The death toll in Syria since protests erupted against the regime of President Bashar Assad in March last year has reached 7,636, a human rights group said on Wednesday.

The toll consists of 5,542 civilians, 1,692 soldiers and police, and some 400 rebel troops, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told Agence France Presse.

Syria's embattled leader, Bashar Assad, appears to be losing one of his last bastions of reliable support: the Druze Arab community in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

In the snow-covered villages of this strategic highland, Druze are quietly breaking a long-standing code of silence and — for the first time since Israel captured the Golan from Syria in 1967 — holding protests against the Syrian government for its brutal crackdown on opponents. Anti-Syria graffiti has sprouted up, and hundreds of people have joined a Golan-linked Facebook group critical of Assad.

Jordan said on Tuesday it will take part in an international conference in Tunisia on the deadly unrest in Syria, while insisting the kingdom is against foreign military intervention.

Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said he will attend the "friends of Syria" conference in Tunis on Friday aimed at finding ways to end the Syrian regime's bloody repression of protests.

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration said Tuesday it did not favor arming Syria's opposition but did not rule out the idea completely amid deadly clashes with Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Senator John McCain, a senior Republican and Obama's rival in the last presidential election in 2008, made a new call Monday on a visit to the region for Syria's rebels to be given weapons to "defend themselves."

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc condemned on Tuesday Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s position on the March 14 ceremony last week that marked the seventh anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, saying that he undermined the people of Lebanon.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The negativity that marked his speech only exacerbates the division between the Lebanese.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday called for a daily truce of two hours in Syria so it can deliver vital aid, as the U.N. urged Syria to allow aid groups unimpeded access to the country.

The ICRC has been in talks with Syrian authorities and rebels to try to agree a temporary halt to the fighting so it can get access to the worst affected areas.

Former General Security chief Jamil al-Sayyed slammed on Monday Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s assumption of the premiership, accusing him of only serving his personal interests.

He told MTV television: “His position at the head of the government is the biggest catastrophe for Lebanon.”

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Tuesday began talks with Turkey's leaders on issues such as the crisis in Syria and trade after a flag-burning protest by activists from China's Uighur minority.

Ahead of Xi's meeting with President Abdullah Gul, around 100 Uighurs demonstrated near the hotel where the Chinese leader was staying in downtown Ankara.

China on Tuesday refused to commit to attend an international conference in Tunis this week after Russia said it would boycott the meeting aimed at seeking political change in Syria.

The Friends of Syria group will meet for the first time on Friday after being created in response to a joint veto by China and Russia of a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning a bloody crackdown on protests in Syria.

An unusual bad smell that has engulfed the northern district of Akkar, causing some cases of breathing problems among the residents, originates from Syria, MP Moeen al-Merehbi said Tuesday.

“The source of the odor is Syria,” al-Merehbi told Voice of Lebanon radio station (100.5).