Saudi Arabia's king has condemned a brutal crackdown on protests in Syria, recalling the country's ambassador to Damascus and calling on the Syrian government to implement political reforms.
"What is happening in Syria is not acceptable for Saudi Arabia," King Abdullah said in a written statement on Monday.
"Syria should think wisely before it's too late and issue and enact reforms that are not merely promises but actual reforms," he said. "Either it chooses wisdom on its own or it will be pulled down into the depths of turmoil and loss."
The Saudi monarch's comments came a day after the Gulf Co-operation Council urged Syria to "end the bloodshed" and the Arab League, which had been silent since the uprising began, said it was "alarmed" by the situation and called for the immediate halt of all violence.
Hours after the statement from the Saudi king, Syrian activists said the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor came under new artillery fire.
Troops also entered Maarat an-Numan in the northern province of Idlib at dawn on Monday, activists said.
"Forces entered the city from its eastern side and they are preventing the residents from entering or leaving the city,'' the Local Co-ordination Committees said in a statement.
Some activists say more than 300 people have died in the past week, the bloodiest in the five-month uprisingagainst Assad.
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