German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is scheduled to arrive in Lebanon on Thursday in the first of a series of visits by European officials aimed at voicing support for Lebanon, reported the daily An Nahar on Tuesday.

A European diplomat told the daily that the visits are a “show of support for Lebanon given the deteriorating Syrian crisis.”

Syrian government troops fought deadly battles with armed rebels on Monday as the European Union pushed for an end to a split with Russia over how to end the 15-month bloodshed.

In talks in Saint Petersburg with Russian President Vladimir Putin, EU President Herman Van Rompuy said the EU and Russia "might have some divergent assessments" of the situation in Syria.

The opposition Syrian National Council will meet at the weekend to replace Burhan Ghalioun who resigned as leader of the bloc late last month, SNC officials said on Monday.

The meeting will take place Saturday and Sunday in Istanbul, where a vote might be waived since there is a "consensus" candidate, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

Syrian President Bashar Assad was lying when he denied his regime had any involvement in the massacre of more than 100 civilians near the central town of Houla, the White House said Monday.

Asked if Assad lied at the weekend when he denied his forces fired on innocent civilians near Houla, President Barack Obama's spokesman, Jay Carney, said: "Yes.

A Syrian opposition group announced Monday that they are creating a new military structure consisting of 12,000 fighters to topple the regime of the Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"We announce today the unification of all fronts in a single center to bring about the collapse of the oppressing regime," Khaled al-Okla from the Syrian Revolutionaries Front (SRF) read from a statement at a press conference.

Slovakia said Monday it has summoned the Syrian ambassador over recent violence in Syria, particularly the Houla massacre, which claimed 108 lives including those of 49 children, according to UN figures.

"The ministry is deeply concerned about the continuous violation of human rights in Syria and calls for an early and full implementation of the peace plan of international envoy Kofi Annan," the Slovak foreign ministry said in a statement.

Syrian President Bashar Assad is determined to crush the rebellion against his regime, even at the cost of triggering a civil war in the country, bolstered by support from Moscow, analysts say.

"He has been ready to fight to the end right from the start and as long as he has Russia's support he believes he will win," Middle East expert Agnes Levallois told Agence France Presse.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri accused on Monday Syria of seeking to destabilize Lebanon in order to divert attention from the developments in its country.

He said via Twitter: “What happened in Tripoli recently is proof the Syrian regime is unrelenting in its plot to set Lebanon on fire.”

Clashes erupted between regime forces and rebels in Syria's Idlib province overnight, killing two opposition fighters, as two others died in the Damascus region on Monday, a watchdog said.

Russia and the European Union must overcome their differences on the crisis in Syria to prevent a full-scale civil war, the EU president said Monday after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Herman Van Rompuy, who is in Russia with EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso to meet with Putin, admitted after the talks that the EU and Russia "might have some divergent assessments" over the situation in Syria.