A Hizbullah commander and several fighters have been killed inside Syria, a Lebanese security official told the Associated Press on Tuesday, a development that could stoke already soaring tensions over an alleged role for the Lebanese group in the civil war next door.

Hizbullah has stood by Syrian President Bashar Assad since the uprising began 18 months ago, even after the group supported revolts in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Bahrain. The group says it is backing the Syrian regime because of its support for the anti-Israel resistance movements in Lebanon and Palestine and because it is willing to implement political reforms.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday said that preventing him from entering the Our Lady of Elige Church in Maifouq on Sunday was a breach of the Lebanese National Charter by "those who are claiming to be Christian," noting that the FPM does not mind that the Orthodox Gathering electoral law be put to a vote during the meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committees.

"I regret that the ownership of the Our Lady of Elige Church has shifted to the Lebanese Forces, but I'd like to say that the Constitution guarantees freedom of movement in any region and no politician can prevent anyone from enjoying that privilege," Aoun told reporters sardonically after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc.

Iran will not back down on its nuclear program despite the problems caused by Western sanctions, including a dramatic slide in the value of its currency, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday.

"We are not a people to retreat on the nuclear issue," he told a news conference in Tehran.

Around 100 people were killed across Syria as fighting raged in a strategic district of Syria's commercial capital Aleppo on Saturday, the third day of a rebel offensive to seize the city, a watchdog said.

The focal point of combat was Salaheddin, a rebel stronghold on the southwest side of the city where insurgents attacked an army position, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stated on Friday that the government proposal over the parliamentary electoral law and the one suggested by the MPs Georges Adwan, Sami Gemayel, and Butros Harb are the best current offers on the matter, saying that the Free Patriotic Movement has to choose one of them.

He said during a press conference: “The FPM however is more concerned with harming the interests of the Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and the Mustaqbal Movement to take into consideration Christian concerns in the elections.”

The emir of Qatar on Tuesday called for an Arab intervention force to be sent to Syria to halt the escalating conflict.

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, a key backer of the Syrian opposition, made the call at the U.N. General Assembly after U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon said the conflict had become "calamity" that threatens global peace.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said the Syria "calamity" is turning into a global crisis as U.S. President Barack Obama led growing calls for an end to Bashar Assad's rule.

Condemnations of Assad marked the opening day of the U.N. General Assembly of world leaders, as the conflict passes 18 months and the international community remains deadlocked over how to end the bloodshed.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun condemned on Tuesday doubts that he may have been the victim of an assassination attempt, saying that “some sides have stooped so low as to question the affair.”

He added after the Change and Reform bloc's weekly meeting: “Security agencies that deny the attempt on my life may be linked to it.”

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that the Syrian civil war is a "calamity" that now threatens world peace and demands action by the divided U.N. Security Council.

Ban told the opening of the U.N. General Assembly that the Syria conflict "is a regional calamity with global ramifications" that needs action by the Security Council.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius cautioned on Tuesday that the Syrian crisis may lead to a regional conflict.

He warned that the crisis may also spread to Lebanon.