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Russia on Friday rejected the latest bid for UN action to end the political crisis in Syria, as at least 20 more people were killed, several in clashes between loyalist and rebel troops.

The violence came as thousands of people across Syria defied the government crackdown to commemorate a notorious 1982 massacre in the central city of Hama that killed thousands.

The commemorations took place as Western and Arab countries sought to reach agreement on a draft UN resolution to pressure Syria to end its nearly 11-month crackdown on anti-regime dissent.

A text being considered by UN Security Council does not explicitly call on President Bashar al-Assad to step down or mention an arms embargo or sanctions, but "fully supports" an Arab League plan to facilitate a democratic transition.

Diplomats said the new draft took into account concerns by Moscow, a staunch ally of Damascus.

But Russia poured cold water on such hopes on Friday, saying it could not support the latest draft in its current form.

"Some of our concerns and the concerns of those who think the same as us have been taken into consideration but all the same this is not enough for us to be able to support it in this form," Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said.

"We still have a whole number of concerns over the content of this text and we will be ready to continue consultations on the draft resolution," he said.

"We are ready to continue work on modifying it, taking into consideration and based on our principled positions," he said, adding that no vote was expected on Saturday or Sunday.

Relations between Russia and the West at the Security Council were badly strained over a resolution last year that authorised the use of force to protect civilians during Libya's uprising.

At least 20 people were reported killed across Syria on Friday, several during clashes between government troops and dissident soldiers, activists said.

In Hama's central neighbourhood of Junub al-Malaab, security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing at least one and wounding three, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based group said nine soldiers were killed in clashes with the rebel Free Syrian Army in the southern province of Daraa, while two children died in an explosion in the northwestern region of Idlib.

Osama Shami, a spokesman for activists in the Damascus region, said several rallies took place in the capital itself with security forces opening fire on demonstrators.

"Government troops deployed heavily around mosques but protesters managed to evade them by leaving Friday prayers quietly and then holding spontaneous protests in alleyways," he told AFP.

"Hafez is dead, Hama is not! Bashar will die and Syria will not!" read placards brandished by protesters in the Al-Kidam district of Damascus, according to an Internet video posted by militants.

"Collective punishment won't work this time!" read another.

Hafez al-Assad was the father and predecessor of the current president. According to various estimates, between 10,000 and 40,000 people died during the 27-day 1982 onslaught he ordered against an Islamist uprising in Hama.

Activists said rallies were also held Friday in various provinces under the slogan "Hama, forgive us," including in Qamishli in the north and Deir Ezzor in the east.

Demonstrators turned out in their thousands in Hama itself where the streets were painted red on Thursday to symbolise blood.

The violence has killed at least 6,000 people since it erupted last March, rights groups estimate.

But the ruthless crackdown and the mounting death toll have not deterred protesters. Demonstrations are held almost daily and, in recent weeks, have reached the doorstep of Damascus, which had largely been spared the unrest.

Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Friday that children as young as 13 are a particular target in the "rampant" use of torture by government forces battling opposition protests.

While the United Nations says hundreds of children have been killed in the crackdown, HRW highlighted cases of children shot in their homes or on the street, or grabbed from schools.

It documented 12 cases of children being tortured in detention centres and said many more may have suffered similar treatment.

"In many cases, security forces have targeted children just as they have targeted adults," said Lois Whitman, children?s rights director at the New York-based organisation.

"Children, some as young as 13, reported to Human Rights Watch that officers kept them in solitary confinement, severely beat and electrocuted them, burned them with cigarettes, and left them to dangle from metal handcuffs for hours at a time, centimetres above the floor," said the report.

AFP