FOUR women protesters were shot dead by security forces in Syria yesterday as tanks rolled into the besieged city of Baniyas.

They were gunned down on a highway before the army did house-to-house searches and killed at least two ­more people.

Gunboats were seen off the Baniyas coast.

"Not a single person can go in or out of the city," said one protester.

About 800 Syrians have died since President Bashir ­Assad launched a ­crackdown on pro-­democracy protests, which began seven weeks ago.

Baniyas, the main point of export for Syrian oil, has an explosive mix of ­Sunni Muslims and Alawites – the sect of President Assad.

The UN said it would investigate and the ­European Union is set to impose more sanctions.

??IN London, 600 ­Muslims held a rally at the Syrian ­Embassy demanding that President Assad quits.