Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's admission that the party was behind the drone that was shot down by Israel on Saturday is aimed at diverting attention away from the developments along the Lebanese-Syrian border, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Friday.

A leading March 14 source told the daily: “Hizbullah is seeking to lure Israel into a war against Lebanon.”

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday the cargo seized on a Syrian plane intercepted on its way from Moscow to Damascus carried military equipment and ammunition for the Syrian regime.

Erdogan said the cargo was "equipment and ammunition shipped to the Syrian Defense Ministry" from a Russian military supplier, in remarks televised by NTV news channel.

The U.N.'s chief humanitarian coordinators for Syria, on a Gulf tour to seek aid, have warned that already scarce resources for the growing number of displaced in the war-torn country are quickly drying up.

The U.N.'s regional refugee coordinator, Panos Mumtzis, told AFP in Dubai that the aid effort was hit by a "significant funding shortfall," adding that financial support is needed for shelter, winter preparation, health and water.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Thursday no arms were being smuggled across his country's 600-kilometer (375-mile) border into conflict-torn Syria.

"We stress that no weapons go to Syria via Iraq," he told reporters in Prague.

Damascus accused Ankara on Thursday of "hostile" behavior after a Syrian Air plane was intercepted by Turkish authorities en route from Moscow to Damascus and forced to land in Ankara.

The interception of the plane on Wednesday was "hostile and reprehensible behavior" and was "another sign of the hostile policies of the Erdogan government, which harbors (rebels) and bombs Syrian territory," the foreign ministry said, referring to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Eight people were killed on Thursday in an attack by "armed terrorists" on a bus transporting Syrian workers at the Lebanon border, Syrian state television said.

The channel said another eight people were wounded in the attack.

Plans are underway to provide shelter on two Greek islands for 20,000 Syrian refugees, Greece's public order ministry said on Thursday.

The Conservative-led government of Antonis Samaras "foresees providing hospitality to 20,000 refugees from Syria who will be accommodated in special facilities on the island of Crete and Rhodes," the ministry said in a statement.

Turkish state-run television TRT reported Thursday that a Syrian passenger plane intercepted by Turkey's air force was carrying military communications equipment, as Damascus branded the incident piracy amid growing tensions between the two countries.

Yeni Safak, a newspaper close to the Turkish government, reported there were 10 containers aboard the plane, some containing radio receivers, antennas and "equipment that are thought to be missile parts."

Syria has stopped purchasing electricity from neighboring Turkey, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Thursday, with an official stating the move was due to damage to Syrian infrastructure.

"Syria halted their power purchases from Turkey one week ago," Yildiz said, adding however that Turkey was ready to resume supplies if a request was received.

Dozens of people have died in battles between Syrian troops and rebels for strategic northern towns, a watchdog said Thursday, adding that war planes were bombing rebel belts in the central city of Homs.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 69 people -- 15 civilians, 21 soldiers and 33 rebels -- were killed in clashes Wednesday in the northern province of Idlib province, including for control of Maaret al-Numan and other towns along the highway linking Damascus to the commercial capital Aleppo.