Most Turks oppose direct intervention by their country in neighboring Syria, a Turkish opinion poll revealed Friday, as the escalating conflict threatens to become outright civil war.

Fifty-seven percent said they were against Turkey intervening in Syria, while 11.7 percent said they were for a military confrontation with the Damascus regime, according to the poll sponsored by an Istanbul-based think-tank, the Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM).

The head of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Saniora stressed on Friday that national dialogue in Lebanon “must be begin with the acceptance of the other,” adding that the bloc agreed to resume the talks out of its desire to reach an agreement over certain issues.

He said during a press conference at his office in Sidon: “We don’t want to take part in a dialogue that tackles marginal cases that have nothing to do with the talks.”

The number of Syrian refugees registered in Turkey has topped 30,000, a Turkish foreign ministry official told Agance France Press on Friday.

"Four hundred more Syrians crossed into Turkey on Thursday, bringing the total number to 30,800," said the official, who wished to remain anonymous.

At least 26 people were killed in violence on Friday as thousands protested against the regime across Syria, activists and a monitoring group said.

Activists uploaded videos of protests outside mosques or street marches on what they named a "Friday of Readiness."

Syrian government forces have used sexual violence to torture men, women, girls and boys detained during the current conflict, Human Rights Watch said on Friday.

The New York-based group said it had interviewed 10 former detainees, including two women, who described being sexually abused or witnessing such abuse in detention.

The escalating bloodshed in Syria is hampering a hard-won U.N. observer force's ability to carry out its mission, its chief Major General Robert Mood said on Friday.

"The escalating violence is limiting our ability to observe, verify reports as well as assist in local dialogue and stability," the veteran Norwegian peacekeeper told reporters in Damascus.

Russia on Friday denied holding discussions with other nations on a political transformation in Syria that would include the departure of President Bashar Assad.

"I read somewhere today that supposedly, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said something along the lines of the United States and Russia discussing a political transformation in Syria after the departure of Bashar Assad," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters.

The European Union announced on Friday that caviar, cigars and leather shoes are among luxury goods that may no longer be exported to Syria, alongside laboratory viruses and gas masks.

Sanctions targeting the Assad couple's high-end lifestyle will enter force on Sunday, the EU said, as Brussels seeks to punish the regime over the relentless bloodshed that has killed over 14,000 people since March last year.

Syrian authorities have uncovered an al-Qaida plot to bomb Damascus mosques around the main weekly prayers, state media reported on Friday.

A suspect detained on Thursday confessed that he had been planning a suicide bombing during Friday prayers at the al-Rifai Mosque in the heart of the capital, the official SANA news agency reported.

Russia said Friday it is not making any new deliveries of attack helicopters to Syria and has only carried out repairs of helicopters sent there many years ago.

"There are no new supplies of Russian-made attack helicopters to Syria," the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that "planned repairs were carried out earlier on helicopters supplied to Syria many years ago."