Syrian security forces opened fire on Friday on anti-regime rallies killing at least nine protesters, three of them in the capital Damascus, human rights activists said.

The violence came as thousands of protesters took to the streets across Syria after the weekly Muslim prayers calling for the fall of the autocratic regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tasked Vice Premier and Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Yaalon to reconcile with Turkey, Israeli media revealed on Friday.

Yaalon held talks with two high-ranking officials in the Turkish foreign ministry, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and Channel 2 television network unveiled.

The European Union piled pressure on the Syrian regime on Friday, warning that its legitimacy was undermined by a brutal crackdown and imposing sanctions on three of its Iranian military allies.

EU leaders holding a summit in Brussels were to adopt a declaration condemning the "unacceptable and shocking violence the Syrian regime continues to apply on its own citizen," according to a draft obtained by Agence France Presse.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is "seriously considering" leaving the capital Tripoli following a blistering series of NATO air raids, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing U.S. officials.

U.S. intelligence shows that the Libyan strongman "doesn't feel safe anymore" in the capital where he has ruled for over four decades, the Journal quoted a senior U.S. national security official as saying.

The United States hit two pillars of the Iranian economy with sanctions Thursday, targeting the Islamic republic's national airline carrier and a major port company on charges that they facilitate illegal weapons trade and help the mighty Revolutionary Guard corps in destabilizing activity in Iran and nearby countries.

The Treasury Department's action blocks any assets in the United States belonging to Iran Air, Tidewater Middle East Co. and three other firms. It also prevents Americans from doing business with them.

Explosives loaded into three shopping carts ripped through a crowded market in the Iraqi capital on Thursday, killing at least 21 people and wounding 107, an interior ministry official said.

"Explosives loaded in three shopping carts killed 21 people and wounded 107 at the Shurt al-Raba market," the official said, adding that the attack happened at 6:45 pm (15:45 GMT) when the area was crowded with shoppers.

Israel is "determined" to stop an activist flotilla that will try to reach the besieged Gaza Strip next week, the country's U.N. envoy said Thursday.

Setting off a new dispute with his Palestinian counterpart, ambassador Ron Prosor said: "Israel is determined to stop this flotilla. Israel has the right to self defense." He called the protest a "provocation."

Six migrants were killed in violence last month in a camp in Tunisia for some of the thousands of people who have fled the conflict in Libya, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

It urged Tunisian authorities to do more to protect the more than 3,000 foreign nationals in the Choucha camp, saying people from sub-Sahara were the most vulnerable and citing claims that Tunisian forces were involved.

International Criminal Court judges will on Monday decide whether to issue an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for crimes against humanity, the court said on its website.

The ICC prosecution has requested three arrest warrants for Gadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam and the head of Libyan intelligence, Abdullah al-Senussi, the court said.

The European Union on Thursday announced fresh sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, adding 11 individuals and businesses to a list of Syrians already targeted.

"The Council today adopted a decision ... imposing restrictive measures on seven additional persons and introducing such measures against four entities associated with the Syrian regime, in view of the gravity of the situation," said a statement from the office of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.