French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe declared on Friday that the U.N. observer mission in Syria needs to be able to guarantee Syrians the freedom to protest against Bashar Assad's regime.

"We need observers on the ground, but properly equipped observers with helicopters that can ensure the right to protest. It's extremely important. The day this freedom is guaranteed, the regime will not stand," he said.

The internationally-backed ceasefire in Syria is in a fragile state and the situation on the ground is not good, a spokesman for the plan's architect Kofi Annan said on Friday.

Ahmed Fawzi said there were new victims of violence every day.

The European Union is preparing a fresh round of sanctions against the Syrian regime, banning exports of luxury items and goods which can be used for internal repression, diplomats said Friday.

"The sanctions are ready," said an EU diplomat who asked not to be named. The timing for their adoption however "will depend on the situation on the ground."

Turkey on Friday urged the leader of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region for tougher action against a drawn-out insurgency waged by Kurdish militants, a Turkish diplomat told Agence France Presse.

Clashes between al-Qaida militants and the army on the outskirts of Zinjibar in Yemen's restive south left 20 people killed, most of them jihadists, as soldiers advanced towards the city, the defense ministry reported Friday.

"Eighteen al-Qaida militants were killed and dozens wounded while the rest fled" the clashes on the outskirts of extremists' stronghold Zinjibar, which Yemeni troops have been trying to retake since May, 26sep.net said.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday ahead of a planned rally against the ruling military and presidential candidates who served under ousted leader Hosni Mubarak.

Liberal groups called for the rally before the committee overseeing the election in May last week barred Mubarak's vice president and spy chief Omar Suleiman from standing, along with two leading Islamist candidates.

Al-Qaida front group the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) said on Friday that it carried out a wave of attacks across the country that killed 38 people, in a statement on jihadist website Honein.

"A part of the security and military efforts of the Islamic State mobilized for a new wave and... another bloody Thursday on the heads of the apostates, and in simultaneous operations targeted the security and military, and government centers and leadership," it said.

Syrian activists protested against President Bashar al-Assad on Friday, saying the embattled leader will be defeated, as at least 36 civilians and 13 pro-regime security personnel were killed in fresh violence.

The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said security forces killed 36 civilians across the country, including three children and two women.

The French presidential frontrunner, Socialist Francois Hollande, said Friday that he would support France joining a U.N.-sanctioned military intervention in Syria.

"If done within a U.N. framework, we would participate in such an intervention," Hollande told Europe 1 radio when asked about possible U.N. military action in Syria to protect civilians.

Russia said Friday a ceasefire was generally holding in Syria despite some violations and should be seen as an achievement that was saving the country from a broader civil war.

"Despite the existing violations and provocations, the ceasefire is holding overall. This is a great achievement whose loss could lead to a dangerous retreat to a new wave of violence," the foreign ministry said in a statement.