Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani said on Tuesday that Syria must stop its "killing machine" and pull its army out of cities, in remarks at the end of an Arab League meeting.

"We cannot accept this killing machine. We cannot allow people to be killed this way," he told a news conference at the end of a regular meeting in Cairo of the pan-Arab body, of which Syria is a member.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned in comments published Tuesday that Syria could plunge into "civil war," as he began a tour of Arab countries where uprisings ousted autocratic leaders.

"I fear that matters will end with a civil war breaking out between the Alawites and the Sunnis," Erdogan said in an interview published by Egypt's independent al-Shourouk as he began his tour in Cairo.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he made little headway Tuesday in convincing Beijing to back a tough United Nations resolution condemning Syria's crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

The visiting Juppe met his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi and discussed the need for a resolution condemning the military crackdown on protesters, he told journalists.

Pro-democracy activists called a "day of anger" across Syria on Tuesday to protest against Russia's backing for President Bashar Assad, after his security forces shot dead at least another 19 people.

"Do not support the killers," activists urged Russia in a message announcing Tuesday's action posted on The Syrian Revolution 2011, a Facebook page that has been the engine for the six-month-old revolt against Assad's regime.

Gunmen killed 22 Shiite Muslim pilgrims on their way to Syria as they were passing through a predominantly Sunni Iraqi province from the shrine city of Karbala, officials said on Tuesday.

The group had all been passengers on a bus passing through Anbar province, long a stronghold of Sunni insurgents and al-Qaida's front group in Iraq, when their vehicle was stopped by gunmen at 9:30 pm (1830 GMT) on Monday.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague will accuse Iran of "breathtaking hypocrisy" for supporting revolutions in the Arab world while crushing domestic dissent in a speech Tuesday, The Times said.

Hague would condemn Tehran for "suppressing protest at home while claiming to support revolutions elsewhere in the region -- except Syria" in a speech to a seminar organized by the newspaper.

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed discontent on Tuesday over the violent verbal attack against Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi by the March14-led opposition.

“His eminence realizes what’s happening in Syria and the region, and his only aim is to protect the Christians and all the Lebanese,” Berri told An Nahar newspaper.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Phalange party chief Amin Gemayel are mulling to suspend their participation in a meeting of top Maronite political leaders scheduled to be held in Bkirki later this month.

LF sources told An Nahar daily published Tuesday that the party’s leadership is considering Geagea’s boycott of the meeting on Sept. 23 over Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s latest remarks on Hizbullah and the Syrian crisis.

Security forces in Syria shot dead at least 17 people around the central city of Hama on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as activists called for a day of protest against Russia for backing the regime.

"The toll of victims from the operation mounted by security forces and the army in the Hama area has risen to 17 dead," the Britain-based group told Agence France Presse. More than 60 people were arrested, it said.

Pro-democracy activists in Syria have called for a "day of anger" against Russia on Tuesday to protest Moscow's backing for President Bashar al-Assad, who for more than six months has tried to stifle an anti-regime uprising.

"Do not support the killers. Do not kill the Syrians with your position" in favor of the regime, the activists urged Russia in a posting on The Syrian Revolution 2011, a Facebook page that has been the engine for anti-Assad revolt.