The EU announced late Friday that 20 new names have been added to a list of Syrian individuals and businesses hit with sanctions, with a deal also now close for a ban on oil imports.

European Union governments meeting in Brussels also decided to prepare detailed plans for an embargo on the import of Syrian crude oil into the bloc and suspending assistance to Syria by the European Investment Bank.

France threw its support on Friday behind a call from the United Nations human rights chief for the International Criminal Court to investigate the violence in Syria.

On Thursday, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told members of the Security Council that there was "reliable corroborative evidence" that Syrian forces are deliberately shooting anti-regime demonstrators.

Turkey believes it is too soon to call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, a government official told Agence France Presse on Friday.

"We are not there yet," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday jointly urged Syria's embattled leader Bashar al-Assad to step down.

"We call on him to face the reality of the complete rejection of his regime by the Syrian people and to step aside in the best interests of Syria and the unity of its people," they said in a joint statement.

U.S. President Barack Obama demanded Thursday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "step aside" and imposed tough sanctions on Damascus including an asset freeze and ban on U.S. investments in Syria.

"We have consistently said that President Assad must lead a democratic transition or get out of the way. He has not led. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside," Obama said.

Five Kuwaiti MPs Wednesday submitted a draft bill demanding that the government suspend all cooperation agreements and loans with Syria over its bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Spokesman for the opposition Popular Action bloc, MP Mussallam al-Barrak, said the bill calls for ending all forms of cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding between Kuwait and Syria.

The United Nations on Wednesday said it had withdrawn about 25 international staff and dozens of families of expatriate workers from Syria because of mounting security fears.

"Due to security concerns, we have taken the decision to relocate about 25 non-essential international staff, plus dependents, from Syria," Farhan Haq, the deputy U.N. spokesman, said in New York.

European countries, the United States and Arab countries will ask the United Nations' top human rights body to hold a special session on the human rights situation in Syria, diplomats told Agence France Presse Wednesday.

"We will submit the request (Wednesday) evening to convene a special session of the Human Rights Council on Monday," according to one European diplomat who wished to remain anonymous.

Switzerland widened sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime on Wednesday, adding 12 individuals to a list of key players under financial embargo and travel restriction.

"These restrictive measures have been decreed due to the violent repression that the army and the Syrian security forces have enforced for two months to snuff out peaceful demonstrations by the population," the economy ministry said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday that Turkey is opposed to any foreign intervention in Syria, where the regime's violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests has drawn international condemnation.

"We do not want foreign intervention in Syria," Davutoglu said after a Ramadan fast breaking dinner in Ankara.