Nicosia: Syrian security forces on Friday shot dead two people as they opened fire to disperse protesters urging countries to expel Damascus's ambassadors to further isolate the regime, activists said.
One man was killed in the central protest city of Homs and a 14-year-old boy was shot in the southern town of Daraa, cradle of anti-regime protests that have swept the country since mid-march, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Several people were wounded in Homs and in Maaret Numan in the northwestern province of Idlib when security forces shot at protesters who took to the streets after the midday Muslim prayers, it said.
Arab League observer mission
Beirut: Syria has agreed "in principle" to allow an Arab League observer mission into the country, but Damascus was still studying the details, a senior Syrian official said Friday.
The 22-member Arab League formally suspended Damascus this week over its crackdown on an eight-month-old uprising, which the UN estimates has killed more than 3,500 people.
The group wants to send hundreds of observers to the country to try to help end the bloodshed.
Details
The Syrian official said Damascus has agreed to the mission but was still going over the details of the deal. The official asked not to be named because the issue is so sensitive.
Arab League officials in Cairo, the seat of the 22-member organisation, could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday.
Syrian President Bashar Assad is facing mounting pressure from home and abroad over the country's crisis, which appears to be spiraling out of control as attacks by army defectors increase and world leaders look at possibilities for a Syrian regime without him.
France: The time has come
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Friday called on the UN Security Council to act against Assad's regime, saying the time has come to strengthen sanctions against Syria.
"We must continue to exert pressure," Juppe told a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara. "The UN must act ... it is not normal for the UN Security Council not to act."
Juppe said France has called on Assad to change but "the regime did not want to know, which is not acceptable".
No-fly zone
Juppe said France wants to work with the Arab League and countries of the region including Turkey, as well as with the Syrian opposition.
Davutoglu, responding to a question on whether his country would support a no-fly zone over Syria, said there might be need to enforce some measures if Syria maintains its crackdown on civilians.
He said the first actions should be economic, but "other options must be evaluated later."
Overnight shelling
Amman: Syrian troops shelled two northern villages overnight after an attack by army defectors on forces loyal to President Bashar Al Assad, local activists said on Friday, in the first reported use of sustained shelling against the eight-month uprising.
The assault came a day after the Arab League suspended Syria and gave it until the end of the week to comply with an Arab peace plan to end a crackdown on the revolt that has killed more than 3,500 people, by a United Nations count.
Along with mostly peaceful street protests demanding Assad's removal, an armed insurgency has emerged, prompting calls by opposition leaders for protesters to stick to non-violence in face of an escalating crackdown.
Tank shells, heavy mortars
Eight villagers were injured overnight when tank shells and heavy mortars fell for three hours on Tal Minnij and Maarshamsheh and surrounding farmland, the activists said.
"Hundreds of families have left. Electricity and Internet services have been cut off," said one of the activists who gave his first name as Raed.
It was not possible to confirm the shelling independently. Syria has barred most foreign media since unrest began.
'Qualitative operation'
The official news agency said troops carried out a "qualitative operation" in the region, arresting 58 wanted people and seizing rifles and bomb detonators.
Until now, Syrian troops mostly have been using heavy machineguns and anti-aircraft guns, employed as a ground weapons, on restless cities and towns to try to put down the uprising.
Army defectors earlier had attacked a building housing security forces near army depots in the Wadi Al Deif area on the edge of the town of Maarat Al Numaan, 290km north of Damascus, activists said.
The town, on the Damascus-Aleppo highway, has seen regular street protests demanding Assad's removal and raids by security forces to put down the demonstrations.
Growing number of defectors
In the last few weeks, residents say a growing number of army defectors has been defending Maarat Al Numaan and attacking army patrols and roadblocks. One resident said the town's main hospital received 40 troops and security forces between dead and wounded on Wednesday.
Activists said at least 10 civilians were killed elsewhere in the country on Thursday in raids by troops and in firings from roadblocks.
Among them was activist Samer Al Tayyeb, who was arrested in house-to-house raids in the eastern province of Deir Al Zor and died in custody, the main activists group known as the Local Coordination Committees said.
The authorities blame the violence on foreign-backed armed groups who they say have killed more than 1,100 soldiers and police.
The official news agency said eight "of the most wanted terrorist" were arrested on Thursday in the central city of Homs, where tanks have been deployed.
Support from Russia
While Arab and Western countries sought to pile pressure on Assad, Russia, which has a naval base, major oil concessions and military personnel in Syria, stood by him.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose country is one of Syria's few remaining foreign friends, said demands for Assad's removal would destroy the initiative, which calls for dialogue between the Syrian government and its foes.
Lavrov said a raid on Wednesday by the Free Syrian Army on an Airforce Intelligence complex on the outskirts of Damascus was "already completely similar to real civil war".
Opposition sources said Syrian army defectors had killed or wounded 20 security police in the early-morning attack, the first of its kind in the revolt against Assad.
'Civil war' tag rejected
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner rejected the suggestion that Syria was virtually in civil war, saying: "We believe it's very much the Assad regime carrying out a campaign of violence, intimidation, and repression against innocent protesters."
Syria's pervasive security apparatus, dominated by Assad's minority Alawite sect, underpins the power structure that has enabled Assad, and before him his father, to rule for 41 years.
While the West appears to have no appetite for military intervention in Syria, a leader of Syria's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood said Turkish military action might be acceptable.
Mohammad Riad Shaqfa said this week's attack on the security complex near Damascus was carried out by soldiers "who have refused orders to kill their own people".
"We reaffirm the peacefulness of the uprising," Shaqfa said. "We are calling on civilians not to take up arms."
