France says the time has come to strengthen sanctions against a Syrian government that it says seems content to ignore calls for change.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called for stronger sanctions and a United Nations Security Council Resolution against Damascus during a news conference Friday in Anakara. He also expressed hope that those countries that have so far blocked a Security Council resolution will become “aware of the reality of the situation.”

Earlier Juppe told the the French news agency “it is now too late” for the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to change.

Juppe spoke following a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. It was the latest in a growing chorus of calls for more pressure on Damascus.

Davutoglu on Friday warned Syria could descend into civil war as fighting between Syrian army defectors and the government intensifies.

Davutoglu's warning comes just one day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters an attack by the Free Syrian Army on a Syrian military base this week was “very much like a civil war.”

Lavrov, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin and Juppe, have all urged the sides to resolve their differences peacefully. And while some, including Juppe, have ruled out the use of military intervention on Syria, international pressure for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down has been mounting.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Mr. Assad's uncle, an exiled former Syrian military commander, both called Thursday for the Syrian leader to leave power.

Earlier this week, Arab League ministers on gave Syria's government an ultimatum to end the bloodshed within three days to end the bloodshed and allow in teams of observers to monitor compliance. They did not say what will happen if Damascus fails to comply.

The league also voted to suspend Syria's membership.

Syria is only the third nation in the Arab League's history to be suspended.

Meanwhile, Syrian rights groups said security forces killed five more people across the country Thursday in what is now an eight-month long government crackdown on protesters.

News of the deaths in Deir Ezzor, Homs, and Idlib, came Thursday from the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. There was no independent confirmation of the casualties.

The United Nations says at least 3,500 people have been killed in connection with the Syrian revolt since March. Syria blames much of the violence on foreign-backed terrorists and religious extremists.