French President Francois Hollande warned Monday that the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime would be a legitimate reason for a foreign intervention.

"We with our allies remain very watchful to prevent the use of chemical weapons by the regime, which would be for the international community a legitimate cause for direct intervention," Hollande said in a speech to French diplomats.

Syrian opposition activists have drafted a political roadmap after a possible ouster of President Bashar Assad, drawing on examples from other states that moved to democracy such as South Africa.

The working group, which brought together a broad spectrum of political organizations and religious faiths, produced a report called "The Day After Project: Supporting a Democratic Transition in Syria".

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stressed on Monday the importance of holding the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting in Iran “given the circumstances in the region.”

He remarked: “Iran is a major regional power that can help contribute to ending the problems of non-aligned countries.”

The Phalange Party noted on Monday that the recent instability in Lebanon has made the state “appear like the weak and losing authority” in the country.

It said in a statement after its weekly politburo meeting: “The government must tackle the catastrophic repercussions the recent developments have had on the authority and image of the state.”

Turkish media on Monday relayed the video of a Turkish journalist missing in neighboring Syria for a week and reportedly being held by troops loyal to President Bashar Assad.

The video was broadcast by Syria's al-Ikhbariya news channel and relayed by Turkey's private NTV television where Cuneyt Unal, who speaks in Turkish with Arabic subtitles, says he crossed into Aleppo together with armed groups from Chechnya, Libya, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Jumblat stressed on Monday the importance of allowing the Lebanese state to control the country’s decision of war and peace.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “We have no doubt over the effectiveness of the resistance’s rockets in displacing hundreds of thousands of Israelis, but the Lebanese people have the right to wonder about their fate and future in case a regional war should erupt.”

The ministerial crisis cell tasked with following up on the issue of the Lebanese abductees in Syria on Monday said it expects a positive development “in the coming days.”

“We spoke of the policy of silence and said that the event will announce itself and that happened when Hussein Omar was released and announced that the abductees are in good health,” Labor Minister Salim Jreissati, the cell’s spokesman, said after a meeting at the interior ministry’s headquarters in Sanayeh.

The European Union condemned on Monday a "massacre" in the town of Daraya near Damascus, Syria, where rebels reported the discovery of hundreds of bodies.

"We regret and strongly condemn this sort of violence, it's totally unacceptable," Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign affairs High Representative Catherine Ashton, told a news briefing.

The United Nations appealed on Monday for $54 million to help meet the growing needs of tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in Jordan, particularly children who "suffer most."

The U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF said in a statement the funds are "urgently" needed "to meet the emergency health, protection, and water and sanitation needs of the growing numbers of Syrian refugee children and their families arriving in Jordan."

Some 7,000 Syrian refugees have massed on the border with Turkey, waiting for more camps to be set up to accommodate those fleeing the fighting in Syria, a Turkish diplomat told Agence France Presse on Monday.

"5,000 refugees are waiting on Syrian side of the Oncupinar border crossing in Kilis province and 2,000 others at Reyhanli in Hatay province," said the diplomat.