Syrian authorities prevented, for the second day, trucks in Syria from heading to Lebanon, reported the National News Agency on Saturday.

The authorities closed the Abboudiyeh border-crossing in northern Lebanon.

At least 69 people, many of them rebels, have been killed in a four-day battle pitting Syrian insurgents against government forces in Jdaidet al-Fadl near Damascus, a monitoring group said on Saturday.

"Regime troops are trying to seize total control of the town of Jdaidet al-Fadl" southwest of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon noted that Lebanon is passing a critical phase due to the “dangerous challenges” caused by the Syrian crisis, reported the daily An Nahar Saturday.

He said that an agreement over a the electoral process, in line with the constitution, will act as a main factor in protecting Lebanon from the repercussions of the Syrian crisis.

Lebanon is set to be the focus of discussions at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers on Monday, announced the French Foreign Ministry on Friday.

Western sources told An Nahar daily reported Saturday that the meeting, held in Brussels, stems from fears over Hizbullah's fighting in Syria.

Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Michael Bogdanov is scheduled to arrive in Lebanon on Wednesday on a visit where he is set to meet with a number of Lebanese officials.

He is expected to meet with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and Premier-designate Tammam Salam, as well as March 8 and 14 camp officials.

The United States is set to boost its support for Syria's rebels at a meeting of the opposition's main foreign backers Saturday and could for the first time agree to supply non-lethal military gear.

But Washington is expected to stop short of agreeing to rebel demands for arms as the 11-nation core group of the "Friends of Syria" hold talks in Istanbul with key figures in the opposition battling President Bashar Assad.

Global hopes that democracy could replace dictatorships in Arab Spring nations risk being crushed by repressive regimes, the United States warned Friday in its annual human rights report.

"The hope of the early days of the Arab Awakening has run up against the harsh realities of incomplete and contested transitions," the State Department said in its assessment of the global situation of human rights in 2012.

U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Friday urged the Security Council to come together on Syria, venting frustration with all sides while denying rumors he plans to resign.

Brahimi told the 15-member council that Syrian President Bashar Assad is "not in a mood for dialogue" and that the only hope for stemming the violence is if the council agrees unanimously on a plan of action, diplomats told Agence France Presse.

Russia and Egypt called for a ceasefire in Syria "as quickly as possible", President Vladimir Putin said Friday, after a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Morsi.

"Russia and Egypt support a ceasefire in Syria as soon as possible and the launch of negotiations," between the regime and rebels, the Russian president said following the meeting in the black city resort of Sochi, where the 2014 Winter Olympic Games will be held.

The botched attempt to smuggle weapons to extremist Syrian rebels, which was foiled by the Lebanese army in Ain Zhalta, has been described as a major operation, as reports revealed that an army first adjutant was involved in the bid.

In remarks to al-Manar television, judicial and military sources described the thwarted operation as major and unprecedented.