BEIRUT: Syrian security forces have escalated an arrest campaign in the country's most rebellious regions, detaining hundreds over the past few days in the besieged city of Daraa and towns on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus, activists said.

Since the uprising against President Bashar Assad began six weeks ago, security forces have arrested protesters across the country. But in recent days activists have spoken of a broader campaign of intimidation, with arbitrary detentions aimed at instilling a sense of fear that the uprising had seemed to break.

Uprising ... Syrian anti-government protesters. Credit:AFP

''They've arrested people left and right, random arrests,'' Ayham al-Zoghbi, a resident of Daraa, said on Monday. ''Anyone between 18 and 45 they could put their hands on was arrested.''

Mr Zoghbi said the military, led by Maher al-Assad, a brother of the President, had divided the town into four parts, as a way of entrenching its control, and that volleys of gunfire still echoed at all hours. Though the military has fired on marchers seeking to break the siege or relieve the town, he said some townspeople had managed to smuggle in bread on horseback or by foot along farm roads at night.