Security forces in Syria reportedly shot and killed at least 13 people in anti-government protests across the country after the first Friday prayers of Ramadan yesterday.
The violence came just days after the crackdown on demonstrators in the city of Hama, which the authorities say is now under government control.
The leaders of the United States, France and Germany have denounced Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for what they have described as ‘indiscriminate violence’.
Political consultations came as Washington appeared to be moving towards a direct call for Mr Assad to leave, after saying this week his presence was now fomenting instability and leading the Middle East down a dangerous path.
Responding to international pressure, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said elections to a new parliament will be held by year's end.
‘Syria will hold free and transparent elections that will give birth to a parliament representing the aspirations of the Syrian people,’ Mr Muallem said in a meeting with foreign ambassadors posted to Damascus.
The Syrian government has sought to crush the democracy movement with brutal force, killing more than 1,649 civilians and arresting thousands of dissenters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Group.
‘Seven people were killed in Irbin, two in Damir, and one in Maadamiya, all near Damascus, and five in Homs’ during Friday's rallies, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Group, told AFP.
He said more than 50 people were seriously wounded, while the body of a man with signs of torture was found in front of his home in the Qabun district of the capital after he was allegedly detained by security forces.
State news agency SANA, meanwhile, said two members of the security forces were killed and eight wounded in an ambush on a road in the Idlib region of northwest Syria, near the Turkish border.
And gunmen on an apartment block rooftop in Duma, near Damascus, shot and wounded two other members of the security forces, it said, while assailants also opened fire in Homs.
