Thousands of Syrians gathered on Saturday for the funeral of the 44 people killed in twin suicide blasts in the capital the day before.
Mourners prayed beside caskets draped in Syrian flags inside a Damascus mosque, as crowds gathered outside waving the country's black, red and white striped flag.
Syrian state television reports that two bombers used vehicles packed with explosives to attack a pair of state security facilities early Friday. Nearly 150 people were wounded in the suicide bombings.
The state-run SANA news agency blamed al-Qaida for the blasts, but the opposition claimed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government could be responsible.
The attack appeared to be the first of its kind since the anti-government uprising began in March.
The bombings came hours after an Arab League advance delegation arrived in Syria. The League is setting up an observer mission to monitor whether the government follows through on its promise to stop the crackdown on dissent.
As the violence worsens in Syria, the United Nations Security Council efforts to help curb the Mr. Assad's bloody crackdown on protesters remains stalled.
Russia submitted a revised draft resolution to the Security Council on Friday.
Russia's ambassador to the U.N., Vitaly Churkin, urged the council to act as quickly as possible, but again refused to endorse calls for sanctions from many of the council's Western members.
“If their insistence is to have some kind of reference to sanctions, that is not going to happen. But in terms of strong emphasis on human rights, on stopping violence, no impunity, investigation, cooperation with human rights institutions, we are open to discussions and to various formulations which can hopefully satisfy our colleagues in the Security Council.''
The United States, European Union and Arab League are among those who have already placed sanctions on the Syrian government.
Churkin made clear on Friday that Moscow, an old Damascus ally, will not agree to calls for an arms embargo or remove a controversial reference to Syria's extreme opposition from its proposed resolution.
Syria's oil minister said on Saturday Syrian oil production is down about 35 percent due to existing sanctions. Major EU oil companies, including Shell, halted business with Syria earlier this month due to the sanctions over the Assad government's brutal response to months of protests.
On Thursday, Syria said more than 2,000 security force members had been killed since the uprising began. The United Nations says at least 5,000 people have been killed.
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