brutal crackdown. A Lebanese security source told dpa the farmer who was killed by a Syrian army unit inside the Lebanese territories on Thursday, was a Syrian national who is married to a Lebanese woman.