Planned protests were
under way in various neighborhoods including the capital Damascus and
the provinces of Homs, Hama, Aleppo and Deir Ezzor.
As the protesters gathered, regime forces shelled the Homs neighborhoods of Sultanieh and Jobar, opposition activists said.
Security forces killed at
least eight people in Syria on Friday, including seven in Hama
province, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria.
One more person was killed in Qusair town in Homs province, the group said.
The United Nations said there is no fallback plan to deploying monitors to some of the nation's most embattled cities.
U.N. monitors on the
ground in five cities are making "all possible efforts to stop violence"
and have had "some dampening effect," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
However, they have not managed to completely cease the violence, he said.
Ban said the full cadre
of observers -- 300 -- authorized by the Security Council last month
would be on site in the coming days.
"They are patrolling
every day, whenever possible," he said. "They try their best to cease
this violence. It requires strong political will at the level of
President Assad, and also it requires full cooperation by the opposition
forces."
As protests continue, a
report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria
noted the growing power of forces opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.
"Whereas government
forces had previously been responding primarily to demonstrations, they
now face armed and well-organized fighters -- bolstered by defectors who
joined them," the report said.
"Gross violations
continue unabated," the commission's report said, adding regime forces
commit most of the human rights violations
Violence has raged
daily. About 40 civilians were killed across the country Thursday, the
committees of Syria said. Most of the deaths were in the provinces of
Homs, Hama and Idlib.
U.N. officials say more
than 9,000 people, mostly civilians, have died and tens of thousands
have been uprooted since the uprising began in March 2011. Opposition
groups report a higher death toll in excess of 11,000 people.
The commission said
abuses have mounted since March, even though al-Assad's government and
opposition forces said they have embraced U.N. and Arab League envoy
Kofi Annan's six-point peace plan that includes a cease-fire.
The report pointed to
bombing attacks in Damascus, Aleppo and Daraa between March and May,
including the suicide car bombings in Damascus on May 10 that left 55
people dead.
The report was issued as
Syria's newly elected parliament convened to elect a speaker and swear
in new members. The government said the elections were all-inclusive,
but opposition forces call the process a sham.(da "CNN")
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