Italy said Wednesday it was closing its embassy in Damascus and repatriating some staff to protest Syria's "unacceptable" crackdown on the opposition.

"Italy today suspended the activities of its embassy in Damascus and repatriated some personnel," the foreign ministry said in a communiqué.

International mediator Kofi Annan confirmed Wednesday that he has received a response from the Syrian regime, after he made "concrete" proposals earlier to Damascus on ways to halt the crisis.

"The Joint Special Envoy (JSE) for Syria Kofi Annan has now received a response from the Syrian authorities. The JSE has questions and is seeking answers," said his spokesman in a statement.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri renewed on Wednesday the March 14 camp’s commitment to the state, saying that adhering to it will resolve the country’s disputes.

He said on the seventh anniversary of the March 14 independence movement: “The supporters of this movement will not accept that the Lebanese republic fall victim to a new form of hegemony, whether it is direct or indirect.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday criticized President Bashar Assad for the "big delay" in reform in Syria, saying Damascus was failing to swiftly follow Moscow's advice.

"Unfortunately, our advice is reflected practically in his actions far from all the time and far from in a timely manner," Lavrov told the lower house parliament in a rare show of public frustration with the Syrian leader.

The Syrian opposition suffered on Wednesday a setback on the political front with resignations from the Syrian National Council (SNC), an umbrella movement of anti-regime groups.

The opposition, which is heavily outgunned by the regime and has called for its fighters to be armed in the defense of civilians, was hit by resignations from SNC ranks.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah held a meeting with a delegation from Hamas headed by Deputy Hamas Politburo Chief Mousa Abu Marzouk, As Safir newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The delegations tackled the latest developments in Syria, Gaza and the situation in the Arab world, in addition to the ties between Hizbullah, Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.

U.S. senators are urging the Pentagon to cancel a contract with a Russian company approaching $1 billion to buy helicopters for Afghanistan, voicing outrage over Moscow's arming of Syria.

"U.S. taxpayers should not be put in a position where they are indirectly subsidizing the mass murder of Syrian civilians," 17 senators across party lines wrote Monday in a letter to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.

Syria condemned on Tuesday Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip that killed 25 Palestinians, calling on world powers to act urgently to put an end to them.

Syria "roundly condemns Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and urges the international community to undertake urgent steps to put an end to these activities and to sanction those responsible," said a foreign ministry statement.

Tunisia's Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said on Tuesday that Syria's Bashar al-Assad would not be welcome in his country, after the Tunisian president offered the Syrian leader asylum in Tunis.

"I respect our head of state but I do not want to see Assad in our country. And if I were to encounter him, I would put him in front of a court and hand him over to the Syrian people," Jebali told the website of German news weekly Der Spiegel.

At least 48 persons were reported killed in violence across Syria on Tuesday, including 25 members of the security forces, as a pro-government daily said the regime had captured the rebel city of Idlib.

"Twelve members of the security services who headed for the town of Dael to carry out arrests were killed ... when their vehicle was ambushed by a group of armed deserters," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.