The Phalange Party renewed on Monday its leader Amin Gemayel’s demand to “positively” approach President Michel Suleiman’s call to resume the national dialogue in order to prevent Lebanon “from being dragged in the disputes of its neighbors.”

It said in a statement after its weekly politburo meeting: “Resuming the national dialogue will pave the way to ending the political, security, and regional aspects of Lebanon’s crisis.”

Syria's leaders will have to answer for their "murderous folly", the French president's office said Monday, a day after the U.N. Security Council condemned the slaughter of civilians there, as the opposition Syrian National Council urged countries that support the revolt to honor their promises by helping Syrians defend themselves.

"The Houla massacre and the events of these last days in Syria and in Lebanon illustrate, once more, the danger of Bashar Assad's regime's actions for the Syrian people," said a statement.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat demanded on Monday that the Lebanese pilgrims who were kidnapped in Syria on Tuesday be returned to Lebanon, urging all sides to “exercise restraint.”

He warned in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine “against falling for the Syrian regime’s traps” should any of the supporters of the victims seek revenge against the abduction.

World inaction after the killing of more than 100 people, half of them children, in the Syrian town of Houla at the weekend will only encourage Damascus to commit more massacres, Tunisia said Monday.

"Tunisia firmly condemns this horrific carnage and reiterates its call on the international community to give Syria the attention it deserves," said a statement from President Moncef Marzouki's office.

Violence raged on Monday across Syria, where 25 people, most of them regime forces, were reportedly killed as clashes broke out in several restive provinces, monitors said.

The deadly violence came even as U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan arrived in Damascus to try and salvage a battered ceasefire, a day after monitors reported 90 people killed in Syria, more than a third in the city of Hama.

Italy is ready to support humanitarian corridors as part of any tougher U.N. resolution aimed at ending the bloodshed in Syria, its foreign minister said on Monday after a massacre triggered global outrage.

"We cannot stand by and watch dozens of children killed so brutally. We must do something," Giulio Terzi told La Stampa after 108 people, including many children were slaughtered in the central Syrian town of Houla.

Russia said on Monday it did not support the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad but urged world powers to work for the peace plan of U.N. envoy Kofi Annan and not regime change.

"We do not support the Syrian government. We support the plan of Kofi Annan," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a joint news conference with his British counterpart William Hague.

China on Monday condemned a massacre of more than 100 people in the central Syrian town of Houla and called for an immediate investigation to identify those responsible.

Beijing's comments came as U.N.-Arab envoy Kofi Annan headed to Damascus in a bid to salvage his battered peace plan a day after the United Nations condemned the Syrian regime's use of artillery in Houla.

Ex-Premier Saad Hariri’s al-Mustaqbal movement held the Assad regime on Monday responsible for the “terrorist action” that left at least 108 people, nearly half of them children, dead in the Syrian town of Houla.

Al-Mustaqbal condemned “the horrific crime” and held “the regime responsible for the terrorist action that could be described as a crime against humanity.”

U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan arrived in Damascus on Monday for talks with top officials, Syria's pro-government al-Ikhbariya television reported.

The former U.N. chief was to meet Foreign Minister Walid Muallem later on Monday ahead of talks with President Bashar Assad on Tuesday, a Syrian official source said earlier, speaking on condition of anonymity.