The strong statement comes as Syrians are expected to take to the streets across the country in a weekly show of defiance against the 40-year-old family dynasty of President Bashar Assad.

Security forces killed three protesters overnight outside the capital, Damascus, activists said.

Hama, the site of a 1982 massacre by Assad's later father and predecessor, has become a focal point of the uprising and has drawn the largest crowds since the revolt began in mid-March.

"The presence of the U.S. ambassador in Hama without obtaining prior permission from the Foreign Ministry as stipulated by instructions distributed repeatedly to all the embassies is clear evidence of the U.S. involvement in the ongoing events in Syria," the state-run news agency reported Friday, citing an unnamed "official source" at the Foreign Ministry.

The U.S. is trying to "aggravate the situations which destabilize Syria," the statement said.

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The move, announced by the state-run news agency SANA, was seen by anti-government activists as the latest attempt by Assad to weed out potential weak links in his ruling system and possibly signal a renewed crackdown on the city.

SANA's report gave no reason for the firing of Gov. Ahmed Abdul-Aziz a day after an estimated 300,000 people joined an anti-government rally in Hama, according to activists and YouTube videos of the event -- marking the largest single turnout since the uprising began in March.

Crowd estimates and other details in Syria cannot be independently verified. The Syrian government has banned most foreign media from the country and restricted coverage.

The surprising, massive turnout in Hama could give renewed momentum to the anti-government uprising in Syria, which had settled into a cycle of protests and retreat in recent weeks.

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In a phone call to Libyan state television station, Gadhafi angrily denounced the rebels who rose up against him in mid-February, inspired by a wave of Arab uprisings.

"We will not kneel!" he shouted. "We will not surrender: we only have one choice -- to the end! Death, victory, it does not matter, we are not surrendering!" he shouted.

As he spoke, the sound of low-flying military craft could be heard whooshing through Tripoli again, and Gadhafi quickly hung up.

Minutes later, five more explosions shook the capital as NATO apparently launched another round of strikes. Pro-Gadhafi loyalists also fired a round of gunfire into the air after his speech, which lasted about 10 minutes.

Gadhafi was last seen in television footage showing him sitting with visiting South African President Jacob Zuma in late May.

Several structures in the Gadhafi compound were badly damaged in Tuesday's strikes. Daylight NATO raids have been rare and signal an intensification of the alliance bid to drive Gadhafi from power.

At least one man was killed.

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The strikes that shook the city appeared to land close to Gadhafi's sprawling compound, but government officials were not immediately available to confirm the targets.

NATO officials have warned for days that they were seeking to increase the scope and intensity of their two-month old campaign to oust Gadhafi after more than 40 years in power.

NATO is assisting a four-month old rebel insurgency that has seized swaths of eastern Libya and pockets in the regime's stronghold of western Libya.

After some of the strikes, pro-Gadhafi loyalists fired anti-aircraft weapons into the air.

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The president, Jacob Zuma, was greeted with all the requisite fanfare by Gadhafi's beleaguered regime. Dozens of Gadhafi supporters, bused in for the welcoming, waved green Libyan flags and chanted slogans denouncing the NATO bombing campaign against Libyan government targets.

NATO temporarily lifted its no-fly zone over Libya to allow Zuma's South African air force plane to land at the main military air base next to Tripoli.

In Rome Monday, an indication that Gadhafi's regime is losing support came from eight top Libyan army officers, including five generals, who defected from Gadhafi's military. They appealed to their fellow officers to join the revolt.

Several senior officials, including at least three Cabinet ministers, have abandoned Gadhafi during the uprising that began in February. Even so, he clings tenaciously to power, and the military units still loyal to him are far superior to the forces available to the rebels.

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The international community has been stepping up airstrikes and diplomatic efforts against the regime in a bid to break a virtual stalemate, with the rebels in the east and Gadhafi maintaining his hold on most of the west.

The NATO airstrikes hit in rapid succession within a half-hour time span, setting off a series of explosions and sending up plumes of acrid-smelling smoke from an area around Gadhafi's sprawling Bab al-Aziziya compound in central Tripoli.

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said at least three people were killed and dozens wounded in NATO strikes that targeted what he described as buildings used by volunteer units of the Libyan army.

NATO said in a statement that a number of precision-guided weapons hit a vehicle storage facility adjacent to Bab al-Aziziya that has been used to supply regime forces "conducting attacks on civilians." It was not immediately clear if the facility was the only target hit in the barrage. Bab al-Aziziya, which includes a number of military facilities, has been pounded repeatedly by NATO strikes.

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NATO said the overnight bombing runs were meant to protect the nearby rebel-held port of Misrata, the only major city in the western half of Libya that is under the control of the fighters trying to end Gadhafi's nearly 40-year rule. One of the attacks struck the main port of Tripoli, and reporters could see flames and smoke pouring up into the night sky from stricken vessels.

In a later tour of the area, journalists saw three partially submerged boats armed with missile launchers docked alongside one another. The blasts peeled away part of a gun turret. Altogether, eight coast guard boats and one docked frigate under repair were hit at the three ports, said Commandant Omran al-Forjani, head of Libya's coast guard.

At NATO headquarters in Brussels, the alliance confirmed its warplanes targeted the boats and accused Libya of using its ships in the escalating conflict, including attempts to mine the Misrata's harbor, a key lifeline to the besieged city. The other ports hit were in the city of Khoms, between Tripoli and Misrata, and in Sirte, farther east, Libyan officials said.

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Shukri Ghanem, the head of the National Oil Co. and Libya's oil minister, crossed into Tunisia by road on Monday and defected, the Tunisian official said. The official, based in the region around the Ras Jdir border crossing, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Ghanem is one of the most prominent members of Gadhafi's government to leave amid fighting between the military and rebels seeking to end Gadhafi's more than 40-year rule.

Others who have defected include Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, one of Gadhafi's earliest supporters; Interior Minister Abdel-Fatah Younes; Justice Minister Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, and Ali Abdessalam Treki, a former U.N. General Assembly president. A number of ambassadors and other diplomats also have resigned their posts.

A NATO-led campaign -- authorized by the United Nations -- is enforcing a no-fly zone over the country and launching airstrikes to try to protect civilians from attacks by Gadhafi's forces.

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In response to the action by Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Libyan spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told reporters that the regime would pay no attention to arrest warrants that could be issued against Gadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam Gadhafi and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi.

Ibrahim said the prosecutor relied on faulty media reports and "reached incoherent conclusions." He denied that the government ever ordered the killing of civilians or the hiring of mercenaries.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) -- The International Criminal Court prosecutor asked judges Monday to issue arrest warrants for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and two other senior members of his regime, accusing them of committing crimes against humanity by targeting civilians in a crackdown against rebels.

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Explosions thundered across the capital and wailing ambulances raced through the city as the last missile exploded.

Government officials and state-run Libyan television said the strikes targeted Bab al-Azaziya, Gadhafi's compound. They did not say which of the compound's buildings were targeted.

NATO -- which had no immediate comment about the latest strikes -- has hit Tripoli repeatedly this week as part of its effort to weaken the regime's resistance to a 3-month-old rebellion. NATO said most of the alliance's 46 air strikes on Wednesday were concentrated in and around the Libyan capital, hitting command and control centers, ammunition dumps and anti-aircraft missile launchers.

At the nearby Khadra Hospital, medics wheeled in the bodies of two men they said were killed in the shelling. One of bodies was charred; the other was covered by a green blanket, a leg dangling from the stretcher.

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The reported rebel advance was the latest in a sudden flurry of accounts of opposition victories, coming in tandem with intensified NATO airstrikes on Gadhafi's forces in several regions. Even though some of the combat reports are difficult to confirm, they seem to represent a major boost for the rebels prospects' after weeks of stalemate in their effort to end Gadhafi's 42-year rule over Libya.

According to a rebel who identified himself as Abdel Salam, rebels were in total control of the airport in Misrata's southern outskirts after two days of fighting. He said five rebels were killed and 105 injured.

"This is a major victory," he said. "The Gadhafi forces have been suffering lack of supplies ... Their morale was very low after being defeated several times and pushed back."

Misrata rebels are also pushing west, toward the nearby city of Zlitan, and then advance farther in the direction of the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

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In the besieged port city of Misrata, the rebel's only urban stronghold in the west, a doctor said rebel forces had pushed outward to Dafniya, a town on western outskirts.

The doctor, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, said fighting was taking place both in Dafniya and near the airport south of Misrata. Were the rebels able to punch through past Dafniya, it would increase the prospects of a further advance through the coastal town of Zlitan and toward Tripoli itself.

The rebels posted video clips calling on Gadhafi's forces in the area to surrender and saying they had advanced about 15 miles (25 kilometers) outward from central Misrata.

"We are after you Gadhafi," one of the fighters in the video said.

In eastern Libya, rebels reported ongoing fighting between the towns of Ajdabiya and Brega.

A rebel commander, Zakaria al-Mismari, told reporters that Gadhafi's forces had advanced on their positions with about a dozen vehicles on Monday, but were beaten back.

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With his tweets, 33-year-old Sohaib Athar, who moved to the sleepy town of Abbottabad to escape the big city, became in his own words "the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it."

Soon the sole helicopter multiplied into several and gunfire and explosions rocked the air above the town, and Athar's tweets quickly garnered 14,000 followers as he unwittingly described the U.S. operation to kill one of the world's most wanted militants.

His first tweet was innocuous: "Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event)."

The noise alarmed Athar, who had moved to the upscale area of Abbottabad to get away from city life after his wife and child were badly injured in a car accident in the sprawling city of Lahore, according to his blog in July.

Nestled in the mountains around 60 miles (95 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Abbottabad is a quiet, leafy town featuring a military academy, the barracks for three army regiments and even its own golf course.

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More members of Assad's ruling Baath Party resigned in protest as human rights activists said the death toll soared to 535 from government forces firing on demonstrators to try to suppress the popular revolt -- action that has drawn international condemnation and U.S. financial penalties on top figures in his regime.

The military raid on the Omari mosque in Daraa came a day after 65 people were killed -- most of them in the town on Syria's border with Jordan. Friday was the second deadliest day since the uprising began in mid-March in Daraa.

Heaping further punishment on relatives of those killed Friday, they were told to hold small funerals with only family members invited, an activist said, in an apparent attempt to keep the services from turning into anti-Assad protests. Similar orders were given last week, but most people did not follow them, said the activist, Ammar Qurabi, who heads the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria.

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The offensive into Daraa was the most intense in a series of actions to put down dissent and appeared part of new strategy for pre-emptive strikes against the opposition to President Bashar Assad's regime rather than reacting to marches and protests.

More than 300 people have been killed across the country since the uprising began. But the relentless crackdowns have only served to embolden protesters, who started with calls for modest reforms but are now increasingly demanding Assad's downfall.

"We need international intervention. We need countries to help us," shouted a witness in Daraa, who said he saw five corpses after security forces opened fire on a car. He spoke to The Associated Press by telephone.

Another witness said people were using mosque loudspeakers in Daraa to summon doctors to help the wounded as busloads of security forces and troops conducted house-to-house searches, causing panic in the streets.

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TV footage shows flames licking up the building's top floors and a huge plume of black smoke filling the sky.

The official says protesters lit Tuesday's fire in the building housing in the ministry's personnel department. It then spread to an adjacent building.

The fire followed a protest by thousands of low-ranking police officers calling for better wages and working conditions.

Mass demonstrations that toppled former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11 have set off frequent protests by laborers seeking to improve their lot.

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In desperation, rebels sent up two antiquated warplanes that struck a government ship bombarding Ajdabiya from the Mediterranean. But as tanks rolled into the city from two directions and rockets relentlessly pounded houses and shops, the ragtag opposition fighters' defenses appeared to break down. Some lashed out at the West for failing to come to their aid with a no-fly zone.

"This is a mad man, a butcher," one rebel fighter said of Gadhafi, speaking to The Associated Press by telephone as explosions were heard in the background. "It's indiscriminate fire."

"The world is sleeping," he said. "They (the West) drunk of Gadhafi's oil and now they won't stand against him. They didn't give us a no-fly zone."

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The victory in Zwara, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the Tunisian border, solidifies Gadhafi's hold in his western stronghold, reversing gains made by rebels in several cities early in the uprising against his rule that began on Feb. 15.

Gadhafi's gains in recent days have increased pressure on the U.S. and other Western powers to intervene to stop the bloodshed.

The Obama administration on Monday held its first high-level talks with the Libyan opposition and introduced a liaison to deal full time with their ranks. But it remained undecided about exactly how much support to lend a group it still knows little about while turmoil and uncertainty increase across the Arab world.

Government troops surrounded the town of 45,000 on Monday and bombarded it with tanks and artillery for hours starting in the morning, killing at least four rebel fighters, several residents said.

Rebels conceded that Zwara had been taken by government forces on Tuesday, although sporadic street battles were ongoing.

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Fighting was centered in the oil port of Brega, where government forces swept in on Sunday, pounding rebels with strikes from warships, tanks and warplanes. Rebels were dislodged from the port during the day, but said they moved back in at nightfall, destroying armored vehicles and capturing dozens of fighters from Gadhafi's elite Khamis Brigade.

Rebel officials said that as of Monday morning, the opposition still held the port, 450 miles (750 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.

Gadhafi's troops have been emboldened by some victories as they try to push east along Libya's main Mediterranean coastal highway. But their supply lines are stretched and their dependence on artillery, airstrikes and naval attacks makes it hard for them to swiftly consolidate control of territory, particularly at night.

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Rebels said they were fleeing the oil town of Brega under heavy attack, losing a vital source of fuel for their vehicles and leaving Gadhafi's military less than 150 miles from the main opposition city of Benghazi.

A spokesman for Gadhafi's military declared that it had seized control of Brega.

The strongman's relentless advance left the city of Ajdabiya as the sole major population center between his forces and the rebel headquarters. If his string of successes continue, the Libyan strongman will soon face the choice of consolidating his control of the Mediterranean coast or moving swiftly toward Benghazi and the prospect of a devastating battle.

"Benghazi doesn't deserve a full-scale military action," army spokesman Milad Hussein told reporters in the capital, Tripoli. "They are a group of rats and vermin and as soon as we go in, they will raise their hands and surrender."

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