Unidentified members of an armed group in northern Syria have cut off the head of a statue honoring Abbasid-era poet Abou al-Alaa al-Maari, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.

"An armed group in the (rebel-held) town of Maaret al-Numan have cut off the head of a sculpture honoring the memory of poet and philosopher Abou al-Alaa al-Maari, who was born in the town," said the Britain-based Observatory.

"The real revolution in Syria is over, we have been betrayed," laments a bitter Abu Mahmoud, a respected rebel leader, accusing fellow commanders of marring a "beautiful" revolt through corruption.

"Our beautiful revolution has been confiscated by thieves and corruptors," Abu Mahmoud tells Agence France Presse as he struggles to hide his bitterness at the way the revolt against President Bashar Assad's regime is being fought these days.

Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji denied on Tuesday that the northeastern town of Arsal was besieged, saying the army had only deployed units in and around it.

“Arsal is not besieged by the army … Its units are deployed in it and around it and mainly on the side of the border with Syria,” Qahwaji told President Michel Suleiman during talks at Baabda palace.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that a powerful blast in a minibus on the Syrian border which killed 14 people was a bomb attack.

"A vehicle loaded with bombs was able to reach our customs gate because the customs gate on the Syrian side is not working and is not being controlled," Erdogan told parliament after Monday's incident.

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr demanded on Tuesday indicting ex-Information Minister Michel Samaha and Syrian security official Ali Mamlouk with plotting to carry out terrorist acts in Lebanon.

Saqr, according to state-run National News Agency, recommended First Military Investigation Judge Riyad Abu Ghida to indict Samaha and Mamlouk with plotting to assassinate Lebanese leaders and of transporting explosives from Syria into Lebanon to carry out attacks in an attempt to provoke sectarian strife at the behest of the Syrian regime.

Widespread blackouts have caused economic losses of around $22 billion for Syria nearly two years into a spiralling conflict, electricity minister Imad Khamis has said.

"Economic damage suffered as a result of power blackouts caused by acts of sabotage (by rebels) have totalled some 218 billion Syrian pounds," or $22 billion, state news agency SANA quoted Khamis as saying on Tuesday.

Several Syrian gasoline trucks have reportedly headed to Damascus after filling their tankers in Lebanon, media reports said on Tuesday, pointing out that two trucks came under fire in the norther city of Tripoli.

The Energy Ministry has meanwhile denied the claims.

The debate over granting security forces the telecom data is expected to deepen during the upcoming days as Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui rejects the demands while Prime Minister Najib Miqati insists that the work of those agencies shouldn't be disrupted.

“Ministers have to implement decisions before objecting, we can't obstruct the work of the security agencies,” Miqati said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper.

Nine Lebanese pilgrims held by rebels in Syria since May last year could be released soon as part of a prisoner exchange after one last obstacle is removed, An Nahar daily reported on Tuesday.

The abductees are now in the custody of a Syrian opposition faction with close ties to Turkey, it said.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad to accept an offer by the head of the opposition coalition for peace talks.

The offer by National Coalition leader Moaz al-Khatib to talk with "is an opportunity we should not miss -- a chance to switch from a devastating military logic to a promising political approach," Ban said in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations.