Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stressed on Wednesday that Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati should respect the decisions of the majority that appointed him.

He said in an interview to OTV: “Members who don’t have a political presence in parliament should not take part in government.”

The "brutality" of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's response to anti-government protesters will lead to the downfall of his regime, according to Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

"I think that Assad is approaching the point where he will lose his internal legitimacy," Barak told Israel's Channel 10 television on Monday night.

The U.S. on Friday imposed new sanctions on Syria over its violent repression of protests, and again singled out Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which it said was aiding the crackdown, as the EU agreed to impose an arms embargo against Damascus.

The asset freezes and restrictions on financial transactions notably targeted Maher al-Assad, the powerful brother of President Bashar Al-Assad, who commands Syria's feared Fourth Armored Division.

U.S. President Barack Obama must declare that his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, has squandered his legitimacy and must step down, three key senators urged Thursday.

"We urge President Obama to state unequivocally -- as he did in the case of (Libyan leader Moammar) Gadhafi and (Egyptian President Hosni) Mubarak -- that it is time for Assad to go," Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham and independent Senator Joe Lieberman said in a joint statement.

Influential U.S. Senator John McCain declared Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has "lost his legitimacy" and called for U.N. sanctions to force him to halt attacks on his people.

But McCain told Agence France Presse he could not see any opening for U.S. military action to topple the Syrian regime, and regretted that Assad was not yet facing an armed revolt like the one fighting to oust Libya's Moammar Gadhafi.

Sources from the Progressive Socialist Party revealed to the Central News Agency that PSP leader MP Walid Jumblat headed to Damascus on Tuesday but the reasons for the visit have not been disclosed.

They said that he will return to Beirut on Wednesday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat has urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to "continue implementing his previous resolutions on protecting the right to peaceful protest" in unrest-hit Syria.

"As Syria's friend and ally … I urge President Assad to continue implementing his previous resolutions on protecting the right to peaceful protest and expression and to quickly launch a broad dialogue with the various political, syndical, social and economic sectors and the representatives of the civil society to discuss the means of overcoming this critical political period," Jumblat said in his weekly column in his party's mouthpiece Al-Anbaa newspaper.

At least eight mourners were shot dead on Saturday as Syrians swarmed the streets to bury scores of demonstrators killed in massive protests and world leaders denounced the bloodshed.

Activists said the death toll from Friday's nationwide protests could reach 100 and expected fresh protests to form after the funerals.

International condemnation of Syria mounted Saturday after its security forces reportedly killed more than 80 people in one of the bloodiest days of a month-long uprising.

Russia, Italy and Greece joined the chorus of criticism which includes U.S. President Barack Obama and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, as well as France and the European parliament.

More than 70 people were killed by security forces during massive demonstrations on Friday across Syria, in one of the bloodiest days since pro-democracy protests erupted in mid-March, according to activists and human rights groups.

"The Syrian security forces committed massacres in several towns and regions today, so far killing 72 people and wounding hundreds," said the London-based Syrian Human Rights Committee in a statement received by Agence France Presse.