Prime Minister Najib Miqati is set to travel to Paris on Monday on a three-day visit to meet with French President Francois Hollande, his counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault and several other senior officials.

According to al-Akhbar newspaper published on Wednesday, Miqati will head an official delegation to the French capital and is expected to ink four joint cooperation agreements.

North Korea tried to export ballistic missile parts to Syria in May in violation of U.N. sanctions, Japanese media said Wednesday, citing diplomats who have seen a classified U.N. report.

South Korean authorities inspected North Korean cargo bound for Syria and confiscated hundreds of cylinders that could be used to build the weapons, the Asahi Shimbun said.

The United States said Tuesday the newly formed opposition National Coalition is "a legitimate representative" of the Syrian people, but stopped short of recognizing it as a government-in-exile.

"We now have a structure in place that can prepare for a political transition, but... we're looking for it to still establish the types of technical committees that will allow us to make sure our assistance gets to the right places," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said.

President Francois Hollande announced Tuesday that France recognized the newly formed Syria opposition as the sole representative of the people of the conflict-ravaged country and said it was time to review whether the rebels should be given arms.

"I announce that France recognizes the Syrian National Coalition as the sole representative of the Syrian people and thus as the future provisional government of a democratic Syria, allowing an end to the Bashar Assad regime," Hollande told a press conference.

Iran will bring parties to the Syrian conflict to Tehran on Sunday to participate in a "national dialogue," the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The meeting will focus on promoting diplomacy and ending the violence in Syria, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian told the Arabic-language Al-Alam channel.

The leader of Syria's new main opposition coalition called on world powers on Tuesday to arm rebels with "specialized weapons" as European Union and Arab League ministers met in Cairo.

Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib told Agence France Presse rebels desperately needed arms if they were to "cut short the suffering of the Syrians and their bloodshed."

Military Tribunal Judge Imad al-Zein interrogated on Tuesday a suspect on charges of smuggling arms and funds to the opposition in Syria.

An arrest warrant was issued against him for the charges.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius urged world powers on Tuesday to recognize the newly formed Syrian opposition bloc.

"Our hope is that the different countries recognize the Syrian national coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people... France's role is to make that hope possible," Fabius told reporters in Cairo.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri hailed on Tuesday the formation of the Syrian National Coalition, saying that it reflects the aspirations of the “free Syrian people.”

He said in a statement: “The bloc is a step in the right direction to continue the popular Syrian revolution and its ultimate goal to topple the regime of President Bashar Assad.”

Fierce battles and army shelling in and near Damascus on Tuesday killed at least 41 people, mostly civilians, a watchdog said, as warplanes launched more air raids on a town on the Turkish border.

A car bomb, meanwhile, struck the town of Ain al-Fijeh, west of the capital, "injuring a number of people and causing widespread material damage," said Syrian state television.