Activists: Fresh Clashes Erupt in Syria Fresh clashes between Syrian soldiers and rebels erupted across many parts of Syria Friday as U.N. envoy Kofi Annan urged the government to lay down its weapons first to immediately end the nation's yearlong crisis. On Friday, activists reported clashes in the suburbs of Damascus, in the northern Idlib province, the restive central province of Homs and in eastern Syria. The Local Coordination Committees said 15 people were killed across the country, including eight who died in the town of Quriya in the eastern Deir el-Zour province. There, security forces opened fire to disperse anti-government protesters, triggering a shootout and fierce clashes with local rebels in the area. The LCC and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported intense clashes between government forces and defectors in the suburbs of Damascus, between the towns of Zamalka and Arbeen. In Damascus, troops opened fire on protesters in the Kafar Souseh district, killing at least one. Thousands of Syrians across the country held demonstrations calling for Assad's ouster as they emerged from mosques following Friday prayers, many protesting resolutions adopted by Arab leaders at a summit meeting in Baghdad on Thursday. The leaders called for talks between the government and the opposition - not for Assad to step down, which is the key opposition demand. "The most woeful weapon facing Syrians is the abandonment by Arabs and the silence of Muslims," read a banner carried by protesters in the northern town of Kfarrouma.