President Michel Suleiman is expected to travel to France at the end of June or in early July to hold talks with his French counterpart Francois Hollande, reported the daily An Nahar on Thursday.

It said that the visit will serve as an opportunity for the president to mark a new beginning of Lebanese-French ties, which was suggested by Hollande himself.

The Red Cross said Wednesday it will try to evacuate hundreds of civilians trapped by fierce fighting in and around the restive city of Homs, as violence killed dozens of people across Syria.

The head of the U.N. Supervision Mission in Syria, meanwhile, told the U.N. Security Council of the intensifying violence in the country but said the nearly 300 unarmed monitors were "morally obliged" to stay.

Speaker Nabih Berri voiced on Wednesday his “deep disappointment” with the current energy situation in Lebanon.

He stressed: “A decisive position on this matter must be taken during the cabinet session on June 27.”

The March 14 General Secretariat slammed on Wednesday the ongoing Syrian violations of Lebanese sovereignty, saying that it has counted over 20 of such violations.

It urged in a statement after its weekly meeting “the Lebanese army to comprise a list of the violations and present them to the Lebanese and international communities.”

King Abdullah II of Jordan, whose country borders Syria and hosts a large number of refugees, expressed concern Wednesday about the implications of the Syrian crisis for the region as a whole.

"The window for a solution is narrowing and all should be on the alert to prevent the crisis from sliding into a civil war," the king told pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.

British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher stressed on Wednesday the importance of preventing the Syrian crisis from spreading to Lebanon.

He said that the international community is facing this challenge and it is working on keeping the country away from the unrest.

The foreign ministers of Poland, Bulgaria and Sweden will focus on the conflict in Syria during visits to Lebanon and Iraq from Thursday to Sunday, the Polish foreign ministry announced Wednesday.

Poland's Radoslaw Sikorski, Bulgaria's Nikolay Mladenov and Sweden's Carl Bildt will also discuss the countries' relations with the EU.

Twenty-nine soldiers and a Shiite Muslim cleric were among 58 people killed in violence across Syria on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

At least 20 troops died in clashes in the northwestern province of Latakia, while another five were killed in fighting that erupted late Tuesday in the Kurdish Mountain region, the watchdog said.

A Russian cargo line denied on Wednesday it was involved in illegal transport of weapons and attack helicopters to Syria amid media reports Moscow was sending arms to the conflict-torn country.

Britain's Sunday Telegraph earlier reported that the MV Alaed operated by Femco, a shipping company based on Russia's Sakhalin Island, carried attack helicopters destined for Syria.

The U.N. assistant secretary-general for political affairs warned Tuesday that Lebanon continues to faces security challenges due to the upheaval in Syria.

“The country continues to face challenges to its security and stability, partly due to the crisis in Syria,” Oscar Fernandez-Taranco told a U.N. Security Council session.