At least 15 people have been killed in the past 24 hours in the continued crackdown on protesters by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as the European Union and United Nations planned more sanctions against his regime.

EU governments are likely to adopt an embargo against imports of Syrian oil by the end of next week, an EU diplomat said on Wednesday.

Valerie Pecresse, a French government spokeswoman, said: |France pressed for tougher sanctions on Syria and more pressure from the United Nations to bring about a democratic transition there."