The families of the abducted pilgrims held in Syria's Aazaz since May last year called on Thursday on President Michel Suleiman to summon Turkish Ambassador Inan Ozyildiz to urge him to resolve the matter swiftly.

“If the case wasn't resolved soon we will not only halt Turkish airlines flights but also Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport,” one of the protesters said.

U.S. President Barack Obama met with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal Wednesday, in the latest of a string of talks with key players in the Middle East and the Gulf as he mulls policy on Syria.

Obama dropped by a meeting between Prince Saud and U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon at the White House, using a diplomatic practice designed to satisfy protocol between leaders of different political rank.

The United States plans to deploy 200 troops in Jordan because of "the deteriorating situation" in war-torn Syria, Information Minister Mohammad Momani said on Wednesday.

"The deployment of the troops is part of U.S.-Jordanian military cooperation to boost the Jordanian armed forces in light of the deteriorating situation in Syria," Momani told Agence France Presse.

Syrian President Bashar Assad warned on Wednesday the West that it will pay a heavy price for its alleged support of al-Qaida in Syria and said his regime's defeat is not an option.

Assad, whose has been battling an uprising since March 2011, told state television al-Ikhbariya in an interview that the West is playing with fire.

The March 14 General Secretariat renewed on Wednesday its call on Hizbullah to cease its fighting in Syria, “which will leave a deep scar on Lebanese-Syrian ties.”

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “Hizbullah's fighting alongside the Syrian regime and at Iran's behest will pave the way for Sunni-Shiite strife, which the party only warns of in words, but is actively working for.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday said the Friends of Syria grouping of Western and Arab countries opposed to the rule of President Bashar Assad undermined dialogue.

"Right now we see this process is making a negative contribution to the (Geneva) decisions," Lavrov told reporters in Istanbul, in remarks translated to Turkish from Russian, referring to a 2012 accord among world powers in Geneva aimed at solving the Syria conflict through talks involving all parties.

Army rocket fire on a central Syrian village on Wednesday killed at least 12 people including women and children, a watchdog said, as warplanes attacked rebel enclaves near central Qusayr.

Aircraft also struck Karam Huweimed and Tariq al-Bab in the northern city of Aleppo, as well as a rebel-held town nearby, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdul Karim Ali denied on Wednesday that Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour had handed him a letter of protest over the recent cross-border attacks on Lebanon, playing down an attempt to file a complaint with the Arab League.

“I haven’t been delivered and will not be handed over any letter of protest from the Lebanese foreign ministry,” Ali told reporters after holding talks with Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour.

Unknown assailants allegedly opened fire on Wednesday at Arab Democratic Party media officer Abdul Latif Saleh in the northern city of Tripoli.

“I was targeted with a sniper shot while I was in Talaat al-Omari,” Saleh said in comments to OTV.

Syria on Wednesday told France to "stop interfering" in the country's internal affairs, a day after Paris criticized an amnesty decree issued by President Bashar Assad.

"President Assad's decree was issued on the eve of Syria's independence day from France's occupation," state news agency SANA said, citing a foreign ministry statement.