Syrian security forces killed two anti-regime protesters near Damascus and deployed tanks in a town near Turkey's border, activists said on Monday, as the authorities eyed the recapture of Hama.

More than 20 people were arrested on the outskirts of the flashpoint central city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that angry residents countered by burning tires and hurling stones.

Some 100 Syrian independent figures met in the capital on Sunday to discuss a "third way" for the country, which has been rocked by anti-regime protests for three months, Agence France Presse reported.

It was the second such meeting of its kind in a week, after critics of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad vowed at an unprecedented gathering in Damascus last Monday to press ahead with a peaceful uprising.

Thousands of Syrian refugees in Turkey are choosing to return home, although the neighboring country is still sheltering some 10,000 people, Turkish officials said on Sunday.

Some 343 Syrians went back to their country on Saturday, taking the total number of returnees to 5,001, the country's disaster and emergency management agency said on its website.

Switzerland has blocked 27 million francs (31.8 million dollars) worth of assets linked to the Syrian regime, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said Sunday.

Financial sanctions and travel restrictions were imposed against 23 key players in the Syrian regime in May, including President Bashar al-Assad, intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk and interior minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Chaar, for their "involvement in the repression against demonstrators."

Britain on Tuesday summoned the Syrian ambassador to express concerns about reports that a diplomat at the embassy had been intimidating Syrians in Britain, the foreign ministry said.

"Syrian Ambassador Dr. Sami Khiyami was invited in to see the (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) Middle East Director Christian Turner," said a foreign ministry statement.

Anti-regime activists behind street protests in Syria on Tuesday criticized opposition figures who held an unprecedented meeting in Damascus at which they called for a peaceful uprising.

"As a matter of principle, the Coordination Committees of the Syrian Revolution condemn any meeting or congress held under the banner of the regime," they said on their Facebook page, an engine of the revolt.

A visiting Syrian opposition delegation urged Russia on Tuesday to use its diplomatic clout to convince President Bashar al-Assad to give up the use of force against civilians.

"Russia can use its leverage on the Syrian regime to send a clear message that this way of behavior is unacceptable," said rights advocate Radwan Ziadeh, who is head of Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies in Washington.

Syrian dissidents meeting in Damascus on Monday pledged to press ahead with a "peaceful uprising for freedom" until the creation of a "democratic state."

"There are two ways forward -- the first a clear and non-negotiable move to a peaceful transition to democracy which would rescue our country and our people," opposition activist Munzer Khaddam told the meeting.

The United States termed as "significant" a Syrian opposition meeting in Damascus where around 160 activists called for democracy and a peaceful end to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

"This is a significant event," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime has called members of the opposition and intellectuals for July 10 talks on the wave of protest sweeping the country, the official SANA news agency reported Monday.

"The mechanism put in place recently for the national dialogue will invite the authorities, intellectuals and political personalities to a July 10 meeting to debate in particular amendments to the Constitution, especially Clause 8," it said.