Syrian forces rained rockets and shells down on protest hubs on Monday, activists said, as another 66 civilians died in the regime's crackdown on dissent.

The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) said the regime was surrounding Homs with tanks ahead of "a major offensive" and warned of a "genocide" in the central Syrian city.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy defended his diplomatic record on Sunday ahead of an election in April, praising France's role in Europe and Libya but admitting that some errors had been made.

In a wide-ranging interview with French quarterly review Politique Internationale, Sarkozy highlighted what he said were diplomatic successes in reforming Europe, ending the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia and intervening in Libya.

Two southern activists were killed and seven wounded in clashes with police in the Yemeni province of Hadramut on Sunday, activists said.

They said the clashes took place in the city of Mukalla as security forces intervened to evacuate a police station overrun by activists opposed to Yemen's presidential election of February 21.

A judge has called for parliament to lift the immunity of an MP with the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, the deputy and a judicial spokesman said Sunday, at a time of crisis with Iraq's Shiite-led government.

Two other MPs who are opponents of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also face arrest warrants and requests for their immunity to be lifted. Parliament is to vote on the three cases "soon", according to a parliamentary source.

Iran on Sunday welcomed the Russian and Chinese veto on a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning its ally Syria for its crackdown on dissent, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"By vetoing the proposed sanctions China and Russia have been just," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said.

Turkey's deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc criticized Iran on Sunday for the country's silence over Syria's violent crackdown on protests.

"I am addressing the Islamic Republic of Islam: I do not know if you are worthy of being called Islamic," Arinc said, according to the Anatolia news agency.

Europe will strengthen sanctions imposed on Damascus in a bid to boost pressure on the regime after China and Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution on the Syrian crisis, France said on Sunday.

"Europe will again harden sanctions imposed on the Syrian regime. We will try to increase this international pressure and there will come a time when the regime will have to realize that it is completely isolated and cannot continue," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on BFMTV television.

Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah agreed at a meeting in the Qatari capital on Sunday that presidential and legislative elections must be held "quickly," a top official told Agence France Presse.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal met to explore the formation of an interim Palestinian government to oversee the preparations for the polls and discuss the implementation of a reconciliation deal.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed Sunday to bolster existing sanctions against the Syrian regime and seek further ones to block funding and arms shipments to Damascus.

Seeking other ways to turn the screws on Assad a day after Russia and China vetoed a resolution on Syria, Clinton said Washington will also work with Syria's friends worldwide to support the peaceful aims of the opposition.

The Arab League will continue working to end political violence in Syria to stave off foreign military intervention after Russia and China blocked a U.N. resolution condemning Damascus, league chief Nabil al-Arabi said on Sunday.

Arabi said the 22-member organization would continue working with the Syrian regime and opposition for a "political solution" to Damascus' deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protests.