The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Sunday members of his elite special operations unit, the Quds Force, are present in Lebanon and Syria but only to provide "counsel."

"A number of Quds Force members are present in Lebanon and Syria... we provide (these countries) with counsel and advice, and transfer experience to them," Guards commander Brigadier General Mohammed Ali Jaafari told a rare press conference.

Syrian troops on Sunday fought rebel fighters and shelled their bastions in the country's two main cities Damascus and Aleppo, a day after U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned the conflict threatens world peace.

The fighting in Damascus erupted at dawn and was focused in the northeast suburb of Harasta, while the army shelled the southern suburb of Al-Hajar Al-Aswad from several directions, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Russia insisted on Saturday it was not "clinging" to any individual leaders in Syria despite Moscow's refusal to back international calls on President Bashar Assad to step down.

"We are not clinging to any political figures," Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said in brief comments reaffirming the country's official position.

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie met Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Saturday to discuss measures to care for Syrian refugees in Iraq, the foreign ministry said.

They discussed "the situation of Syrian refugees in Iraq and steps taken by the Iraqi government to ensure a decent life for them," the ministry said.

Clashes erupted in Syria's main cities of Damascus and Aleppo on Saturday, following a bloody day in which 132 people were killed nationwide, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

In Aleppo the army battled with rebels at the entrances to the rebel-held Bustan al-Basha district and helicopter gunships attacked the opposition bastions of Hanano, Qadi Askar, Sheikh Khader, Bustan al-Qasr and Sakhur, the monitoring group said.

President Michel Suleiman said Saturday that democracy can't be achieved in the Middle East without the participation of Christians in political life and governance.

“Democracy cannot go straight … without the participation of the Christian element - which has been rooted in the East for more than 2,000 years - in the political life and management of public affairs no matter what the numbers are,” Suleiman said at Baabda palace.

President Bashar Assad called for dialogue between Syrians during a meeting on Saturday with international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, state television reported.

"The real problem in Syria is that of combining politics with the work being done on the ground," said Assad. "The political work continues, in particular by calling for dialogue between Syrians based on the aspirations of all Syrians.

Pope Benedict XVI has described the Arab Spring uprisings that have already removed four long-serving dictators as “positive” and appealed for a stop to arms imports to Syria.

“Arms imports must stop once and for all, because without arms imports, war cannot continue," he said in remarks to reporters on his plane to Beirut on Friday.

Syrian regime forces on Friday used fighter jets and helicopter gunships to pound the city and province of Aleppo, where fierce clashes raged around a military airport, monitors said.

Fighter jets bombarded the rebel-held towns of Al-Bab and Marea near Aleppo city, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding that army forces and rebels battled around Minnigh military airport.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Friday urged a Syrian opposition delegation in Baghdad to learn from the experiences of Iraq, where a new political system was established during years of violence.

Maliki met with "a delegation of representatives of a number of Syrian opposition factions, headed by Dr. Mahmud Daham al-Muslat, the head of the Syrian National Council foreign relations office in the U.S. and Canada," a statement on the Iraqi premier's website said.