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Syrian official media rejects reports on Friday protests

17 September 2011 01:04 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Syrian official media rejected reports by some TV channels about new protests in the country on Friday.

Doha-based al-Jazeera TV and some other satellite networks said protests erupted Friday in several Syrian cities, including the country’s capital Damascus and cities in the provinces of Idlib, Homs and Hama.

At least 36 people were killed by gunfire of the Syrian security forces, the channels said, adding that 16 of them were killed in the northern Idlib province.

Syria’s official news agency SANA denied the reports, saying that the only major incident on Friday was an attack on the law- enforcement forces in the Busra al-Hareer area in the southern city of Daraa, which killed one officer and injured four others.

The shooting occurred from different directions, including a mosque minaret in the area, said SANA.

The agency said limited gatherings were seen in some suburbs of Idlib and Homs.

An unnamed Syrian media source rejected the TV channels’ reports on the death toll as "absolutely baseless."

"What these satellite TV stations are doing falls within the frame of their instigating campaign and fabricating the truth which they have adopted since the unrest in Syria began," the source was quoted by the state TV as saying.

Syria has been in unrest for about six months. The authorities have been blaming the unrest on foreign conspiracy and armed group and accusing al-Jazeera and some other media of untruthfully reporting the facts and fabricating events to spread sedition among Syrians.