Rebels and troops clashed in the Damascus district of Qadam on Wednesday as at least 52 people were killed in violence around Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Apart from the fighting in Qadam, hundreds of youths gathered late Tuesday in the capital's upmarket district of Mazzeh and chanted anti-regime slogans, it said.

Syrian authorities have arrested a prominent businessman and opposition figure on charges of inciting civil disobedience, a top human rights activist told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.

"Mohammad Bassam al-Malek, 65, was jailed on orders from the state prosecutor for inciting civil disobedience due to his role in a strike by merchants in May," activist Anwar Bunni said.

Lebanese authorities have released a Syrian dissident who was arrested on the weekend upon his arrival from Egypt, Syrian activists said.

"Zakaria Mutlak was released this evening," Beirut-based Syrian activist Kinan Ali told Agence France Presse, without elaborating.

The March 14 General Secretariat slammed on Wednesday the government’s competency, renewing its demand for its resignation.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The frequent protests and sit-ins are a sign of the government’s inability to tackle the people’s concerns.”

Syria's main exiled opposition group on Wednesday slammed Russia for giving a green light to violence after failing to convince Moscow to drop its support for President Bashar Assad.

Syrian National Council (SNC) chief Abdel Basset Sayda met Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in rare talks at the Russian foreign ministry but could not detect any shift in the Russian policy that has angered opponents of Assad.

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji stressed on Wednesday that the army deployment along the Lebanese-Syrian border requires some time, noting that the military needs a brigade of 2,000 soldiers to control the border.

He said in comments published in As Safir newspaper that the aim behind this plan is to control illegal crossings used by gunmen; however he noted that it is very difficult to control the entire border line.

The United States on Tuesday deplored Syrian shelling of northern Lebanon, urging the regime of President Bashar Assad to respect the sovereignty of its neighbors.

The Lebanese army began sending troop reinforcements to the border with Syria after Syrian troops and armed men traded gunfire overnight in the area and shells fell inside Lebanon, wounding civilians. The official Syrian news agency SANA confirmed the violence.

Red Crescent staffer Khaled Khaffaji, shot during overnight in the Syrian province of Deir Ezzor, died on Tuesday, bringing to 56 the number of deaths across the strife-torn country, monitors said.

The Red Cross Red Crescent condemned Khaffaji's killing, saying "this is the second time in less than a month that a member of the Red Crescent has been killed while on duty."

The United States is aware of a Russian naval flotilla headed for a Syrian port but does not yet see cause for concern, the White House said Tuesday.

"We currently have no reason to believe this move is anything out of the ordinary but we refer you to the Russian government for more details," Erin Pelton, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, told Agence France Presse.

The Lebanese army on Tuesday began sending troop reinforcements to the northern border with strife-torn Syria after deadly attacks in the region, an army spokesman told Agence France Presse.

"Yes, we have started to reinforce our troops, and the operation will take us a week to 10 days to complete," the spokesman said on condition of anonymity.