France on Tuesday joined the United States in raising concerns that new massacres were being prepared in Syria as regime forces pounded for the eighth straight day the town of Al-Haffe.

"We share concerns about the preparation of new massacres," foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said, adding that French officials were heading to Moscow for talks on the crisis on Wednesday.

Armed "terrorists" kidnapped on Tuesday a group of Syrians travelling in two taxis on the road to Qusayr in the central province of Homs, the state news agency SANA reported.

"An armed terrorist group seized two collective taxis which were travelling on the Qusayr road," SANA said, saying an unspecified number of passengers were abducted.

U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan hopes a key meeting to address the crisis in Syria will take place soon, his spokesman said on Tuesday.

Annan, who brokered the faltering six-point plan aimed at ending the bloodshed, wants to bring together world and regional powers to put pressure on Syria's leader.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati said on Tuesday that the national security institutions are the backbone for “the strong and capable state,” adding that no one can lure Lebanon away from its decision to distance itself from the developments in Syria.

He stressed the need to “morally and financially support the army seeing as it guarantees civil peace and embodies national unity.”

Britain on Tuesday announced a 100 million pound (124 million euro) aid package to support Palestinian refugees in the Middle East for the next three years.

The British embassy in Amman said International Development Minister Alan Duncan made the announcement after a visit to the Baqaa Palestinian refugee camp near the Jordanian capital.

Syrian regime forces shelled the northwestern town of Al-Haffe for an eighth day on Tuesday, sparking fears of an impending massacre and U.N. demands that its observers be granted access to the flashpoint.

Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP that regime forces were using heavy artillery against the town while massing reinforcements in preparation for a ground assault.

The tumult following the kidnapping of 11 Lebanese pilgrims in Syria last month pushed the abductors to raise their ransom from $300,000 to $4 million, a Syrian opposition leader based in Paris said.

The leader, who refused to be identified, told As Safir daily published on Tuesday that the kidnappers first asked Hizbullah and the families of the 11 men for a $300,000 ransom.

Syrian troops have tortured children, executed them and used children as young as eight as "human shields" during military raids against rebels, according to a U.N. report released Tuesday.

The United Nations branded the Syrian government as one of the worst offenders on its annual "list of shame" of conflict countries where children are killed, tortured and forced to fight.

The United States voiced fears that Syria's government is planning a new massacre, as regime helicopters fired on rebel stronghold towns and raging violence killed nearly 90 people on Monday.

On the political front, the newly elected leader of Syria's exiled opposition urged President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power to his deputy Faruq al-Shara, in line with a plan based on a U.N.-backed power transfer in Yemen.

Lebanese citizen Suleiman al-Ahmed, who hails from Wadi Khaled, will be released on Tuesday and handed over to the Higher Lebanese-Syrian Council, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.