Two Iranians kidnapped in Syria in December and freed with the help of Turkish mediation arrived in Tehran on Thursday, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Majid Qanbar Beedroomi and Ahad Sohrabi Kordabadi were among seven Iranian engineers abducted near central Homs city, where they worked at an electricity plant for Iran's Power Plant Projects Management Company, according to Iranian officials.

There is still no agreement among leaders of the world's richest nations on the final text of a declaration that will touch upon the protracted conflict in Syria, a Kremlin advisor said Thursday.

The leaders of the G8 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States -- will meet Friday and Saturday for a summit at the Camp David presidential retreat near Washington.

Former commander of Israel’s Air Forces warned on Thursday that his country’s air superiority is increasingly undermined by the proliferation of sophisticated surface-to-air missile systems throughout the region – in Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, and the Sinai Peninsula.

“The Israeli Air Force needs to be ready to fly in places where there is a threat to its superiority,” outgoing Air Force Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan told The Jerusalem Post.

Regime forces sent shells crashing into rebel stronghold Rastan early Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, while calling on U.N. observers to rush to the town in central Homs province.

"The army is trying to gradually destroy Rastan," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based watchdog, told AFP.

A prisoner exchange took place on Tuesday between the Jaafar clan and Syrian opposition members.

The opposition members handed over two Lebanese nationals, Khodr Husssein Khalil Jaafar and Abdullah al-Zein, who were kidnapped in the border town of Zeta, which is located inside Syrian territory.

Syrian President Bashar Assad’s departure would be a “major blow” to Hizbullah, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday.

Toppling Assad would seriously hurt Tehran, he said. "It will be a major blow to Iran when Assad falls; they are now supporting him very actively. It will be a weakening blow to the Hizbullah and probably Islamic Jihad."

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Wednesday charged that “the General Security has become a proxy for the Syrian regime,” voicing solidarity with President Michel Suleiman over the issue of administrative appointments.

The General Directorate of General Security “has become a proxy for the Syrian regime and it acted in a foolish way, as it could have sent a judicial warrant to (Salafist activist Shadi) al-Mawlawi instead of luring him into a trap, not to mention the story of the Jordanian who was exported by Iran to Syria and by Syria to Lebanon in a story that reminds us of Shaker al-Absi.”

Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Moqdad on Wednesday said his country was suffering “attacks by terrorist groups across the Lebanese border,” adding that “Lebanese parties are supporting these terrorists.”

“The Lebanese supporters of these terrorist groups are well-known and we have documented and precise information in this regard,” Moqdad said in an interview with al-Manar television.

Syrians showed in elections this month that they support the government's policy of reform and a majority back the regime, President Bashar Assad said in an interview broadcast Wednesday.

The results of the May 7 legislative poll showed that the Syrian people "are until now supporting the policy of reform" and "support the institutions of the state", Assad told Russia's Rossia-24 state news channel.

The March 14 General Secretariat condemned on Wednesday the recent clashes in Tripoli, accusing Syria of being behind the unrest as it is seeking to spread its crisis to Lebanon.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The unrest was sparked at the order of Syrian President Bashar Assad in order create violence in Lebanon and the region in response to his collapse on the internal scene.”