Syrian army launches new raids

Government troops and security agents in Syria launched a new offensive in several towns a day after tens of thousands of protesters shouted for President Bashar Assad's death in demonstrations across the country.

Witnesses told Al-Jazeera that two people have been killed in the coastal city of Latakia on Saturday after tanks rolled in. At least 14 people died on Friday as protesters came under fire in towns and cities across the country.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said around 20 tanks and armoured personnel carriers have been deployed in Latakia.

The organization also reports that gunfire and explosions could be heard in the city's el-Ramel neighbourhood.

Also on Saturday, scores of security agents entered the town of Qusair, near the border with Lebanon, and several nearby villages, arrestingdozens of residents with at least one person killed in the raids.

The army also conducted an operation in the towns of Hawla and Taldaw in the central Homs province.

In the city of Hama, where resistance and protests had been the greatest, snipers and government soldiers have the city in a clampdown ever since the start of Ramadan on Aug.1.

Local activists report at least more than 1,000 residents have been arrested and say there are security checkpoints every 200 metres.

Stop buying oil and gas from Syria

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is urging all countries to cut their political and economic ties with Syria.

Clinton stopped short of demanding that Assad step down, but White House officials say that's a decision President Barack Obama's administration will be making in the coming days.

She said Assad was being provided "comfort in his brutality" because other countries specifically Russia, China and European nations were buying oil and gas from Syria and exporting arms to his regime.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry said Friday the European Union may decide within the next two weeks to expand its sanctions against Assad's regime.

The UN Security Council announced it's convening a special meeting on human rights in Syria on Aug. 18.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay and UN undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, Valerie Amos, will provide a briefing at themeeting, the French UN mission said in a Twitter statement on Friday.

More than 1,700 people have died and up to 20,000 have reportedly been arrested since the uprising against the 41-year rule of the Assad family began in March.