Fears of civil war in Syria

An Arab League deadline for Damascus to stop its lethal crackdown on protesters expires yesterday; after security forces killed at least 13 civilians fuelling the fear of civil war.
Hours before the 2200 GMT deadline, security forces raided the central town of Shayzar after bombarding it with artillery, opposition umbrella group the Local Coordination Committees said.
At least thirteen people were killed across Syria yesterday, activists said. Six civilians were killed by gunfire from security forces, in several operations in the restive provinces of Homs, Hama and Idlib, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The latest bloodletting came as international pressure mounted on President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Turkey and the United States both raised the spectre of civil war, as protesters on Friday defied a massive security presence to urge nations to expel Syrian ambassadors.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also warned of the potential for civil strife.
"I think there could be a civil war with a very determined and well-armed and eventually well-financed opposition that is, if not directed by, certainly influenced by defectors from the army," she told the US television network NBC.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague was to meet Syrian rebel leaders in London on Monday, and a British government source said they would also meet officials from Prime Minister David Cameron's office.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday called for restraint over the Syrian crisis after meeting his French counterpart Francois Fillon.
Russia has deeply opposed Western efforts to internationalise the crisis, fearing it could clear the way for a Libya-style military intervention under a UN mandate.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, in Turkey ahead of a tour of Arab states, said the "time has come to increase sanctions" on Syria.
Turkey called the risk of civil war real, a warning echoed by analysts monitoring developments in Syria amid growing losses among regular troops at the hands of mutineers.
The Arab League said it was examining a Syrian request to make changes to a proposal to send 500 observers to Damascus to help implement a peace deal agreed earlier this month.