In Syria, thousands of anti-government protesters on Friday took to streets in Banias, Qamishli and al- Boukamal. The demonstrators chanted slogans demanding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to resign in what activists dubbed as Friday of freedom. The protests come despite Assad's remarks on Wednesday that the country's unrest was coming to an end. On Thursday, an official military source said the army units had started to withdraw from the western town of Tal kalakh after accomplishing its mission in containing the security chaos caused by armed criminals. According to Syrian rights groups, security forces have killed at least 900 Syrians, while over 9,000 people have been jailed or gone missing since the pro-democracy protests erupted across the country two months ago.