Saudi security forces opened fire on protesters in the Eastern Province Shiite region of al-Qatif on Monday, wounding several people, witnesses said.

The demonstrators had taken to the streets in the town of Shwika to protest against the death overnight Sunday of a 19-year-old Shiite man, Nasser al-Mheishi, accusing police of killing him, the witnesses said.

Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has reached a "dead end" but only internal forces can bring about change, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Monday, in an interview with the Guardian.

Speaking on the eve of a three-day state visit to Britain, Gul warned that Assad's back-tracking on reforms agreed by the Arab League had made international negotiation impossible.

European nations on Monday condemned "terrible atrocities" in Syria as they formally launched a new bid to get a U.N. resolution passed condemning the deadly crackdown on opposition protests.

The U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee will vote Tuesday on the resolution which the Damascus government's U.N. envoy said was proof that the European nations suffer from "Syria-phobia".

British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged the Syrian opposition to unify to become stronger as he held his first meeting with their representatives in London on Monday.

Hague said after the talks at the Foreign Office he had reiterated that Britain wanted President Bashar al-Assad and his regime to stand down over its bloody crackdown on opposition protesters.

Thousands of Kuwaitis rallied on Monday for a change of government and the dissolution of parliament a day after the Gulf state ruler said he will not bow to pressure to change the prime minister.

Organizers estimated a crowd of 15,000 people braved rain to gather opposite the parliament building in the capital Kuwait City, where they also called for the premier to face questioning over graft allegations.

U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford has delayed his return to Damascus until later in the year, the State Department said Monday.

"We are now consulting with our allies and partners on an appropriate timing for his return," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. "We do still intend for him to go back."

Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on Monday rejected the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's cabinet, state television reported, quoting a military source.

Cabinet spokesman Mohammed Hegazy said earlier that the cabinet had resigned, as deadly clashes raged for a third day in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Yemen's embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh has agreed to sign a plan to transfer power to his deputy and end the crisis that has gripped the country since January, a senior opposition figure said on Monday.

"The negotiations that have been under way for the past three days have led to an agreement by which the Gulf initiative and mechanisms for implementing it will be signed on Tuesday," Mohammed Bassandawa, who heads the National Council of revolutionary forces, told Agence France Presse.

Saudi Arabia on Monday pressed the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to conform fully with an Arab League plan aimed at ending his government's deadly crackdown on dissent.

A statement after a cabinet meeting chaired by Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz urged Damascus to "hold fully to its commitments" in accepting a League plan to end the crisis, and hailed the pan-Arab bloc's efforts to do so.

Bahrain admitted on Monday "excessive force" was used on pro-democracy protesters earlier this year as tension escalates two days ahead of the unveiling of a probe into the deadly crackdown.

Bahrain's Independent Commission of Inquiry, commissioned by King Hamad, will on Wednesday unveil the results of its investigation into alleged government misconduct during the February-March crackdown on Shiite-led protests.