In Syria today, government forces opened fire on a funeral procession and on a sit-in demonstration: Syrian Forces Open Fire on Demonstrators in Two Cities.

In Dara’a, the security forces fired to disperse a funeral march for some of the 37 people killed in protests across the country a day earlier, a human rights group said.

Several people were wounded, said Ammar Qurabi, who runs Syria’s National Organization for Human Rights. The group’s information was gathered from residents and witnesses in the city. Further details on the shootings were not immediately available. Telephone calls to Dara’a, which has been rocked by violence, were not going through, and the government has placed severe restrictions on media coverage in the country.

Earlier, security forces fired live ammunition to break up a sit-in in the port city of Latakia, in the heartland of Syria’s ruling elite. Residents reported hearing hours of heavy gunfire overnight as the security forces forcefully dispersed hundreds of protesters.

“The shooting went on for almost two hours; it was frightening,” said one resident, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Bashar Assad is following the example of his Iranian pals and his father, meeting popular demonstrations with uncompromising brutality. The international community’s commitment to Middle Eastern change is about to be tested again.