BENGHAZI, Libya — Syrian activists fleeing persecution for taking part in the six-month-old revolt against their government are flocking to Libya, where they face no visa requirements and can find work easily because of the exodus of foreign laborers during the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi.

With fresh bullet wounds, emotional trauma and little cash, the Syrians trade experiences with one another largely without fear of Syrian President Bashar Assad's security apparatus. They also are consulting with Libyan activists on the merit of armed rebellion, with many now convinced that taking up weapons is their only hope for toppling Assad, who remains firmly in place despite months of peaceful protests, tougher sanctions and calls from the United States and Europe for his ouster.

Several Syrians who hail from the flash point towns of Deraa, Homs and Hama, interviewed here this week, said a minority of protesters already had used weapons against Assad's forces. They described rogue attacks on checkpoints and convoys, and one told of his role in bombing a bus that was carrying militia members.

The only obstacles to wider violence, they said, are a scarcity of guns and the threat of regime airstrikes.

"We're discussing weapons, but we don't even have weapons," said Amer Abdelkarim Rifai, 47, a carpenter from Homs who fled to Libya a month ago after serving time in prison for protesting. "Our cities are ghost towns now, with schools closed and shops empty, but we'll die of starvation before we stop this revolution."

"At this point, if weapons were available, we'd all go out as fighters," agreed Abu Abdo, a slim 26-year-old vegetable seller, also from Homs, who met the other men when he arrived Tuesday in Libya. He used a pseudonym to protect his family in Syria. "We came out peacefully and they killed us. This is not a fair fight."

With outside journalists barred from Syria, it's been impossible to report with certainty what's taking place in the country, where as many as 2,600 people have been killed — by United Nations estimates — in Assad's crackdown on political dissidents, who've held massive rallies throughout Syria for months. Assad's government has asserted that it was responding to armed attacks, a position that most observers think is exaggerated.

The refugees in Libya, however, provide a rare inside look at what's taken place in their country in recent months.

A man from Deraa choked up several times as he recounted how, less than two weeks ago, he and three friends built a homemade bomb packed with nails and ball bearings and lobbed it at a bus that belonged to the regime's feared Shabiha militia. He said there were injuries, but no deaths.

His account was impossible to verify. On Sept. 7, however, the Syrian state news service SANA reported an attack that matched his description, saying that about 11 law enforcement personnel and four civilians — including a father and his two sons — were injured when an "armed terrorist group" attacked a military bus near Deraa. The agency said the explosive device used contained metal pieces, steel nails and metal balls to cause the largest possible number of casualties.

Authorities figured out who was behind the attack on the same day, he said, so he bribed his way out of the country that night and headed for Libya. Using the route that most Syrians have taken, he flew to Cairo and then made the 18-hour drive to Benghazi in a minibus filled with his compatriots.