SpicyTricks

The
surprise move by Riyadh, the Middle East's Sunni Muslim heavyweight,
followed condemnation by Pope Benedict XVI and the Arab League over the
continuing bloodshed.

"Saudi Arabia announces the recall of its
ambassador for consultations," the king said in a statement and urged
Damascus to "stop the killing machine and the bloodshed... before it is
too late".

"The kingdom does not accept the situation in Syria,
because the developments cannot be justified," he said, urging
"comprehensive and quick reforms".

"The future of Syria lies
between two options: either Syria chooses willingly to resort to reason,
or face being swept into deep chaos, God forbid," he said.

He branded the crackdown on protests immoral and in breach of Islamic teaching.


"Large numbers of martyrs have fallen, their blood has been shed, and
many others have been wounded... This is not in accord with religion,
values and morals," he said.

He reminded the Syrian government of
Saudi support "in the past" but said that the Gulf kingdom had to take
an "historic" decision.

The US envoy to Damascus, Robert Ford, who
returned to Syria on Thursday, said in a US television interview on
Sunday that Washington will "try to ratchet up the pressure" on
President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Ford, who infuriated the
Syrian authorities with a visit to the flashpoint protest city of Hama
last month, also told ABC news that the violence against protesters was
"grotesque" and "abhorrent."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
meanwhile has asked Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to press
Syria to "return its military to the barracks," during his visit to
Damascus on Tuesday, an official said.

Clinton spoke by telephone with Davutoglu on Sunday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in Washington.

"Secretary
Clinton discussed the US position that Syria must immediately return
its military to barracks and release all prisoners of concern," Toner
said.

Activists said security forces backed by tanks killed 42
civilians in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor and at least 10 more in the
central town of Hula on Sunday.

"Forty-two civilians have been
killed and more than 100 wounded in Deir Ezzor by gunfire from the armed
forces and security agents," Syrian League for the Defence of Human
Rights head Abdel Karim Rihawi told AFP.

In Hula in Homs district, at least 10 people were killed in a military assault, Rihawi said.

"About
25 tanks and troop carriers entered Hula and carried out military
operations," another activist, Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britain-based
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said earlier.

The Observatory
also reported two civilians shot dead in Idlib in the northwest by
security forces firing on mourners at a funeral.

Abdel Rahman said
hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Syria's second city
Aleppo in the north late on Sunday, demanding the fall of the regime and
proclaiming solidarity with Deir Ezzor and Hama.

Assad roundly defended his security forces, however.

"To
deal with outlaws who cut off roads, seal towns and terrorise residents
is a duty of the state which must defend security and protect the lives
of civilians," state news agency SANA quoted him as saying.

SANA
also quoted an official military source as dismissing claims that the
army was shelling Deir Ezzor with tanks as "completely false and
untrue."

The latest bloodshed came as the pope said he was
"following with deep concern the dramatic and increasing episodes of
violence in Syria that have led to numerous victims and grave
suffering."

The Arab League made its first official statement on
the unrest, calling on Damascus to "immediately" stop the violence that
has raged since mid-March.

Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi also
urged an "impartial probe" into the bloodshed, warning against "chaos"
and "religious strife" in Syria, it said.

US and European leaders
pledged to consider new steps to punish Syria after security forces
killed more than 30 people on the first Friday of Ramadan, the holy
Muslim month of fasting.

Syria's government has sought to crush
the democracy movement with force, leaving at least 2,059 people dead,
including 391 members of the security forces, according to the Syrian
Observatory.

The Assad regime has pledged reform and accused "armed terrorist gangs" of fomenting the unrest.