U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday he feared that the militarization of the conflict in Syria could turn the country into a "regional battleground."

"We are deeply concerned about the continued militarization of the conflict, horrendous violations of human rights and the risk of Syria turning into a regional battleground as the violence intensifies," Ban told reporters during a visit to Cairo.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Tuesday that NATO member Ankara would formally ask the alliance for Patriot missiles to protect its border with conflict-wracked Syria.

"(Patriots) are a precautionary measure, for defense in particular," Davutoglu told reporters before he left Ankara for Gaza. "We will submit the formal request as soon as possible."

Bab al-Tabbaneh residents briefly blocked on Tuesday the international highway that links the northern city of Tripoli with Akkar for the second week in a row to protest the government's failure to compensate them for the damages caused by the recent incidents in the city.

The residents, according to the National News Agency, demand a swift solution.

President Michel Suleiman will address the Lebanese people on Wednesday on the eve of Independence Day where he will stress the necessity to spare Lebanon any regional repercussions following Monday's discovery of rockets set up to be fired against Israel, unnamed sources told An Nahar daily Tuesday.

The president is expected to reiterate the need to spare Lebanon the repercussions of the thorny Syrian crisis and Israeli aggression on Gaza, but he will renew Lebanon's solidarity with the Palestinian cause, the sources added.

European Union foreign ministers, in a new blow to President Bashar Assad's regime, on Monday said they viewed Syria's just-formed National Coalition to be the "legitimate representatives" of the Syrian people.

A statement from the bloc's 27 ministers welcomed the November 11 formation of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and said: "The EU considers them legitimate representatives of the aspirations of the Syrian people."

A newly formed Syrian opposition bloc that has received Arab and international backing is to be based in Egypt, its head Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib told the official MENA news agency on Monday.

"It has been decided that the Syrian National Coalition will have its headquarters in Egypt," Khatib was quoted as saying after talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr.

The newly formed Syrian opposition coalition is likely to get an offering of support from the European Union on Monday, an EU official said, in what would be a significant vote of confidence for a movement struggling to prove its credibility and gain the trust of the country's factions.

Such a move would not amount to official diplomatic recognition because that can only be decided by each EU country individually. But if the bloc's 27 foreign ministers meeting in Brussels decide that the coalition is a legitimate voice for Syria's people it would be a major step forward in the West's acceptance of the group.

An Iranian semi-official news agency says the country has started building a $10 billion natural gas pipeline to Syria as part of efforts to boost its energy sector that has been battered by international sanctions.

Monday's report by the Fars news agency says the 1,500 kilometer (750 mile) pipeline will pass through Iraq before reaching Syria. It says Iran begun construction of the first phase of the project involving a 225 kilometer (140 mile) stretch at an estimated cost of $3 billion.

Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdul Karim Ali commented on Monday on PM Najib Miqati's visit to France, saying that “the Lebanese cabinet is the one to decide what to do and what not to do”.

“What matters most to us is preserving Lebanese-Syrian ties and maintaining security on our border,” Ali added after meeting Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat noted on Monday that Palestine will remain at the heart of the conflict in the Middle East, noting that the "Arab Spring" has arrived in its territories.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anabaa magazine: “The inevitability of history proves that all peoples will earn their freedom, rights, and dignity.”