United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly voiced on Tuesday the U.N. Security Council’s appreciation for the “determination of Lebanon’s leaders to protect their country from the effects of the crisis in neighboring Syria and other regional developments.”

He said after holding talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati: “Security Council members were concerned, and so naturally am I, very concerned, at the border incidents that have been taking place in the north and the Bekaa.”

Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons is "under the full control" of the regime of President Bashar Assad, a top Israeli defense official said on Tuesday.

"At the moment, the Syrian regime is fighting for its very existence, but all of its chemical weapons and its weapons of mass destruction are under full control of the regime," Amos Gilad said in an interview on public radio.

Iraq will set up camps at two of its three border crossings with Syria to provide support for Syrian refugees fleeing the conflict in their homeland, a government spokesman said on Tuesday.

Iraq had initially said it would not accept Syrian refugees because it needed its police and army to maintain security within the country, but Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki changed Baghdad's policy on Monday.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Syrian opposition was close to victory, and warned that Ankara was ready to respond to any "hostile" action by the Damascus regime.

"We think that the Syrian people are closer than ever to victory," Erdogan said at a dinner on Monday, according to the Anatolia news agency.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly praised on Tuesday the generosity of the Lebanese and people and government in providing humanitarian assistance to Syrians fleeing violence, said the U.S. Embassy in a statement.

She stressed “the importance of protecting all refugees in Lebanon, including dissenters and deserters who have rejected violence, in keeping with Lebanon’s international humanitarian obligations.”

The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) will not accept a unity government led by a member of the regime, spokeswoman Bassma Kodmani said Tuesday, contradicting a statement by another SNC member.

"There was never any question of a national unity government led by a member of the regime," Kodmani told Agence France Presse.

Saudi Arabia collected nearly $32.5 million on the first day of a fundraising campaign to support people in Syria, where an uprising has left thousands dead, according to official figures on Tuesday.

"The total cash donations collected by the national Saudi campaign in support of the brothers in Syria reached 121,771,811 riyals ($32.5 million) on the first day (Monday)," official news agency SPA

Gaps in U.S. intelligence have hampered Washington's efforts to speed the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad and develop a clear understanding of opposition forces inside the country, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Citing interviews with U.S. and foreign intelligence officials, the daily reported that U.S. spy agencies in recent months have expanded their efforts to gather intelligence on rebel forces and Assad's regime.

Three Syrian men, who were abducted in al-Bzaliyeh town in Baalbek, were released at 11:00 p.m. Monday, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Shelling in the town of Herak, south of Damascus, killed seven people, six of them children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, taking the nationwide death toll for Tuesday to 33.

"At least seven civilians, including six children, were killed by regime forces shelling of the besieged town of Herak," the Britain-based watchdog said.