Turkey recalled its envoy in Aleppo on Monday as rebel fighters clashed with loyalist troops in what is Syria's second-largest city, a Turkish diplomat said.

Turkey's consul for the northern city of Aleppo, Adnan Kececi, had returned to Turkey to discuss the situation in Syria, the source said.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Monday instructed Iraq's security forces and Red Crescent to allow in Syrian refugees and provide them with support, reversing an earlier decision.

"The prime minister directed Iraqi forces and police and the Iraqi Red Crescent to receive Syrian refugees and help them and provide them with services," state broadcaster Iraqiya television said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat criticized on Monday Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s position on the Syrian crisis, saying that he should have taken a stance towards the Syrian people that is “more in line with the liberation role he played in the South.”

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “He was better off not referring to one of the symbols of oppression against the Syrian people as a comrade-in-arms.”

President Michel Suleiman condemned on Monday the Syrian troops’ infiltration into Lebanon’s eastern border region of al-Qaa and the shelling of several border towns, particularly in the north.

He tasked Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour to hand Syrian ambassador Ali Abdul Karim Ali a letter of complaint over his country’s endeavors along the Lebanese-Syrian border.

Syria will not use chemical or other unconventional weapons except in the case of a foreign attack, foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said on Monday.

"Syria will not use any chemical or other unconventional weapons against its civilians, and will only use them in case of external aggression," Makdissi told a media conference in Damascus.

The European Union on Monday tightened sanctions on Syria and required member nations to board ships and airplanes carrying suspicious cargo to the country.

The 27 EU ministers added 29 names to an existing list of over 170 Syrian individuals and companies believed to be associated with the repression, or benefiting from President Bashar Assad's regime.

The European Union expressed on Monday its readiness to continue providing assistance to Lebanon in coping with the burden of harboring refugees fleeing the unrest in neighboring Syria.

It said in a statement after a council meeting on Lebanon: “The EU commends the Lebanese authorities for their efforts to support those fleeing the violence in Syria, and encourages the government of Lebanon to continue meeting its responsibilities in this respect.”

A plume of black smoke rose over the Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus on Monday as activists reported clashes during the night across the capital as well as in Syria's second city of Aleppo.

Residents of Damascus reported hearing gunfire and explosions into the early hours of the morning in the upscale Mazzeh neighborhood of west Damascus, while activists reported overnight shelling in several other districts of the city.

The uprising in the neighboring Syria, which kicked off in March 2011, began to significantly have an impact on the Lebanese agricultural sector.

The Syrian National Council sounded a defiant note in a an overnight statement, saying fierce clashes in cities across the country was a sign the opposition was "at the gates of victory."

SNC spokesman George Sabra said in the statement the heavy fighting that has broken out in Damascus and the country's second city Aleppo in recent days was an important sign of rebel progress.