“Egypt is following with extreme concern the dangerous deterioration of the situation in Syria,” Amr said, expressing “his concern that the situation in Syria is heading to the point of no return,” the news agency MENA news agency reported.
Amr called for an “immediate end to shootings,” adding that “reforms that are soaked in the blood of the martyrs who are dying daily are of no use,” the agency reported.
Amr called for a dialogue that would include “all segments of Syrian society” to help put an end to nearly five months of a deadly crackdown by the Syrian authorities on pro-democracy protesters.
His comments came as Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said his forces will pursue “terrorist groups” blamed for the unrest in this country.
Envoys from India, Brazil and South Africa also headed to Damascus to press for an end to the violence, which activists say killed 25 people Tuesday and some 1,700 since March.
“We will not waver in our pursuit of terrorist groups,” Assad told visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.
Davutoglu met with the Syrian leader in Damascus earlier in the day to deliver a message that Ankara has “run out of patience” with the crackdown.
As Assad held his ground, activists said 17 people were killed by security forces in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor.
“At least 15 people were killed in different parts of Deir Ezzor which has been raided by tanks and vehicles mounted with machine guns,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, quoting activists at the scene.
“Corpses are littering the streets. Tanks are deployed at Al-Hurriya Square,” where huge anti-regime protests have taken place over the past weeks, it said, adding that Deir Ezzor echoed with the sound of gunfire.
At least two hospitals were hit and a vast operation of arrests is underway, it added.
Four people, including a 13-year-old boy, were killed in Binnish in Idlib province bordering Turkey, and four others died in the protest hub of Hama, in central Syria, activists said.
An activist in Hama said the city was calm after a military assault but suffering from “an acute shortage of food.”
SANA earlier quoted a military source as saying troops had left Hama “after completing a mission of protecting civilians” and tracking down “armed terrorist groups which had been wreaking havoc.”
Funerals were held Tuesday in Homs for three members of the security forces killed by “terrorist” groups in the central city and in Hama, SANA said.
Davutoglu’s visit to Damascus was to pass on Ankara’s message that it “has run out of patience” with the ongoing violence, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has asked Davutoglu to press Syria to “return its military to the barracks,” while Damascus has warned that the minister would himself “receive a firm message” during the visit.
On their Facebook page, Syrian Revolution 2011, an engine of the uprising, invited Davutoglu to “come and pray” in a Damascus mosque “to find out from close up of the demands of the Syrian people.”
The regime’s repression of Syria’s uprising has left more than 2,050 people dead, including almost 400 members of the security forces, the Syrian Observatory says.
The Russian foreign minister, meanwhile, reaffirmed Moscow’s call for an end to violence and the launch of deep-rooted political reforms in Syria, during a phone call with Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, said a Russian statement.
It stressed the “priority of ending violence and continuing efforts to conduct comprehensive political, social and economic reforms in Syria without delay.”
Pressure on Syria also came from Iraq.
“We call for an end to all non-peaceful activities, and what is happening in Syria, the shedding of blood and the oppression of freedom, is condemned and unacceptable,” Iraqi speaker Nujaifi said in a statement.
Arab League chief Nabil Al-Arabi said Syria must launch a “serious dialogue” with protesters.
And officials in Brasilia said the governments of India and South Africa will join Brazil on a mission to Syria Wednesday in a bid to halt the crackdown.
But following talks in Cairo with the Arab League chief, the head of Iran’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, Alaeddin Borujerdi, claimed the US was trying to destabilize Syria.
