Clashes in Syria; no headway in talks

BEIRUT -- Clashes and protests broke out across many parts of Syria on Friday, further complicating a peace mission by UN envoy Kofi Annan, who urged the government to lay down its weapons first to immediately end the country's yearlong crisis.

As angry protesters lamented inaction by Arab countries, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to work out how to help the opposition in talks with Saudi Arabia, the biggest advocate for arming the rebels against President Bashar Assad. Her visit comes ahead of a 60-nation weekend gathering of the so-called "Friends of the Syrian People" in Istanbul. The meeting is an effort to find ways to unify Syria's opposition movement and further isolate Assad's regime.

Assad accepted a peace plan brokered by Annan earlier this week and promised Thursday to "spare no effort" to make sure it succeeds. But he demanded that armed forces battling his regime commit to halting violence as well. Underscoring the challenges, activists reported shifting clashes. Some were close to the capital, Damascus, and others in the northern Idlib province, the restive central province of Homs and the country's east. The reported death toll ranged from 34 to 42.

Thousands of angry protesters emerged from mosques following Friday prayers nationwide calling for Assad's ouster and protesting resolutions adopted by Arab leaders at a summit the day before in Baghdad. The leaders called for talks between the government and the opposition -- not for Assad to step down, which is the key opposition demand.