United Nations and Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi stressed the necessity to find a solution for the conflict in Syria, warning that it could spread to neighboring countries and “burn everything,” the As Safir daily said Thursday.

During his visit to Beirut Wednesday, where he met with senior Lebanese officials, Brahimi briefed President Michel Suleiman on the results of his meetings with officials in the countries he had visited to find a solution to the crisis in Syria and the obstacles that hinder his mission, al-Joumhouria daily quoted unnamed sources informed on the discussions as saying.

President Barack Obama's deputy national security advisor was in Baghdad this week for talks with Iraqi leaders on issues including the spillover from the unrest in Syria, the White House said Wednesday.

Dennis McDonough met Monday with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, the speaker of Iraq's parliament as well other top officials, said National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor.

The United States and Israel are set to launch a major military exercise in a show of unity aimed at Iran, despite friction between American and Israeli leaders over how to counter Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

The air defense drills, dubbed "Austere Challenge 2012," will unfold later this month and last about three weeks, with 3,500 U.S. troops and 1,000 Israeli forces taking part, officers said Wednesday.

Cross-border clashes broke out late Wednesday on the restive Lebanese-Syrian frontier, a Lebanese security official told Agence France Presse, adding that there were no casualties.

"The Syrian army fired shells into Lebanon after unidentified armed men opened fire across the border near the village of Aboudiyeh" in northern Lebanon, the official said.

Turkish artillery struck back at Syria on Wednesday after a Syrian mortar bomb landed on Turkish territory, local sources quoted by news agency Anatolia said.

Border troops in the Hatay province fired off a mortar strike at Syria, in retaliation for the Syrian bomb which struck Turkish territory at around 1315 GMT, the office of Hatay's governor said in a statement quoted by Anatolia.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday defended its arms trade against criticisms over its dealings with Syria, insisting only the United Nations could dictate restrictions on arms sales.

Putin defended Russia's right to trade weapons with whomever it wanted, without mentioning Syria but in an apparent reaction to recent attacks from the West over supplies to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi on Wednesday called on the Syrian government and its armed opposition to agree on a truce for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday that starts on October 26.

A statement from the Arab bloc said Arabi called on "the Syrian government and armed Syrian opposition to respond to calls for a truce and stop violence and military action during the days of Eid."

There are near daily clashes in Syria close to the Lebanese border between rebels and fighters loyal to Hizbullah, Agence France Presse quoted local residents as saying on Wednesday.

Activists have long accused Hizbullah, a long-time recipient of support from Syria, of joining the fight to crush the 19-month insurgency against the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati hoped on Wednesday that visiting United Nations and Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi would succeed in his mission to end the crisis in the neighboring country.

He told the envoy that Lebanon supports his mission “to end the killing and destruction in Syria.”

Pope Benedict XVI has engaged the Catholic Church in pushing for peace in Syria by dispatching a high-profile delegation to a country where Christians are divided on support for the rebels.

Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, the pope's right-hand man, announced Benedict's move on Tuesday to a synod of bishops saying: "We cannot be mere spectators of a tragedy such as the one that is unfolding in Syria."