Damascus: The authorities in Syria on Monday set a deadline of 15 days for people who had committed "unlawful acts" to give themselves up, as a wave of arrests was reported across the country.
The ultimatum came as activists planned fresh anti-government demonstrations following the deaths of dozens of people in weekend protests.
Special coverage: Unrest in Middle East
In a statement, the interior ministry told "citizens who have participated in or committed unlawful acts such as bearing arms, attacking security or spreading lies to surrender by May 15 and hand their weapons in to the competent authorities".
It also called on Syrians to "supply information about saboteurs, terrorists and arms caches... they will be spared any subsequent legal consequences".
A military spokesman yesterday announced the arrest of 499 people in the southern flashpoint town of Daraa, a week after thousands of troops backed by tanks swooped on the town to crush protests.
The spokesman also announced the deaths of two members of the security forces "as well as 10 terrorists". Eight soldiers were wounded and five gunmen waiting in ambush were arrested, the military added.
Arrest
According to the opposition Syrian Revolution 2011 website, security forces at dawn yesterday also entered the Kafar Nubbol area, 320 kilometres north of Damascus, and took over houses and arrested 26 people.
The site urged Syrians across the country to mobilise every day at noon in solidarity with Daraa and all "besieged towns".
"We say to this regime: ‘The court of the people will judge you'," it said.
Hundreds of dissidents were arrested on Sunday, including in Daraa and the besieged Damascus suburb of Douma, after dozens of people were killed in weekend protests, activists said.
Human rights groups say the civilian death toll from unprecedented demonstrations that erupted on March 15 has topped 580.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said yesterday that President Bashar Al Assad's regime will fall if it continues its crackdown.
"If the regime perseveres down this path, it will fall, one day or another, but it will fall," Juppe told Europe 1 radio. "Today there is this great hope for freedom and democracy. You must take this into account and putting it down by firing live rounds into crowds is unacceptable whichever country does it," he said.
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday denounced the "disgraceful" crackdown and urged more global pressure against Damascus, although Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned against foreign military intervention.
Lawyer arrested
Syrian forces arrested a prominent human rights lawyers in the city of Raqqa after he criticised the authorities' reaction to anti-government protests, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Observatory said Abdullah Khalil was arrested on Sunday by Military Intelligence agents at the Place of Justice in his home city of Raqqa in eastern Syria, which was hit hard by a water crisis in the last six years experts say has been largely caused by mismanagement of resources and corruption.
