Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour discussed with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun the latest Arab League decision to ask the United Nations for a joint Arab-U.N. peacekeeping force in Syria.

Following his talks with Aoun in Rabieh, Mansour said: “The meeting was an occasion to discuss what happened in Cairo when the Arab League called for an extraordinary meeting to discuss the Syrian” crisis.

China will not protect the regime of Syria's President Bashar Assad, Premier Wen Jiabao said Tuesday, after Beijing drew international ire for vetoing a UN resolution on the country.

Wen's comments, during an EU-China summit, came after the United Nations' top human rights representative said the world body's inaction had "emboldened" the Syrian government to use overwhelming force against its own civilians.

China -- which drew global ire when it vetoed a resolution on Syria -- said Tuesday one of its diplomats met the Arab League head to discuss the crisis and another envoy would soon go to the Middle East.

China and Russia have faced a barrage of criticism for blocking a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the bloody crackdown on protests in Syria, including from Arab nations with which Beijing normally has good ties.

Nineteen people were killed across Syria on Tuesday, most of them civilians who died in the heaviest shelling of protest city Homs for days, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The shelling of the Baba Amr neighborhood began at dawn and is the most intense in five days," the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman said, referring to the main rebel stronghold in Homs city.

Gunmen "stormed" the home of Bahrain's charge d'affaires in Damascus and stole property, prompting the kingdom to urge Syria to protect its envoys, Bahrain state news agency BNA reported Tuesday.

The unknown gunmen entered the residence of Salah Abdulrahman al-Ahmad at dawn on Monday "and stole some of his personal possessions," BNA quoted the Gulf kingdom's foreign ministry as saying in a statement.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi met with the founder of the Guardians of the Cedars party, Etienne Saqr, during his visit to Cyprus, An Nahar daily reported on Tuesday.

Saqr, 74, who goes by the nom de guerre of Abu Arz, has been living in the island state since 2000 when he escaped his hometown of Ain Ibel on the border with Israel similar to thousands of Lebanese who fled following the liberation of south Lebanon that year.

The opposition March 14 coalition will mark on Tuesday the 7th anniversary of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination at a gathering of politicians, diplomats, activists and academicians that will be held in BIEL.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who is recuperating at his house in Paris from fractures in his leg, will make a speech through a giant screen at the event that starts at 4:00 pm.

Saudi Arabia will be the first country to contribute troops should a joint U.N.-Arab peacekeeping force proposed by the Arab League see light, journalistic sources in the kingdom said, following the sharp toned remarks voiced by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal during the League’s meeting on Sunday.

“The Royal Saudi Land Forces will be at the forefront of participants in the peacekeeping mission in Syria should the decision taken by the Arab foreign ministers during their meeting in Cairo yesterday be approved,” journalistic sources in Saudi Arabia told Naharnet.

Britain on Monday said Western nations were unlikely to join a U.N.-Arab peacekeeping force proposed by the Arab League to end the violence in Syria, as Germany welcomed the Arab League's "important" role and Italy backed the Arab suggestion.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague called for urgent talks on the League’s, but said Western nations were unlikely to join the force.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat condemned on Monday Lebanon’s position on the Arab League decision on Syria, saying that it had failed the Syrian people.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “Lebanon shied away from its political, humanitarian, and moral responsibilities towards ending oppression against the Syrian people when it voiced reservations on the Arab League decision.”