Two Syrian sailors died and eight were reported missing after their cargo ship collided with another vessel and sank Monday off the Greek coast, Greece's merchant marine ministry said.

Five boats sailing nearby, two patrol boats, a Coast Guard plane and helicopter were searching the area southwest of the Peloponnese, the ministry added.

Several fuel tankers crossed the Masnaa border crossing with Syria on Monday a day after residents blocked their way to prevent them from entering the neighboring country.

According to state-run National News Agency, residents blocked briefly Majdal Anjar junction in the Bekaa Valley with burning tires to protest the crossing of the tankers.

French Ambassador to Lebanon Patrice Paoli called on the rival parties on Monday to reach consensus among each other as it is in the country's best interest, rejecting any interference claims in Lebanon's affairs.

“The government should be formed swiftly... It's a friendship message and not meddling (in Lebanon's affairs) as Lebanon should be united to confront all threats,” Paoli said in an interview with An Nahar newspaper.

Republican lawmakers stepped up calls for U.S. action against Syria Sunday in the face of growing evidence that it used chemical weapons against its population in a bitter civil war.

But wide differences remained on what should be done and whether President Barack Obama is correct in proceeding cautiously before declaring that the regime of President Bashar Assad has crossed a game-changing "red line."

Military action in response to Syria's suspected use of chemical weapons would be "very, very complex," the Israeli ambassador to the United States said Sunday.

Michael Oren said air strikes on chemical weapons bases pose a risk of collateral damage to civilians if agent is dispersed, and under international law the attacker would be at fault.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday reiterated Iran's staunch support for Damascus, insisting that a rebel victory in Syria would threaten the entire region, his office's website said.

"A group coming into power through war and conflict will lead to continued war and security problems for a long time," Ahmadinejad told a delegation led by Essam El Haddad, adviser to Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi.

A ground-to-ground missile was fired on a town in northern Syria on Sunday and killed at least four civilians, two of them children, a watchdog reported, as violence shook several Damascus neighborhoods.

Anti-regime activists of the Aleppo Media Center said the missile, which slammed into a residential area of Tal Rifaat, was a Scud, although this could not be independently verified.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his ministers to keep silent about Syria to avoid the impression Israel is pushing the international community into armed intervention, army radio said Sunday.

Netanyahu gave the instructions after Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin suggested the international community might react militarily to "take control of the Syrian chemical weapons arsenal".

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov concluded on Sunday his four-day visit to Lebanon, during which he voiced his concern over the possible spread of the Syrian unrest to Lebanon.

The daily An Nahar reported Sunday that he had called on Hizbullah to withdraw its fighters from Syria out of the concern that the fighting may spread to Lebanon.

Senior Egyptian officials visited Iran on Saturday to further a proposal by Cairo for an Islamic quartet that would help to resolve the Syrian conflict, the presidency said.

President Mohamed Morsi's foreign relations adviser Essam El Haddad led the delegation which included the president's chief of staff Refaa al-Tahtawi, the presidency said in a statement.