- BEIRUT: Hundreds of Syrians, some with gunshot wounds, crossed into neighboring Lebanon in search of a refuge from the growing government crackdown in their homeland as the Syrian opposition planned a conference to discuss a way out of the crisis.
Other Syrians marched in a funeral for victims of the crackdown outside Damascus, demanding President Bashar Assad's ouster.
Most refugees arriving at the Lebanese border came after Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters in anti-regime demonstrations across Syria on Friday. Syrian activists said 20 people were killed, including two children aged 12 and 13.
The Syrian opposition says some 1,400 people have been killed as the government has cracked down on a movement demanding an end to four decades of autocratic Assad family rule.
A prominent Syrian opposition figure said some 200 regime critics and intellectuals will meet in Damascus on Monday to discuss strategies for a peaceful transition to democracy. The one-day gathering will be the first such meeting of Damascus-based regime opponents, many of whom have long been persecuted by the government.
Dissident Louay Hussein said Syrian authorities had not objected to the meeting. It will come one week after President Assad, in a nationally televised speech, spoke of convening his own national dialogue to discuss political reforms.
Hussein, a prominent writer and opposition figure, said the consultations would take place under the slogan, "All for Syria within a civil and democratic state." Syrian authorities were informed of the meeting, but there would be no government representation, he told the AP.
"Three months into the protest movement and the government crackdown, the time is now ripe for such a meeting," he said.
He hoped the fact the government was not blocking it reflects a will to allow some freedom of expression. Whether such a meeting might produce partners for President Assad's proposed "national dialogue" remains to be seen.