Syria: Bodies of 23 'extreme torture' victims found in Idlib as thousands rally for Assad The crowds are gathered in a number of cities, including Damascus, Aleppo in the north, Latakia on the Mediterranean coast, the southern city of Suweida and Hasaka in the northeast. In Damascus people waved yellow flags, for the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, as well as the colours of Russia, one of Syria's closest allies, while the national anthem was performed by a military band. Monitors have said that the opposition have also called for mass demonstrations to mark the day. The Syrian president, who recently announced that parliamentary elections would be hold on May 7, has seen his international image further deteriorate in light of a series of emails between him and his inner circle. Thursday's demonstrations come during intensifying government crackdowns on rebel bastions throughout the country. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported that government troops killed 20 people in the southern city of Daraa, on Wednesday, 13 of whom were civilians. It was in Daraa where the anti-Assad uprising first broke out on March 15, 2011. With the conflict now entering its second year, making it the longest-running of the Arab Spring movements, Assad's actions seem geared towards quelling the insurgency as quickly as possible. According to the UN, over 8,000 people have been killed in the uprising, the majority of them civilians. The orchestration of military crackdowns on rebel-held regions and the thousands marching in Damascus, where Assad still enjoys popular support, come before a United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss Syria on Friday. In this meeting, the UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, will brief the Security Council on his discussions with the Assad government. The council will then deliberate on what course of action to take with the year-long conflict which has alienated Syria from the international community. On Wednesday, Italy and Saudi Arabia became the most recent countries to withdraw their embassies from the Syrian capital of Damascus. Previous Security Council meetings have been unable to reach a decisive resolution because China and Russia have twice vetoed previous drafts on Syria, claiming they were unbalanced. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said of the Syrian president, "If he thinks he can weather this storm... he [has made] a serious misjudgment... He cannot continue like this. He has gone too deep, too far.