14 killed in protests throughout Syria

BEIRUT -- Hundreds of thousands of protesters flooded cities around Syria on Friday in what activists described as the largest outpouring against the regime of President Bashar Assad and a powerful message of the opposition's resolve. At least 14 people were killed in various clashes, activists said.

The wildfire rage -- flaring in dozens of places at the same time -- further strained the resources of Assad's security forces and military as they also try to choke off a wave of refugees into Turkey.

The centerpiece of the latest protests -- the central city of Hama -- brings further complications for the government. Security forces moved outside Hama in early June after shootings that left 65 people dead, and now the streets appear fully under the sway of the opposition. About 300,000 people gathered Friday in the central square, activists said.

Crowd estimates and other details cannot be independently verified. But the protest surge Friday appeared to dwarf that of recent weeks as Assad's forces tried to wear down the opposition with relentless force. Syrian rights groups say more than 1,400 people have been killed, most of them unarmed protesters, since mid-March.

The regime disputes the toll, blaming "armed thugs" and foreign conspirators for the unrest that has posed the most serious challenge to the Assad family's 40-year ruling dynasty in Syria.

Syria-based activist Mustafa Osso estimated 300,000 people joined the rally in Hama without any sign of security forces, which remained outside the city. They are also mobilized in difficult terrain along the Turkish border in efforts to clamp down on refugees fleeing across the border. The regime fears the camps could become opposition enclaves out of the government's reach. More than 10,000 Syrians have already taken shelter in Turkey refugee camps to escape the violence.

In Lithuania, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on Assad's regime to either begin a credible political reform process or "continue to see increasingly organized resistance."