A bomb rocked the Damascus neighborhood of Qaboon during the night killing five people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.

The Britain-based group gave no further information on the deadly explosion but said powerful blasts were also heard overnight in several regions across the country, including central Hama and the coastal cities of Banias and Latakia.

A prominent Palestinian writer who was jailed in Syria for nearly three weeks described the facilities as "human slaughterhouses," saying security agents beat detainees with batons, crammed them into stinking cells and tied them to beds at night.

Salameh Kaileh, 56, was arrested April 24 on suspicion of printing leaflets calling for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is fighting a 15-month-old uprising against his rule. Kaileh's story offers a rare inside glimpse into the conditions faced by detainees held by the country's feared security services.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Tuesday that Lebanon would not yield to internal and external pressure to change its policy of dissociating itself form the Syrian crisis.

In remarks to Ad-Diyar newspaper, Berri expressed regret that four Gulf countries have advised their citizens not to travel to Lebanon, hoping that such a decision was not part of the pressure exerted on Lebanese officials to change their policies towards Syria.

A senior U.N. official urged authorities in the central Syrian city of Homs Monday to release political prisoners and allow peaceful demonstrations.

Homs has been hard hit in violent clashes between anti-government protests and pro-government security forces. Last week, at least 15 civilians were "summarily executed" there by regime forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The March 14 opposition coalition is planning to hold a large-scale meeting in an effort to end “the dictates of the Syrian regime” following deadly clashes that have left several people dead in Beirut and the northern port city of Tripoli.

Contacts have been made between the March 14 leaderships since the latest incidents erupted, An Nahar daily reported Tuesday.

Forces which have failed to implement their plans to destabilize Syria have turned to Lebanon, Russian’s foreign ministry said on Monday.

"Moscow is seriously concerned by growing internal tensions in Lebanon. It appears that the forces that have failed to realize their plans to destabilize Syria have turned to neighboring Lebanon," the ministry said on its website.

Deputy Head of Hizbullah's Executive Council Sheikh Nabil Qaouq accused on Tuesday the March 14 forces’ “catastrophic” policy has led Lebanon towards “major dangers.”

He demanded that the “heavy weapons” that were used in northern Lebanon should be employed in a defense strategy for Lebanon.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat noted on Monday that the swift investigation into the death of Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed demonstrates the need to support the army.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “The army should be supported in order to avert sliding into strife.”

France on Monday condemned the latest deadly violence in Syria and Lebanon, warning that “the persistence of repression (in Syria) jeopardizes regional security.”

“We express our regret over the killing of two clergymen in northern Lebanon,” Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed and his companion Sheikh Mohammed al-Merheb, said Bernard Valero, the French foreign ministry’s spokesman.

Syrian forces ambushed and killed nine army deserters in a north Damascus suburb on Monday, a human rights watchdog said, as NATO ruled out military action against the regime of President Bashar Assad.

The latest violence in Syria comes after a rocket-propelled grenade exploded on Sunday near U.N. observers in a Damascus suburb, and at least 48 people were killed elsewhere in the country.