The head of the Arab League monitoring mission in Syria said Friday that violence there rose "in a significant way" in three days, particularly in the flashpoint cities of Homs, Hama and Idlib.

"The violence in Syria increased in a significant way between January 24 and 27, especially in Homs, Hama and Idlib," General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi said in a statement.

Syrian forces on Friday raided the rebellious city of Homs and shot dead at least 60 people across the country, activists said, as protesters took to the streets under the slogan "The Right to Self-defense," which refers to their support for the rebel Free Syrian Army.

The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said security forces shot dead 60 people including five children, three women and three army deserters.

The rebel Free Syrian Army claimed on Friday to have captured five Iranian military officers in the restive city of Homs and urged Tehran to "immediately" withdraw any additional troops it may have in Syria.

In a statement, the FSA said the Iranians captured "were working under the orders of the intelligence services of the Syrian air force" and had no valid papers to reside or work in Syria.

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon urged the U.N. Security Council on Friday to speak with one voice on Syria, and called on Damascus to listen to the aspirations of its people.

"I hope that the Security Council will be able to act," said Ban, referring to a meeting later Friday at the United Nations on the crisis in Syria, where President Bashar Assad's regime is cracking down on a popular uprising.

Protesters marched to Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday to join thousands there demanding democratic change, a year after the uprising that toppled veteran president Hosni Mubarak.

After noon prayers, organized marches left Cairo mosques and headed for the square, the symbolic heart of the Egyptian uprising, on a day dubbed "the Friday of Pride and Dignity" by the dozens of pro-democracy groups organizing the rallies.

A Norwegian U.N. employee kidnapped in Yemen earlier this month by members of a tribe in the restive Marib province has been freed following negotiations, the Norwegian government said Friday.

"I am very pleased and relieved that the Norwegian who was kidnapped in Yemen has been released and that he is unharmed," Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a statement.

A car bomb near a funeral procession outside a hospital in east Baghdad killed at least 28 people and wounded 50 on Friday, a doctor at the hospital said.

An interior ministry official confirmed the explosion in Zafraniyah, which struck at 11:00 am (0800 GMT), but said it was caused by a suicide attacker driving an explosives-packed car.

New leaders from the countries of the Arab Spring sought to reassure their Western counterparts at the Davos forum that the rise of Islamist parties poses no threat to democracy.

Last year, when a wave of popular revolt swept the Middle East and North Africa, many in the West hoped it might herald a victory for liberalism.

Saudi Arabia will recognize the Syrian National Council as the "official representative" of the Syrian people, a senior member of the opposition group said in remarks published on Friday.

"Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told an SNC delegation he met in Cairo last week the kingdom will recognize the Council as the official representative of the Syrian people," SNC executive council member Ahmad Ramadan told Kuwait's al-Rai newspaper.

The Middle East peace process is at its lowest point in two decades and the events of the Arab Spring have forced it down the world agenda, the Palestian prime minister complained Thursday.

Salam Fayyad, a moderate whose remit does not extend beyond the West Bank, told delegates at the Davos forum of global business leaders that the peace process was desperately in need of outside help.