The nine Lebanese pilgrims held in Syria's Aazaz region are doing well amid conflicting reports that one of their captors, Abu Ibrahim, had been killed, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Saturday.

Syrian opposition member Louay al-Meqdad told Future television: “Up until this moment, the pilgrims are doing well.”

The United States is weighing up what steps to take next to try to end the conflict in Syria, new Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday, adding there was "too much killing" in the 22-month war.

"There's too much killing and there's too much violence and we obviously want to try to find a way forward," Kerry said, adding: "It is a very complicated and very dangerous situation."

The White House Friday said it had been motivated by shielding Syrian civilians, Israelis and its own security, when President Barack Obama nixed an administration plan to arm Syrian rebels.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said during a congressional hearing Thursday that he backed plans to arm and train vetted rebel groups fighting President Bashar Assad's forces, in an initiative also supported by former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and ex-CIA chief David Petraeus.

Syrians living in areas affected by the nearly two-year conflict have seen their water supplies cut by one third, putting children at especially high risk of disease, the United Nations said on Friday.

The results of the first U.N. Fund for Children nationwide assessment of water and sanitation since hostilities began revealed that populations in contested areas have only 25 liters (5.5 gallons) of water a day, compared with 75 liters two years ago.

President Michel Suleiman asked General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim on Friday to investigate a media report that a Syrian army deserter was involved in the kidnapping of Lebanese pilgrims by rebels last year.

A presidential statement said that during a meeting they held at Baabda palace, Suleiman tasked Ibrahim with investigating the report carried by al-Akhbar daily that Syrian army lieutenant Mohammed Tlas, who has fled his country to Lebanon, was aware of the full details linked to the abduction of the 11 men.

The number of Syrians fleeing their conflict-torn homeland has hit 5,000 a day, while overall numbers have risen by 25 percent in the past month alone, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.

"Five thousand people are now crossing the border of Syria every single day," said Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Islamist al-Nusra Front rebels killed seven Syrian soldiers at a checkpoint in the northern city of Safireh on Friday, after losing more than 100 men in the area over the past 72 hours, a watchdog said.

The checkpoint was guarding a heavily fortified military factory in the south of the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that a convoy of reinforcements arrived after the attack.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday acknowledged for the first time that the Pentagon had backed proposals to arm the Syrian opposition battling to oust President Bashar Assad.

The idea -- ultimately rejected -- was first floated by then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who met privately with David Petraeus, CIA chief at the time, in the summer of 2012 as fighting raged in Syria.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday admitted for the first time that the Pentagon had backed proposals to arm the Syrian opposition battling to oust President Bashar Assad.

The idea was first floated by former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who met privately with David Petraeus, then CIA chief, in the summer of 2012 as the fighting raged in Syria.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said on Thursday he hoped for a ceasefire "soon" in Syria, where tens of thousands of people have been killed in nearly two years of conflict.

Morsi said a meeting between Egypt, Turkey and Iran on the sidelines of a Cairo summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), discussed "the general framework" to resolve the crisis in Syria.