Syria Forces Kill 20, Including 4 Children, in Friday Protests

Syrian security forces on Friday shot dead 20 civilians, including four children, in the regions of Hama, Daraa, Homs and Reef Damascus, the Local Coordination Committees said, on the eve of an Arab League deadline for Syria to stop its lethal crackdown on protesters and as Turkey warned of the risk of civil war.

The latest bloodletting came as thousands of protesters took to the streets in defiance of massive security deployments to urge nations to expel Syrian ambassadors, activists said.

Turkey said the risk of civil war was real -- a warning also echoed by analysts monitoring developments in Syria amid growing reports that mutinous soldiers are attacking regime targets.

The foreign minister of Turkey, a once close ally who has become disillusioned with Assad and his regime, sounded the alarm.

"I say there is a risk of transforming into civil war," Ahmet Davutoglu told Agence France Presse, pointing to army defectors attacking key regime targets.

"It is now the right time to stop this massacre, and therefore the Arab initiative is important," he said. "If it is not successful of course there is always a risk of civil war or high level tension in Syria."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reported a toll of 12 dead across the country on Friday, said a 14-year-old boy was among the dead, and said dozens of people were wounded by gunfire nationwide.

State television reported that a bomb blast in Hama killed three members of the security forces and critically wounded an officer, while state news agency SANA said two were killed.

SANA also reported that said five security personnel were wounded when gunmen fired on them in Daraa, where a bomb squad defused an explosive device.

Activists called the protests after weekly Muslim prayers on Friday to urge countries around the world to expel Syrian ambassadors.

"They are the ambassadors of crime. Expel them, oh free ones," the Syrian Revolution 2011, one of the main groups behind the protests, said on Facebook.

Another umbrella group of activists, the Syrian Revolution General Commission, also called for nationwide protests "until the regime falls."

But counter-rallies were held in some parts of Damascus, SANA reported, with people demonstrating against Arab pressure on Syria and foreign intervention in domestic affairs.