Crowds of Syrians chanting anti-Russian slogans entered Moscow's embassy in Tripoli on Sunday and hoisted the new Syrian flag on the building, an Agence France Presse journalist and a Syrian activist said.

The journalist said about 200 Syrians entered the embassy and first removed the Russian flag.

Jordanian Islamists on Sunday called on Muslims and Arabs to boycott Russian and Chinese products after the two countries vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Syria's regime over bloodshed.

"By vetoing the resolution, Russia and China have shown that they are taking part in the killing of Syrian people," Hammam Saeed, the leader of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, said on the group's website.

Syrian security forces killed 36 people across the country on Sunday, most of them in the central protest hub of Homs, activists said, after nine regime troops were killed overnight at the hands of rebels according to a rights group.

The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said security forces killed 22 people in Homs, six in the flashpoint northwestern province of Idlib, five in the restive countryside around Damascus, two in the southern province of Daraa and one in the northern province of Aleppo.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will ask President Bashar Assad for rapid reforms on a visit to Syria this week, his ministry said Sunday, as Moscow hit back at Western outrage over its U.N. veto.

Lavrov's visit to Damascus on Tuesday alongside the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) will aim to stabilize the situation in Syria by winning the implementation of "rapid" reforms, the foreign ministry said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that economic and military might are Israel's only guarantee for peace and security following the latest developments in Iran and Syria.

"In the past few days we received a reminder of what kind of neighborhood we live in," Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

The United States should look at providing weapons and other aid to Syrian rebels if Russia and China refuse to reconsider their vetoes of a U.N. resolution against Damascus, a top U.S. senator said Sunday.

Senator Joe Lieberman, a former Democratic presidential candidate, said the Syrian people "have shown extraordinary courage in the face of a government much stronger than they are" and "they are not going to be denied."

Libya put 41 loyalists of dead dictator Moammar Gadhafi on trial on Sunday, in the first legal proceedings launched against members of the former regime which was ousted after a bloody conflict.

The accused, mostly civilians, appeared in a military court in the eastern city of Benghazi, the birthplace of the uprising against Gadhafi which ended on October 20 with his killing in his home town of Sirte.

Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah on Sunday accepted the resignation of the Gulf state's cabinet, a routine step required by the constitution after a general election.

Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak al-Sabah submitted the resignation of the two-month-old government after a massive victory by the Islamist-led opposition in Thursday's election, the KUNA news agency reported.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal began talks in the Qatari capital Sunday on the formation of an interim Palestinian government and staging of elections, an official said.

The meeting was to explore the formation of "an interim government composed of independents to oversee the preparations for upcoming presidential and legislative elections," the Palestinian official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Protesters and riot police fought pitched battles in Cairo Sunday as clashes sparked by the perceived failure of Egypt's military rulers to prevent deadly football-linked violence raged into a fourth day.

Hundreds of riot police blocked roads leading to the Interior Ministry headquarters in the center of the capital, firing tear gas to keep dozens of rock-throwing protesters at bay.