President Michel Suleiman called on Tuesday for the adoption of an electoral draft-law proposed by the government in August by introducing amendments to it if need be.

During a speech in Baabda palace, Suleiman “invited (lawmakers) to start discussing a draft-law proposed by the cabinet and introduce the necessary amendments if the need arises.”

President Bashar Assad should be allowed to stand in the 2014 election like any other candidate and it is up to the Syrians themselves to decide their future leadership, a senior official has said.

"We are opening the way for democracy, or deeper democracy. In a democracy you don't tell somebody not to run," said Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad in an interview with the BBC on Monday.

The Internal Security Forces will not transfer the lead informant in ex-Minister Michel Samaha's case to testify before the judiciary during a session set at the end of the month, media reports said on Tuesday.

According to al-Akhbar newspaper, the ISF fears for the life of informant Milad Kfoury, who is reportedly the man behind reporting Samaha to the ISF Intelligence Bureau.

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council are set to discuss the deteriorating situation in Syria at a meeting at the end of January, a Russian diplomat said Monday.

Russia's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mikhail Bogdanov, told the Interfax news agency that the meeting is likely to take place as Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.'s peace envoy to Syria, presents a new report on the situation in the country.

An explosion took place on the rooftop of a house in Akkar's Sheikh Lar village and no injuries were reported, the National News Agency said on Monday.

“The explosion fractured and disconnected several parts of the house that fell on the residents without injuring them,” the NNA explained, noting that the house is occupied by two Syrian families, two mothers and eight children, who have fled the war in their country.

More aid must reach Syrian refugees to meet "expanding needs", the head of the U.N.'s World Food Program said Monday ahead of a visit to camps in Turkey.

"This is a global crisis and we are working together to make sure that we meet the needs of those seeking our support," Ertharin Cousin said in an interview.

Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halaqi visits on Tuesday Iran, his country's key regional ally, a week after Syrian rebels freed 48 Iranians held hostage for more than five months, the foreign ministry said.

"The Syrian prime minister, leading a high-ranking political and economic delegation, arrives in Tehran tomorrow," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted by the ISNA news agency on Monday.

Syria's official media lashed out at U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Monday, denouncing him as an "aging tourist" after his criticism of President Bashar Assad's peace plan.

The latest attack on the veteran Algerian diplomat follows stinging criticism by the regime and its media since Brahimi last week termed the plan announced by Assad as "perhaps even more sectarian, more one-sided" than previous initiatives.

The Patriot missile system being deployed to help protect Turkey from any spillover of the conflict in neighboring Syria should be operational by early February, perhaps sooner, NATO said Monday.

A NATO spokesperson said transport of troops and material got underway in early January and would continue over the next few weeks.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat criticized Iran on Monday for failing to seek the release of nine Lebanese pilgrims held hostage by rebels in Syria since last May.

He said in his editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa that Tehran could have included the Lebanese abductees in the negotiation process that led to the release of 48 Iranians last week.