A world meeting on Syria urged the U.N. Friday to use the threat of sanctions to force change in Syria as President Bashar Assad was rocked by the defection of one of his most senior generals.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also rounded on Russia and China, telling delegates from over 100 countries gathered in Paris that the two veto-wielding U.N. Security Council members were blocking progress towards peace.

A top general close to Syria's President Bashar Assad has defected, in a move hailed by Washington and the Syrian opposition as a major blow to Damascus, a source close to the regime told Agence France Presse on Friday.

"General Manaf Tlass defected three days ago," the source close to the Syrian government said on condition of anonymity.

Two key figures of the Syrian opposition against President Bashar Assad are due in Moscow next week as Russia seeks to promote dialogue as the way out of the Syrian crisis, a report said Friday.

Russia on Wednesday will host the new head of the exiled Syrian National Council (SNC), Abdel Basset Sayda, a Foreign Ministry source told the Interfax news agency.

Troops rained shells on the central Syrian town of Daraya on Friday, killing at least one civilian, a day after nationwide violence cost the lives of more than 90 people, a rights watchdog reported.

Amateur video posted on YouTube and distributed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights showed medical officials trying in vain to treat a bloodied person at Daraya, in the province of Damascus.

Sudan's opposition parties have pledged to step up anti-regime protests and press for a multi-party system, their alliance said on Thursday.

About 17 political parties signed the charter on Wednesday, along with non-governmental organizations and individuals, said Farouk Abu Issa, head of the opposition coalition.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday she regretted decisions by China and Russia to boycott a "Friends of Syria" group meeting but that other world powers should not fall silent as a result.

"It is not a good sign when two powers do not take part in such conferences," Merkel told reporters after talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Miqati, when asked about the gathering Friday in Paris.

A fire ravaged a depot containing electoral material in the eastern Libyan city of Ajdabiya, an official of the national electoral commission said on Thursday.

"The fire happened before sunrise. All the material, including ballot boxes and ballots, was destroyed," said the official, adding that the cause of the fire was unknown.

Libya's outgoing National Transitional Council said on Thursday that Islamic law (sharia) should be the "main" source of legislation and that this should not be subject to a referendum.

"The Libyan people are attached to Islam, as a religion and legislation," NTC spokesman Saleh Darhoub said, reading from a statement.

A suicide bomber killed three people in Iraq's main northern city Mosul on Thursday, the latest victims of a spike in nationwide unrest in recent weeks.

The attacker detonated an explosives-packed vest at around 2:00 pm (1100 GMT) in the middle of a market in Mosul, 350 kilometers (220 miles) north of Baghdad, according to police Lieutenant Khalaf al-Juburi.

Russia on Thursday confirmed receiving requests from its Western partners to help end the conflict in Syria by offering President Bashar Assad asylum, but said it had dismissed the idea as a joke.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the idea was first raised by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in her June meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his first trip to Europe since his election to a third term.