Armed fighters on Wednesday detained about 20 U.N. peacekeepers in the Golan Heights between Syria and Israel, urging the U.N. to call in a statement for their immediate release.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said the peacekeepers were from the Philippines.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stated on Wednesday that the March 14 opposition has “armed men that can postpone the parliamentary elections”, noting that “extremism in Lebanon is encouraged by the presence of terrorist movements in Syria”.

"Supporters of the opposition can provoke security incidents or insist on adopting a certain electoral law,” Aoun expressed in an interview with the Washington-based al-Hurra television station, explaining that this would put the elections off.

President Bashar Assad on Wednesday mourned the death of Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez as a "great loss" for himself and the Syrian people.

"The demise of this unique leader is as much a great loss for me personally and the Syrian people as it is for the people of Venezuela," Assad said in a statement broadcast on state television.

Britain will provide body armor and armored vehicles to the rebels battling forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Wednesday.

Hague said the non-lethal military aid, worth $20 million (15.4 million euros), was a "necessary, proportionate and lawful response" to a situation of "extreme" humanitarian suffering.

The chief of staff of Syria's rebel army issued a strong call for arms and ammunition from Western nations Wednesday, saying that if helped, the insurgents could topple President Bashar Assad's regime "within a month".

"What we have now is little, very very little," Brigadier General Selim Idriss said in Brussels, where he spoke on the invitation of a group of centrist political parties in the European Parliament.

This year's first shipment of apples grown in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has entered Syria via the town of Kuneitra, crossing the armistice line, a Syrian official said on Wednesday.

"International Committee of the Red Cross trucks delivered the first shipments of Syrian apples (grown) by our relatives in the Golan," said Medhat Saleh, who runs the Syrian cabinet's Golan bureau.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that "a lot of countries" are training Syrian rebels as part of stepped up efforts to topple President Bashar Assad's regime.

"It's one part of it. But other nations are doing other things. There are a lot of nations working at this. And so I think President Assad needs to read the tea leaves correctly," Kerry told Fox News during a visit to Qatar.

The March 14 General Secretariat slammed on Wednesday Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour's statement that called for withdrawing the suspension of Syria's membership from the Arab League, warning that “the positions of the Syrian chargé d'affaires in Lebanon are a real threat to Lebanon”.

“His statements given under the title of the foreign ministry are a real threat to Lebanese people and their interests, especially in the light of the countries of Gulf Cooperation Council's reactions,” March 14 remarked in a released statement.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned on Wednesday Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour's request that Syria's seat at the Arab League be restored, saying that the regime has “found a spokesman to speak at the League.”

He said in a statement: “The Lebanese government is requesting all Lebanese to participate in covering up the crimes of Syrian President Bashar Assad.”

Syrian state media paid homage to late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez on Wednesday, saying he had taken an "honorable" position on the two-year-old uprising against the Damascus regime.

Chavez "stood on the side of the Arabs' legitimate rights," said a commentary carried by state news agency SANA. "He took an honorable stance regarding the conspiracy against Syria."