At least 23 people were killed as thousands of anti-regime protesters poured onto the streets across Syria on Friday despite a massive security forces presence and as troops pounded rebel towns, activists said.

Thirteen people were killed in the central province of Homs, six in Aleppo’s countryside in the north, two in the northwestern province of Idlib, one in the Damascus suburb of Douma and one in the Daraa Province town of al-Jiza in the south, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, reported.

A ministerial committee tasked with scrutinizing a plan to lease power-generating vessels on Thursday reached an agreement with a Turkish company after slashing the costs by nine percent.

“The ministerial panel tasked with following up on talks with the two ship leasing firms, the American Weller Marine and the Turkish Karadeniz, has successfully finished its negotiations,” Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil said after the committee’s meeting.

Gillette, the world’s leading Male Grooming brand, has launched its most technologically advanced razor, Gillette Fusion ProGlide™, across the Middle East, the company said in a press release.

At an event hosted by senior executives and scientists from Gillette and Procter & Gamble at YAS Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, guests learned how Gillette’s new ProGlide razor has “truly turned shaving into gliding, offering men throughout the region their most comfortable shave yet,” said Gillette.

The March 14 forces on Wednesday called on Premier Najib Miqati and Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi to refer the assassination attempt against Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

The March 14 General-Secretariat said in a statement it had been following up “over the past hours the circumstances of the assassination attempt against Dr. Samir Geagea in Maarab today.”

Several Lebanese leaders on Wednesday contacted Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to condemn the assassination attempt he escaped earlier in the day, as President Michel Suleiman called for “intensifying the investigations in order to unveil and arrest the perpetrators.”

Former prime minister Saad Hariri telephoned Geagea, deploring the attempt on his life and describing it as the latest in a long series of political assassinations in Lebanon.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea revealed on Wednesday that he was the victim of an assassination attempt at his Maarab residence.

He announced during a press conference: “We will not halt our revolution no matter how hard they try and political leaders must take the necessary security precautions.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stated on Tuesday that a final agreement with companies on leasing power-generating vessels has not been reached yet.

He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “Prime Minister Najib Miqati is responsible for any delay in the electricity file.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat praised on Tuesday the residents of the northern region of Akkar for their support of the displaced Syrians who have sought refuge in the area.

He condemned attempts “by some authorities in power” to link terrorism to Akkar.

Syrian authorities thwarted on Monday night the infiltration of an “armed terrorist group” from Lebanon into Syria, reported SANA news agency on Tuesday.

It said that the group was attempting to enter Reef Homs in Syria from northern Lebanon.

Some 146 deaths were reported on Monday as Syrian forces pressed their crackdown on dissent, pounding rebel bastions mainly in the restive north which also left many hurt, monitors said.

The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, reported the 146 deaths, which included 75 bodies that were found at a hospital in the central province of Homs.