An Italian engineer has been kidnapped in Syria along with two other workers from the steel works in the port city of Latakia, the foreign ministry in Rome said Monday.

"In all such cases, the safety of our countryman is of the utmost priority and it is indispensable to be as discreet as possible," Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said in a statement, without revealing any further details about the kidnap victims.

Rebel fighters on Monday launched an all-out assault on army positions across Hama in some of the worst violence in the central province for months, a watchdog reported.

"Several rebel units began an all-out offensive against positions of the regular army in Hama province," Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.

Syria on Monday hit back at the United Nations over the fate of Palestinian refugees after U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon voiced "grave concern" following a deadly air strike on Yarmuk camp in southern Damascus.

"The United Nations and international community are responsible for the frustrations of the Palestinians because they have not implemented U.N. resolutions related to their legitimate rights," Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said.

The Phalange Party stressed on Monday the importance of the current contacts between Speaker Nabih Berri and the March 14 opposition in order to reactivate efforts to reach an agreement over a new parliamentary electoral law.

It added in a statement after its weekly politburo meeting: “We hold the government responsible for jeopardizing the parliamentary elections and agreement on a new law due to its refusal to resign to pave the way for a salvation cabinet.”

A key tactical victory for rebels in northern Syria proved bittersweet when a well-respected commander was killed, with fighters recalling a father figure with a sharp military mind.

Colonel Yusef al-Jader -- known among rebel fighters simply as Abu Furat -- died as his forces fought to take an infantry academy in the town of Muslimiyeh just north of the embattled city of Aleppo on Saturday.

Residents of a Palestinian camp in Damascus were fleeing on Monday amid fresh clashes, as Syrian warplanes raided the eastern outskirts of the city to try to quash the rebellion in the capital, a watchdog said.

Clashes renewed Monday in the Yarmuk refugee camp in southern Damascus between pro-regime Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and rebels fighting President Bashar Assad's forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Turkey has made a new proposal to Russia for an orderly peaceful transition in war-ravaged Syria in the post-regime era, a Turkish newspaper reported on Monday.

The proposal calls for President Bashar Assad to step down in the first three months of 2013 and for the transition process to be undertaken by the opposition National Coalition, which was recognised as the sole representative of Syrians by Arab and Western states last week, the Radikal newspaper reported.

General Prosecutor Judge Hatem Madi stressed on Monday that the judiciary is awaiting Lebanese lawyer Rashad Salameh to file a lawsuit against al-Mustaqbal lawmaker MP Oqab Saqr to tackle the issue, voicing his rejection to look into the matter ahead of any action by the lawyer.

“We will take the necessary measures when the lawyer files the alleged lawsuit,” Madi said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper.

Planned deployment of U.S.-made Patriot missiles in Turkey is a "provocative" action which could bring about "uncalculated" results, Iran's foreign minister said on Sunday.

"The deployment of Patriot missiles will achieve nothing but to provoke and, God forbid, result in being forced into an uncalculated action," Ali Akbar Salehi said in remarks reported by the official IRNA news agency.

Syrian troops withdrew from a key infantry academy outside second city Aleppo on Sunday, after rebels seized most of the complex the previous day, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Fierce clashes have raged around the sprawling military school since Tuesday, when the insurgents attempted to storm it following a three week siege.