The army deployed on Saturday in Akkar along the Lebanese-Syrian border to restore calm in the area, warning that it will not tolerate with anyone tampering with the country’s stability and security.

“An army unit deployed in the towns of Akroum and Beit Jaafar to separate the gunmen,” the army’s communiqué said.

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said on Saturday he was "horrified" by the violence in Syria as he visited a desert refugee camp in neighboring Jordan.

"We are tremendously horrified to learn of this experience that so many people here face, the horrifying experiences that cause them to leave," their country, Baird said during a tour of the Zaatari refugee camp outside the northern Jordanian city of Mafraq.

French President Francois Hollande said France was committed to finding a political solution to the Syrian conflict as he paid tribute Saturday to the 88th French soldier killed in Afghanistan.

He noted that France had deployed a field hospital in Jordan "as close as possible to the border with Syria to help not only refugees but also combatants fighting the repression of a regime which is no longer motivated by anything but the fear of its own demise."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Saturday that Syria must not become a haven for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels battling Turkey.

"We share Turkey's determination that Syria must not become a haven for PKK terrorists whether now or after the departure of the Assad regime," Clinton told a joint news conference in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu.

Fresh sanctions slapped by the United States are meant to "expose and disrupt" links between Iran, Hizbullah movement and Syria, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday.

She said the "number one goal" of Washington and Ankara was to hasten the end of Bashar Assad's regime in Damascus and stop the bloodshed, while warning that Syria must not become a haven for Kurdish rebels battling Turkey.

Arab ministers are to meet in Saudi Arabia Sunday to mull their next moves on the Syrian conflict after the resignation of U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan and who might succeed him, a top League official said.

The foreign ministers' meeting in the Red Sea city of Jeddah will discuss the "latest developments in Syria and what policy action to take" after Annan's announcement on August 2 that he was stepping down, the pan-Arab bloc's deputy secretary general Ahmed Ben Helli said.

French President Francois Hollande said France was committed to finding a political solution to the Syrian conflict as he paid tribute Saturday to the 88th French soldier killed in Afghanistan.

He noted that France had deployed a field hospital in Jordan "as close as possible to the border with Syria to help not only refugees but also combatants fighting the repression of a regime which is no longer motivated by anything but the fear of its own demise."

The Syrian army shelled the Salaheddin district of Aleppo on Saturday in its push to drive out rebels, as gunfire and bomb blasts rang out across Damascus, monitors and state media said.

State television said two bombs exploded in the heart of the capital, without reporting casualties.

Mosques and Islamic centers across the United States came together Friday to condemn Syria's brutal crackdown on dissent and raise funds for civilians trapped in the conflict.

With the holy month of Ramadan heading towards its final week, imams used Friday prayers to denounce Syrian President Bashar Assad as a tyrant and to encourage American Muslims to speak out against ongoing atrocities.

Head of the opposition Syrian National Council Abdel Basset Sayda on Friday called on Hizbullah to “prepare for the post-Assad era,” urging it to engage in national dialogue aimed at “building “a strong state for all the Lebanese.”

“Hizbullah must seize the chance, integrate into the Lebanese society and engage in dialogue in order to contribute to building a strong state for all the Lebanese that would be in the interest of the Lebanese and Syrian peoples,” Sayda said in an interview on MTV.