Syrian rebels seized control of the Bab al-Hawa border post with Turkey on Friday after a fierce battle with Syrian troops, an Agence France Presse photographer at the scene reported.

The carcasses of burnt-out lorries were scattered across the scene of the battle. Some 150 armed rebel fighters were in control of the post, which lies opposite Turkey's Cilvegozu border crossing in the southern province of Hatay.

In Turkey, the land of kebabs and sweet lokum, expanding waistlines are the target of a new anti-obesity campaign by the government to help one million Turks slim down over the next year.

The numbers are staggering: a little over one out of every three people is obese, according to health ministry figures. Even more when it comes to women.

Two Syrian brigadier generals crossed into Turkey overnight, a Turkish foreign ministry official told Agence France Presse Wednesday.

"Some 330 Syrians including two brigadier generals fled to Turkey Tuesday night," the official said.

Al-Jazeera television aired Tuesday a video it received from the abductors of 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims who were kidnapped in Syria in May, in which the kidnappers announced they will release two of the captives.

“In response to the appeal of the Muslim Scholars Committee in Lebanon, we will hand over two of the guests in our custody to their families under the supervision of the Muslim Scholars Committee in Lebanon and the state of Qatar,” the abductors said in what they dubbed “Statement Number 3.”

A Syrian general and several soldiers crossed into Turkey on Monday, a Turkish diplomat told Agence France Presse, bringing the number of defections by generals from Bashar Assad's embattled regime to at least 18.

Turkey has become home to dozens of defectors who have crossed the border and formed the Free Syrian Army in opposition to Assad's regime.

The Iraqi government on Tuesday urged its citizens in strife-hit Syria to return home because of "increasing attacks" on them and warned Turkey against "any violations" of its territory and airspace.

"Iraqis are guests who live temporarily in Syria and the Iraqi government calls on them to return to the country," government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said.

A fire that broke out at a 42-storey building in the heart of Istanbul on Tuesday was contained after a massive intervention by fire engines and emergency teams who rushed to the scene, media reported.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries and the fire engulfing the exterior facade of the building was contained, the Anatolia news agency said.

President Michel Suleiman is scheduled to travel Tuesday to Turkey in light of positive signals received by Lebanese officials about the case of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims abducted in Syria, the Central News Agency reported on Monday.

Suleiman’s trip may carry “a happy surprise for the Lebanese in general and the abductees’ families in particular, knowing that the visitors of Baabda Palace have recently quoted President Suleiman as saying that he will not visit Turkey except after receiving confirmed information about the possibility of freeing them or setting a date for that,” well-informed sources told the agency.

Syria's Muslim Brotherhood began Monday a two-day meeting on the outskirts of Istanbul focusing on ways to support the uprising against the regime in Damascus, a member of the organization said.

"It is the first meeting of the organization after more than 30 years," since many of its members fled Syria following a revolt that was violently suppressed in 1982, Omar Mushaweh, representative of the Muslim Brotherhood within the Syrian National Council, the main opposition group, told Agence France Presse.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil expressed hope on Monday that the cabinet would swiftly approve the appointment of the personnel in the vacant posts in the oil authority.

“We should prepare for the second stage of process by issuing tenders for foreign companies to kick off oil exploration along Lebanese offshores,” Bassil told An Nahar newspaper.