Three Dead in Syria Army Clash with 'Defectors'

Syrian security forces killed three civilians and arrested dozens more on Saturday, activists said, while state media was mum about the death of ex-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, the third Arab leader overthrown by popular revolts this year.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned the "killings and massacre" in Syria in an interview with CNN, in the Islamic republic's strongest criticism of its neighbor’s deadly repression of protests calling for greater freedom and the fall of the Assad regime.

The United States has repeatedly called for the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions on Damascus and was strongly critical of vetoes by China and Russia earlier this month of even a watered-down draft threatening "targeted measures."

Tehran has been concerned about the possible collapse of its principal Middle East ally and had previously avoided speaking out against the regime's deadly crackdown, accusing instead its traditional foes Israel and the United States of stirring up trouble in Syria.

A shift in Iran could bode poorly for Assad's regime, which already lost the support of Turkey, one of its treasured allies in the region, over the violence of its security forces against a primarily peaceful protest movement despite recent reports of mounting armed resistance.

Clashes between the Syrian army and gunmen believed to be defectors on Saturday left one person dead in the northwestern province of Idlib, near Turkey, the Observatory said.

Two civilians were killed in the flashpoint central city of Homs, epicenter of the opposition, one during raids and another caught in sniper fire, it added.

On Friday, security forces killed at least 19 civilians, 15 of them in Homs, where the death of Gadhafi galvanized mass protests, the same source reported.

The Britain-based watchdog said 114 civilians have been killed in Homs since the beginning of October and that at least 2,100 have been thrown behind bars.

On Saturday, on the outskirts of Damascus, "almost 5,000 members of the Syrian army and security forces stormed the districts of Zamalka, Hammuriyeh, Kafar Batna, Saqba, Erbine and Harasta, arresting dozens of residents."

Pro-democracy activists called for fresh demonstrations on Sunday under the banner "It is your turn," a reference to Assad, expressing their hope he will become the next Arab leader to fall.

"It seems that the death of Kadhafi closed a chapter," Jean-Yves Moisseron, a regional expert at France's Institute of Development Research, told Agence France Presse.

"If the situation stabilizes in Libya, the pressure on Bashar Assad will be extremely strong," he said.