A U.N. humanitarian mission to Syria found an "urgent need" to protect civilians against excessive force and reported widespread intimidation, a U.N. spokesman said Friday.

The mission was the first allowed into Syria since President Bashar al-Assad launched his deadly crackdown on opposition protests in March.

Russia on Friday proposed a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria that would omit Western calls to sanction President Bashar al-Assad for his deadly crackdown on opposition protests, diplomats said.

Signaling an intensifying Security Council battle on how to act over Syria, a European-U.S. resolution calling for sanctions and a Russia draft which only calls on Assad to implement reforms were officially put forward Friday for a potential vote.

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi killed more than 150 prisoners in a "mass murder" as they fled the rebel takeover of Tripoli, a rebel military chief told Agence France Presse on Friday.

"There were instances of revenge in the last few hours before the fall of the regime," said Abdul Nagib Mlegta, head of operations for the takeover of the capital.

The African Union declined Friday to recognize Libya's rebel authority and instead called for the formation of an all-inclusive transitional government.

With rebels still battling diehard forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi, South African President Jacob Zuma said at the end of an AU Peace and Security Council meeting in Addis Ababa that the rebels were not yet legitimate.

Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis took part in anti-regime protests across the country on Friday, as thousands of embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh's supporters rallied in the capital.

In Sanaa, anti-Saleh protesters joined Muslim weekly prayers at Sitin Street and called for an end to the rule of Saleh who has been recovering in Saudi Arabia since a bomb attack in early June.

Some 200 people protested Friday in front of the Israeli embassy in Egypt's capital demanding the ambassador's expulsion, after five Egyptian policemen were killed along the border with Israel last week.

We want "blood for blood" said one of the demonstrators, Mahmoud Ibrahim, who said he was a brother of one of the dead policemen. "We want revenge, we do not want compensation ... We want them to be punished."

British warplanes bombed a bunker in Moammar Gadhafi’s birthplace of Sirte as rebel fighters prepared Friday to launch an offensive on the town, one of the last major regime holdouts east of Tripoli.

As insurgent leaders moved into Tripoli to begin a political transition, the African Union called for that process to be "inclusive."

Security sources killed six people when they opened fire on demonstrations across Syria on the last Friday of Ramadan, as tens of thousands of protesters flooded the country’s streets vowing to bring down President Bashar al-Assad’s regime despite deadly crackdowns.

Protesters took to the streets in response to calls by The Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook group which urged rallies under the banner of "Friday of patience and determination."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that the potential recognition of a Palestinian state by the United Nations should only be a "step forward" for the "full liberation" of Palestine.

His strong remarks calling for Israel's "disappearance" came as tens of thousands marched in the capital at a "Quds Day" rally, an annual regime-sanctioned demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians and against Israel, according to footage aired on state television.

The emir of Qatar criticized Syria for using force against protesters demanding democratic change, describing the approach as fruitless and urging serious reforms, QNA state news agency said Friday.

"All of us, who stood by Syria in its difficult times, have tried to encourage our brothers in Syria to make real reforms," said Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who was on a visit to Iran.