BEIRUT - Turkey's prime minister called on Syria to rein in violence on Wednesday and promised not to turn away refugees as some residents of a Syrian border town headed for the Turkish frontier in fear of a military assault. "Syria should change its attitude towards civilians and should take its attitude to a more tolerant level as soon as possible," said Tayyip Erdogan, who has had warm relations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Assad's government has accused armed bands of killing scores of its security men in Jisr al-Shughour and has vowed to send in the army to carry out their "national duty to restore security". Accounts of the violence that began in the hilly town of Jisr al-Shughour on Friday vary, with officials saying gunmen ambushed troops and residents reporting an army mutiny. The bloodshed has triggered international alarm that Syria may be entering an even more violent phase after three months of popular unrest that has cost more than 1,000 lives. France and Britain, allies in the war against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, have taken a lead in pushing UN moves against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But Russia, citing NATO's inconclusive bombing of Tripoli, said it would veto intervention against Syria in the United Nations Security Council. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, at UN headquarters in New York, said it was "a question of days, maybe hours" before the Council voted on a resolution condemning Syria. A draft circulated last month does not propose military intervention. At Jisr al-Shughour, home to tens of thousands of people, residents said they were taking cover and bracing for attacks. Some 120 men, women and children fled into Turkey overnight to seek refuge, the Anatolian news agency said. Erdogan, who has distanced himself from Assad since the Syrian uprising began, said Turkey would not "close its doors" to refugees fleeing Syria and called on Damascus to show more tolerance towards its citizens. Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops had deployed in villages around Jisr al-Shughour, including Ariha to the east and on the main Latakia highway to the southwest. "Most people have left the town because they are scared. They are fearful of the military operations. People have fled to nearby villages close to the Turkish border. The doctors and nurses have also left," he said. The government has expelled independent journalists, making it hard to determine clearly what is happening in the country. Despite enthusiasm for pro-democracy movements that have unseated presidents in Tunisia and Egypt, few Western leaders �" let alone their autocratic Arab partners �" have shown a will to intervene in Syria, an Iranian ally whose volatile mix of ethnic and religious groups sits astride a web of regional conflicts. Assad's family and supporters from the minority Alawite sect have dominated Syria since his late father seized power 41 years ago. He has responded with promises of reform, and a crackdown on protesters in towns across the country. His officials accuse radical Islamists of fomenting a violent, armed revolt. Neighbouring countries, including Israel and Turkey, worry that a collapse into chaos in Syria could set off sectarian conflict and the emergence of violent, radical Islamists, as happened in neighbouring Iraq after the US invasion of 2003. But Western powers are keeping up the pressure on Assad, with US President Barack Obama urging him to lead a transition to democracy or "get out of the way". British Foreign Secretary William Hague, in some of London's strongest language yet against the 45-year-old leader, told parliament: "President Assad is losing legitimacy and should reform or step aside." He said European governments were looking at further sanctions. "We are working to persuade other countries that the Security Council has a responsibility to speak out," Hague added. Russia appears opposed to a general condemnation of Assad, let alone authorising military action against him. But in Brussels, Russia's envoy to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, said: "The prospect of a U.N. Security Council resolution that's along the same lines as Resolution 1973 on Libya will not be supported by my country ... The use of force, as Libya shows, does not provide answers." Syria's ambassador to France denied a report on Tuesday that she had resigned in protest at the government's repression of protests, saying it was part of a campaign of disinformation against Damascus. Lamia Chakkour, shown standing in front of a portrait of Assad in the Paris embassy, told France's BFM television that a report by news channel France 24, featuring a telephone interview with a woman claiming to be her, was false. France 24 acknowledged later that it might have been "victim of a manipulation". The Observatory's Abdulrahman said protests against Assad took place on Tuesday in several suburbs of Damascus, including Harasta and Douma and in Deir Al-Zor and Qamishli in the northeast. Pro-Assad rallies were also held in some of the capital's suburbs.
