Syria, China, Iran, Bahrain and Vietnam are flagrantly spying online, media watchdog RSF said Tuesday, urging controls on the export of Internet surveillance tools to regimes clamping down on dissent.

A new report entitled "Enemies of the Internet" also singled out five companies -- Gamma, Trovicor, Hacking Team, Amesys and Blue Coat -- that it branded "digital era mercenaries," who were helping oppressive governments.

A Lebanese man was lightly injured from Syrian gunfire in the northern border town of Arida, the state-run National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Ahmed Ahmed suffered a light injury in his hand from the Syrian bullets that reached his town in Akkar district overnight, the agency said.

The United States Monday condemned what it called a "terrorist" assault on Syrian regime forces who came under fire after crossing into Iraq last week in an attack claimed by an al-Qaida group.

"Any kind of attack like this, any kind of terrorism like this is something that we should condemn," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Israel's military chief Benny Gantz said on Monday that "terrorist" groups fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad alongside other insurgents were becoming stronger.

"The situation in Syria has become exceptionally dangerous. The terrorist organisations are becoming stronger on the ground. Now they are fighting against Assad but in the future they could turn against us," Gantz said.

At least three civilians were killed and 28 others wounded on Monday when mortar shells slammed into a neighborhood in southern Damascus, Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported.

"A mortar shell fired by terrorists fell behind a shop on Duwaliya road, killing three civilians and wounding 28 others," SANA said, adding that another shell slammed into nearby Bab Sharqi district causing further casualties.

The Phalange Party on Monday pointed out that “the regional situation requires insistence on drafting an electoral law that enjoys comprehensive national consensus” in order to hold the parliamentary elections on time.

In a statement issued after the weekly meeting of its political bureau, the party called on Lebanon's political forces to "close ranks and agree on a 'pact of honor' in which they pledge to preserve the principles upon which Lebanon was built: coexistence among its sects and resorting to democracy.”

The EU's anti-terror chief warned Europe on Monday to remain on its guard, especially against the threat of European jihadists who are finding new safe havens from Syria to Mali.

Gilles de Kerchove, marking a day of remembrance for victims of terror, said the threat remained real whether "it stems from terrorist organisations or lone actors."

A Ukrainian journalist held for several months by kidnappers in Syria is safe in Damascus after fleeing from her captors on Monday, her family said.

Ankhar Kochneva, an Arabic speaker who was working as an assistant for Russian media, was kidnapped in early October. She has reportedly said she was held by opposition forces who treated her poorly.

Syria's President Bashar Assad comes across as a remorseless autocrat ready to go to any lengths to stay in power, despite military setbacks and growing ever more isolated from much of the world, observers found.

"He appears relaxed and confident, and certainly doesn't give the impression of being about to quit," said Hala Jaber, a Sunday Times reporter who recently interviewed Assad.

"Yesterday I did not make anything to eat as there was no electricity for the entire day," says Umm Fadi, a resident of Artuz district near Damascus that has been caught up in the fighting between rebels and regime forces.

Like most Syrians, the mother of four faces a shortage of oil and gas and has to resort to cooking on a wood fire or, when there is power, an electric stove.