The families of the nine Aazaz abductees on Monday blocked the road outside the Turkish Cultural Center in downtown Beirut to press for the release of their relatives.

Adham Zgheib, son of abducted pilgrim Ali Zgheib, told LBCI television: "Security forces were not honest with us and they let the employees of the Turkish Cultural Center continue their work."

Kurdish rebels are unlikely to complete their announced withdrawal from Turkey into their safe haven in northern Iraq until autumn, the insurgents' top commander said in an interview on Saturday.

Murat Karayilan also called on Turkish authorities to let a delegation from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) visit their jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan so that he could help convince rebels to participate in the withdrawal.

Syrian rebels attacked a sprawling military air base in the country's northwest on Saturday, while in the south opposition forces assaulted a string of army checkpoints and positions, activists said.

The raids follow nearly two weeks of advances by Syrian troops, mostly in the suburbs of the capital, Damascus, and areas near the Lebanese border in the central province of Homs.

Turkey said Friday its forces would show "great care" during a pullback starting next month by Kurdish rebels heading back to their bases in Iraq, in a major step to end three decades of hostilities.

"Our armed forces, and collective security forces will do their tasks with great care and attention," Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said on Turkish television, without elaborating further.

Kurdish rebels announced on Thursday they would on May 8 begin withdrawing from Turkey into their safe haven in northern Iraq amid a peace drive between Ankara and the rebel movement.

But the armed group warned Turkey's powerful military against "provocations" which would see the end of the pledged withdrawal by outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters.

The families of the nine Lebanese pilgrims held in Syria's Aazaz region held a sit-in on Thursday in front of the French Embassy in Beirut to pressure France to exert efforts to release the captives.

They said in a statement: “We will escalate our actions and stage sit-ins in front of the embassies of all countries that support the Syrian opposition.”

Police used tear gas and water cannon to break up clashes between Kurdish and nationalist students at an Ankara university campus that left 15 people injured late on Wednesday, Turkish media have reported.

The hours-long scuffles, which saw both sides take up sticks and stones, reportedly erupted when students sympathising with Turkey's Kurdish insurgents confronted those from a nationalist group at Ankara's prestigious Middle East Technical University (ODTU).

They dropped their language and religion to survive after the 1915 genocide, but close to 100 years on Turkey's "hidden Armenians" want to take pride in their identity.

Some genocide survivors adopted Islam and blended in with the Kurds in eastern Turkey's Dersim mountains to avoid further persecution.

Dozens of people gathered in Istanbul to commemorate the 1915 Armenian genocide Wednesday, in what they saw as a sign of an increasingly conciliatory stance by the government.

For the first time, Armenian diaspora groups from Europe also attended the ceremony at the invitation of the Turkish government.

Armenians marched from Bourj Hammoud to downtown Beirut's Martyrs' Square on Wednesday to mark the 98th anniversary of the genocide of their kin by Ottoman Turks during World War I.

The protesters held a rally at the square with speeches made by the leaders of several Armenian parties.